Can gliding become a TV sport?

I, for one, am not against change, but I get awfully tired of people (mainly
you, Sean) telling me, and those of like mind, that we should donate money
to your cause or that "we" should mandate equipment that you favor in all of
our cockpits.

By all means, make your videos and share them on the net. Install all the
blind flying instruments you desire, donate to your favorite causes, but
please, quit harranguing the rest of us to do likewise.

C'mon Spring!


"Sean F (F2)" wrote in message
...
I find it hilarious that an effort to label my comments as yelling has been
made. I am only one. It is, of course, up to others here to listen to
whomever they choose. I suspect frustration. This is to be expected in
those with different viewpoints when they are insecure about their position
in a discussion.

I for one applaud those who speak up for their ideas and thoughts and defend
them with passion. I applaud them if they are with me or against me. Last
I checked this is how public forums (private institutions as well for that
matter) worked. If you have another idea as to what is acceptable for the
RAS people I am sure we are all ears.

Back to the topic at hand.

The idea that TV, DVDs or Internet videos about soaring are somehow bad for
"your sport" is hilariously ridiculous (IMHO). The idea that these efforts
will "bugger up" your sport is the most laughable thing I heard in many
days. Thank you for that. Laughing is so good for us.. Much appreciated.

Are you seriously claiming that the glider Grand Prix videos (New Zealand
and Chile) have hurt our (sorry, your) sport? Please explain. Please
provide quantifiable evidence of the damage these events and their videos
have caused to "your sport?"

The reality (apparently I need to explain it further) is that the Sky Race
World Cup idea is totally independent and you and your club. These efforts
will have zero functional impact on anything we do normally in soaring.
This has nothing to do with you and "your friends" at your club. There is
clear upside if the effort is succesful and absolutely zero downside. If
you see downside, please explain.

How it can be percieved as a threat is predictable and yet fascinating. The
natural human fear of change and new ideas is an amazing topic. I live with
these detractors daily in my profesional world (and usually eat them for
breakfast). At least they have an argument to respect. This argument about
skyraceworldcup being a damaging invader to the sport of sparing is
fundementally ridiculous. But I would appreciate a compete argument for the
fun of it.

The sailplane Grand Prix / Skyraceworldcup is something an independent
person, with their own money, focus and creativity, is trying to create and
build. He has been working on it for some time. It will continue to take
tremendous effort to be successful. The only by-products of this massive
effort will be more amazing soaring videos about wonder of gliding and
journey of certain young people thru out the gliding world take in order to
produce superior skills over their competitors in competition. This story
will be shared with the world in a manner and scale that greatly exceeds
anything before it. We are talking Americas Cup levels of exposure perhaps
one day. This is bad why exactly? It does not discount any other aspect of
the sport in any way, shape or form. It, on a scale far greater than any
other imaginable, has the potential of getting massive amounts of "net new"
people interested in trying that sport (Sailing, soaring, etc) which they
experience on TV (or Internet video).

If you want to produce a video series about your friends flying at your
club, go ahead! That's wonderful!!! I support you fully. I'll start by
sending you $100. Tell me where to send it. But we both know you don't
want to do anything meaningful here other than squash the likelihood of
enthusiasm about skyraceworldcup.com most likely because you don't fully
understand it and your brain has defaulted to its pre-programmed but all to
common reaction. Sad thing is that their might be potential in that path as
well.

You (all) have 4 choices (perhaps 5) on how to behave in regards to Mario's
skyraceworldcup.com idea: You can 1) support it by donating $ to the "Wings
over Sweden" kickstarter project
(http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...-over-sweden-0)
and being positive about this project within the soaring community 2) You
can "not donate" but be supportive about the project. 3) you can ignore it.
4) you can criticize it. 5) you can actively attack it, demonize it and try
and defeat it? For those of you in the 4-5 region I say......WTF?

People who chose 4-5 are literally in their own way as well as our sports.
They see soaring as their own private thing and honestly want few others to
know about it. They actually are fine with the sports poor growth and low
public interest. What it is today is "all good" for them and they are all
that matters. They stand in the way of publicity and TV interest (unless of
course they miraculously somehow are the source of the publicity). Shocking
but true. The idea of a new wave of energy sweeping into the sport from
another source is clearly terrifying to them. They actually want to stop
this energy. They actively campaign against it.

The people who choose 3 are almost equally damaging to the sports growth
becusse of their proportional scale. Unfortunately this is where most of us
likely lie. This segment driwns enthusiasm by being passive. You shrug
your shoulders and think it doesnt matter much to me. If you are in the 3
camp, please watch Mario's presentation with special attention to the
importance of the Halo effect: http://youtu.be/vKdI5pnoaAU

I for one have chosen #1. I hope some more of you will make the same
choice. Perhaps at least #2. I for one truly look forward to another great
video on soaring from these folks! I look forward to the real potential for
a fascinating glider racing series and watching some lucky young pilots
striving to become a part of this new premier soaring event.

Best,

Sean
F2