US SSA-OLC League new for Summer 2006 Season!

Hi,

That time of year may offer great soaring where you are, but it doesn't for
all parts of the US. It would be a disadvantage for clubs in the more
northern climates if the contest went longer because you would be flying
long flights and we would be doing glides. I think the idea was to select a
period of the season when the soaring is good in most of the USA. I suppose
the folks from Alaska would argue that the season should be shorter!

Paul Remde


"Vsoars" wrote in message
ups.com...
Ending the Summer Contest September 3 excludes the summer days that are
always the best soaring days is South Texas. For example, last year
two PW 5s got diamond goals, and the club's longes flight and 6 US
Records flights took place after September 3rd.

Why does the OTC end the contest before the official beginning of Fall?
Eliminating the final days of summer is very discouraging to clubs
like mine.

The OLC is an international contest, and all the national leagues run
on the same schedule. It was set up based on a European perspective, it
really has nothing to do with the weather in Texas or Minnesota, or
Alaska. From my personal perspective, the league schedule cuts out the
best Appalachian ridge days in the spring and the fall. But overall, I
think it is a fair compromise.

As much as we might like to drive the bus, we have to be realistic
about the relative size of the US pilot population. There are a little
over 500 US OLC competitors and over 5000 from Germany alone. BTW,
despite the fact that the US only has about 6 out of every 100
competitors, we had 14 of the top 100 OLC pilots last year. I think
this is because in the US, we are actually blessed with lots of good
places to fly, good weather, and plenty of airspace to fly in. So we
really should not complain too much.

I don't think the "why don't we do it differently because..."
discussions are very productive. We should focus on how fortunate we
are to have a critical mass of pilots in Europe who have developed this
great form of decentralized competition, and be happy that they want to
let us compete (and steal more than our proportional share of the
glory!).

Hi,

I am very excited about the OLC League competition and I'm promoting it here
in Minnesota, USA. You can see details on a local OLC League related
soaring regatta he
http://www.soarmn.com/cumulus/regatta-2006.htm

I have also created an OLC Overview and Tips page he
http://www.soarmn.com/cumulus/olc.htm

Good Soaring,

Paul Remde
Cumulus Soaring, Inc.
http://www.cumulus-soaring.com

"Doug Haluza" wrote in message
oups.com...
This was just posted to the OLC news page:

------------------------------------------------------------------

24.4.2006

OLC-League kick-off in 10 OLC countries
This weekend, the clubs of 10 OLC countries start their team
competitions.

During 19 weekends the OLC clubs will fight for their ranking. Points
are assigned according to the Formula 1 principle. During last years
team competitions, we experienced, that the winners got their points
primarily on weekends with mixed or even bad weather conditions, so the
competition will remain exciting up to the last round.

As the OLC league is a club competition, only those flights will be
scored, departing from the home airfield of each club.

Here You can see which home airfield is associated with Your club.

If You do not agree with our choice of your home airfield please give
us a note to and we will change that
accordingly. This change is only possible before the first round
starts.

For several clubs, flying at big airfields with many different clubs it
might be a good idea to build one team consisting of all the clubs at
this particular airfield, (like it was done already at Königsdorf or
Unterwössen or Oerlinghausen) to claim their flights with a better
chance for a good score in the league. This will of course be valid for
all OLC scores, so these teams must be defined before the first round
and all pilots must switch to these teams in their competitors data. It
is not possible to score individual results for a certain club but for
a different team in the league.

The OLC team wishes all teams good luck and good weather conditions!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is the link to the posting:

http://www2.onlinecontest.org/olcphp....php?olc=olc-i

Note that the list of US clubs linked from there is static, and the
current one was prepared a few days ago. Since then, we have
incorporated the feedback from the earlier posting, and entered home
airfields for all US Glider (but not HG/PG) clubs. So if you got a
recent confirmation email for your requested change, don't worry about
the listing at the OLC site.

We have also edited the airfield names that caused confusion to make
them more distinctive by adding the state abbreviation.Some of these
changes are not reflected on the OLC club list yet. If you check your
OLC club scoring, you will see the erroneous claims have been corrected
to the new airfield names. You must use the correct airfield name for
your claim to get your flight scored in the OLC League.

The OLC League should add a new dimension to the OLC contest, and can
help increaase interest in soaring at your club. Please help and
encourage people at your club to get involved!

The OLC now has the final updated list of US Clubs and home airfields
up at:

http://www2.onlinecontest.org/download/club_US.html

Send any corrections to olcatssadotorg ASAP.

