PW-5, 1-26, Alisport Silent and Cherokee drivers - read here

On Thursday, January 10, 2013 7:04:12 AM UTC-5, Scott Alexander wrote:
To qualify, your wingspan must be 13.5 meters or less.

Being new to racing and owning a 15 meter moderate performance glider I'd like to understand the reasoning behind the 13.5 m limit.

I entirely understand the appeal of a race limited to low/moderate performance gliders, but why not use the handicap number to limit entries?

For example, a glider that had a similar handicap to the PW-5 but longer wings would be included. For an extreme example, this would include the ASK-21. Similar handicap, but much longer wings.

I always figured that performance, and not size, was what mattered

Another suggestion to expand the wingspan limit.

The pressure for "club class" is strong, with a lower handicap limit. This leaves every glider below the SZD junior and wings more than 13.5 meters in a bit of a quandary. Gliders in this range include the sparrowhawk, ka6, LET 33, and a range of two seaters like the ask21 which have been very useful for bringing new pilots along to racing.

Span really isn't that interesting a cutoff. Why define a new class around the happenstance that the PW5 had a 13.5 meter span?

Why not instead define a "low performance" class for every glider that is below the lowest "club class" handicap?

The Kansas "low performance" regional is going to go this route, in part to accommodate a SH1, in part because it makes sense.

John Cochrane

On Thursday, January 10, 2013 8:58:04 AM UTC-6, wrote:
Another suggestion to expand the wingspan limit. The pressure for "club class" is strong, with a lower handicap limit. This leaves every glider below the SZD junior and wings more than 13.5 meters in a bit of a quandary. Gliders in this range include the sparrowhawk, ka6, LET 33, and a range of two seaters like the ask21 which have been very useful for bringing new pilots along to racing. Span really isn't that interesting a cutoff. Why define a new class around the happenstance that the PW5 had a 13.5 meter span? Why not instead define a "low performance" class for every glider that is below the lowest "club class" handicap? The Kansas "low performance" regional is going to go this route, in part to accommodate a SH1, in part because it makes sense. John Cochrane

The 13.5 meter span was chosen by IGC. **** flows downhill right? My best guess is that former World Class and current 13.5 meter owners who might be interested in being on a future 13.5 meter US Team were told by the Rules committee to show that there was interest by organizing Super Regionals and if so they would make it a National class. Naturally they weren't going to automatically make it a national class after seeing the low turnout for recent World Class Nationals. This is, after all, the steady, reasonable approach that the RC uses to implement rule changes.

As the Contest Manager for the Region 10 Low Performance contest I can say absolutely that a span limit was never considered for our contest. I wanted to make sure that our local Ka-6's could participate as well as the SH1. I've also read plenty of posts and articles by John Cochrane here and agree with him that the span limit is pretty silly (even though I flew last years 13.5 meter super regionals).

On Thursday, January 10, 2013 7:21:02 AM UTC-8, Tony wrote:
On Thursday, January 10, 2013 8:58:04 AM UTC-6, wrote:

Another suggestion to expand the wingspan limit. The pressure for "club class" is strong, with a lower handicap limit. This leaves every glider below the SZD junior and wings more than 13.5 meters in a bit of a quandary. Gliders in this range include the sparrowhawk, ka6, LET 33, and a range of two seaters like the ask21 which have been very useful for bringing new pilots along to racing. Span really isn't that interesting a cutoff. Why define a new class around the happenstance that the PW5 had a 13.5 meter span? Why not instead define a "low performance" class for every glider that is below the lowest "club class" handicap? The Kansas "low performance" regional is going to go this route, in part to accommodate a SH1, in part because it makes sense. John Cochrane



The 13.5 meter span was chosen by IGC. **** flows downhill right? My best guess is that former World Class and current 13.5 meter owners who might be interested in being on a future 13.5 meter US Team were told by the Rules committee to show that there was interest by organizing Super Regionals and if so they would make it a National class. Naturally they weren't going to automatically make it a national class after seeing the low turnout for recent World Class Nationals. This is, after all, the steady, reasonable approach that the RC uses to implement rule changes.



As the Contest Manager for the Region 10 Low Performance contest I can say absolutely that a span limit was never considered for our contest. I wanted to make sure that our local Ka-6's could participate as well as the SH1. I've also read plenty of posts and articles by John Cochrane here and agree with him that the span limit is pretty silly (even though I flew last years 13.5 meter super regionals).

Beautiful deadpan style points Tony. I couldn't stop chuckling.

The R10 Low Performance contest sounds like a blast. Have fun,

Craig

On Thursday, January 10, 2013 10:39:24 AM UTC-6, Craig Funston wrote:
On Thursday, January 10, 2013 7:21:02 AM UTC-8, Tony wrote: On Thursday, January 10, 2013 8:58:04 AM UTC-6, wrote: Another suggestion to expand the wingspan limit. The pressure for "club class" is strong, with a lower handicap limit. This leaves every glider below the SZD junior and wings more than 13.5 meters in a bit of a quandary. Gliders in this range include the sparrowhawk, ka6, LET 33, and a range of two seaters like the ask21 which have been very useful for bringing new pilots along to racing. Span really isn't that interesting a cutoff. Why define a new class around the happenstance that the PW5 had a 13.5 meter span? Why not instead define a "low performance" class for every glider that is below the lowest "club class" handicap? The Kansas "low performance" regional is going to go this route, in part to accommodate a SH1, in part because it makes sense. John Cochrane The 13.5 meter span was chosen by IGC. **** flows downhill right? My best guess is that former World Class and current 13.5 meter owners who might be interested in being on a future 13.5 meter US Team were told by the Rules committee to show that there was interest by organizing Super Regionals and if so they would make it a National class. Naturally they weren't going to automatically make it a national class after seeing the low turnout for recent World Class Nationals. This is, after all, the steady, reasonable approach that the RC uses to implement rule changes. As the Contest Manager for the Region 10 Low Performance contest I can say absolutely that a span limit was never considered for our contest. I wanted to make sure that our local Ka-6's could participate as well as the SH1. I've also read plenty of posts and articles by John Cochrane here and agree with him that the span limit is pretty silly (even though I flew last years 13.5 meter super regionals). Beautiful deadpan style points Tony. I couldn't stop chuckling. The R10 Low Performance contest sounds like a blast. Have fun, Craig

Always happy to entertain but I was generally being serious with my post.

We also have a Salto (13.6 m) signed up for our contest, and a 1-34. I've heard that a local IS-28B2 Lark is considering signing up too and maybe a Grob 103 Acro if we expand the handicap range to 1.11.