Doug Haluza wrote:

As the OLC league is a club competition, only those flights will be
scored, departing from the home airfield of each club.
... snip
For several clubs, flying at big airfields with many different clubs it
might be a good idea to build one team consisting of all the clubs at
this particular airfield, (like it was done already at Königsdorf or
Unterwössen or Oerlinghausen) to claim their flights with a better
chance for a good score in the league.

It seems that existing clubs at one popular airfield are encouraged to
combine into a non-genuine, OLC-only SuperClub to maximize the OLC score
of the "SuperClub".

OTOH, the OLC website says the rules are specifically designed to stop
non-genuine, OLC-only SuperClubs being formed solely to compete in the OLC.

Would the real OLC please stand up?

The OLC restricts a "Club" to a single geographic location to stop
weather-shopping which it sees as unfair. Apparently, OTOH,
pilot-shopping and best-handicap-glider-shopping among all the Clubs at
an airfield is OK.

Unterwössen has the German Alpine Gliding School. Allowing all the
Clubs there to amalgamate for the OLC is fair? Allowing members from
North German clubs to count their flights in Spain on holidays would be
unfair? Give me a break.

The OLC team wishes all teams good luck and good weather conditions!

Tricky that. As has been pointed out, wishing Minnesota to have as good
soaring weather as Texas doesn't really cut it.

Graeme Cant


-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is the link to the posting:

http://www2.onlinecontest.org/olcphp....php?olc=olc-i

Note that the list of US clubs linked from there is static, and the
current one was prepared a few days ago. Since then, we have
incorporated the feedback from the earlier posting, and entered home
airfields for all US Glider (but not HG/PG) clubs. So if you got a
recent confirmation email for your requested change, don't worry about
the listing at the OLC site.

We have also edited the airfield names that caused confusion to make
them more distinctive by adding the state abbreviation.Some of these
changes are not reflected on the OLC club list yet. If you check your
OLC club scoring, you will see the erroneous claims have been corrected
to the new airfield names. You must use the correct airfield name for
your claim to get your flight scored in the OLC League.

The OLC League should add a new dimension to the OLC contest, and can
help increaase interest in soaring at your club. Please help and
encourage people at your club to get involved!

One of the great things about the OLC is that you can compete on any
level. If you do not have a motorglider based in Argentina, you have no
shot at the International OLC championship. But you can shoot for the
top spot in your continent, country, region, club, or just with your
flying buddy.

So what if MN can't compete on an even level with TX? They are in
different regions. It should not matter to your regional competition,
so focus on what you have, and don't be jealous of what others may or
may not have. So you don't have 10 kt thermals in MN--you don't have
fire ants either.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the OLC is a decentralized
competition with no gatekeepers. There is no one to parse club bylaws
or check membership cards. It's up to you to join whatever OLC club you
want to. If you want to join a superclub based at a popular airfield,
or form your own personal club with only you as the sole member, or
anything inbetween that's OK. You can be a little fish in a big pond,
or a big fish in a little pond, whatever is your personal preference,
You can also fly in MN, or TX, or anywhere else, that's your personal
preference as well.

Hi Doug,

I agree. I fly in Minnesota. I have little chance of winning the
international or even national competition, but I am a big fan of the OLC
because it promotes cross-country flying. It makes it easy to see you how
your flight compares with others in your region of the world.

But don't count me out of the big show yet. I have my sights set on a 1000
km downwind dash starting in MN.

Good Soaring,

Paul Remde

"Doug Haluza" wrote in message
oups.com...
One of the great things about the OLC is that you can compete on any
level. If you do not have a motorglider based in Argentina, you have no
shot at the International OLC championship. But you can shoot for the
top spot in your continent, country, region, club, or just with your
flying buddy.

So what if MN can't compete on an even level with TX? They are in
different regions. It should not matter to your regional competition,
so focus on what you have, and don't be jealous of what others may or
may not have. So you don't have 10 kt thermals in MN--you don't have
fire ants either.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the OLC is a decentralized
competition with no gatekeepers. There is no one to parse club bylaws
or check membership cards. It's up to you to join whatever OLC club you
want to. If you want to join a superclub based at a popular airfield,
or form your own personal club with only you as the sole member, or
anything inbetween that's OK. You can be a little fish in a big pond,
or a big fish in a little pond, whatever is your personal preference,
You can also fly in MN, or TX, or anywhere else, that's your personal
preference as well.

The appeal of the OLC has been its relative simplicity
and lack of restrictions....and the appeal of looking
at flight logs of other pilots. The .igc file provides
a cold, calculating eye of how the pilot did...and
allows pilots to learn what the hot pilots do.

Reviewing the OLC-Classic club competion from last
year(2005), larger clubs finish towards the top and
smaller clubs towards the bottom. I doubt there is
much interest in enforcing what dictates a club, since
the next step would be developing some sort of algorithm
to balance the club memberships equally.

And that could start down the slippery slope of weekday
vs weekend only fliers, geographic locations, airspace
regulations,
clubs vs commercial, etc, etc.. I don't think this
is what the OLC really had in mind. As JFK said...'Life
ain't fair'. If the OLC in its present form encourages
cross-country participation, and therefore gets more
pilots flying more often, IMHO lets leave it alone.
Those who enjoy a more regulated environment probably
will find that with traditional competions.

Some pilots are more then willing to yo-yo to their
heart's content to build up points, others prefer to
head out and hope to return, and yet others go after
triangles or speed tasks. They all get points from
the OLC, for doing what most appeals to them.





At 03:30 25 April 2006, Graeme Cant wrote:
Doug Haluza wrote:

As the OLC league is a club competition, only those
flights will be
scored, departing from the home airfield of each club.
... snip
For several clubs, flying at big airfields with many
different clubs it
might be a good idea to build one team consisting
of all the clubs at
this particular airfield, (like it was done already
at Königsdorf or
Unterwössen or Oerlinghausen) to claim their flights
with a better
chance for a good score in the league.

It seems that existing clubs at one popular airfield
are encouraged to
combine into a non-genuine, OLC-only SuperClub to maximize
the OLC score
of the 'SuperClub'.

OTOH, the OLC website says the rules are specifically
designed to stop
non-genuine, OLC-only SuperClubs being formed solely
to compete in the OLC.

Would the real OLC please stand up?

The OLC restricts a 'Club' to a single geographic location
to stop
weather-shopping which it sees as unfair. Apparently,
OTOH,
pilot-shopping and best-handicap-glider-shopping among
all the Clubs at
an airfield is OK.

Unterwössen has the German Alpine Gliding School.
Allowing all the
Clubs there to amalgamate for the OLC is fair? Allowing
members from
North German clubs to count their flights in Spain
on holidays would be
unfair? Give me a break.

The OLC team wishes all teams good luck and good weather
conditions!

Tricky that. As has been pointed out, wishing Minnesota
to have as good
soaring weather as Texas doesn't really cut it.

Graeme Cant


-----------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------

This is the link to the posting:

http://www2.onlinecontest.org/olcphp....php?olc=olc-i

Note that the list of US clubs linked from there is
static, and the
current one was prepared a few days ago. Since then,
we have
incorporated the feedback from the earlier posting,
and entered home
airfields for all US Glider (but not HG/PG) clubs.
So if you got a
recent confirmation email for your requested change,
don't worry about
the listing at the OLC site.

We have also edited the airfield names that caused
confusion to make
them more distinctive by adding the state abbreviation.Some
of these
changes are not reflected on the OLC club list yet.
If you check your
OLC club scoring, you will see the erroneous claims
have been corrected
to the new airfield names. You must use the correct
airfield name for
your claim to get your flight scored in the OLC League.

The OLC League should add a new dimension to the OLC
contest, and can
help increaase interest in soaring at your club. Please
help and
encourage people at your club to get involved!

Doug Haluza wrote:
One of the great things about the OLC is that you can compete on any
level. If you do not have a motorglider based in Argentina, you have no
shot at the International OLC championship. But you can shoot for the
top spot in your continent, country, region, club, or just with your
flying buddy.

So what if MN can't compete on an even level with TX? They are in
different regions. It should not matter to your regional competition,
so focus on what you have, and don't be jealous of what others may or
may not have. So you don't have 10 kt thermals in MN--you don't have
fire ants either.

Nobody's jealous. I'm just pointing out that the restriction to a
single designated airfield is a very large one which seriously devalues
the comp - precisely as you say above. It also ignores the flying
pattern of the majority of competitive glider pilots.

What if the pilots in MN think their skill is just as good as those
Texas rattlesnakes with their builtin thermals? It's a fairly pointless
comp if the organisers say to some competitors - we've set the rules so
you'll never be able to compete in the big league. Just be happy in the
Sinkhole League. We deliberately won't count your achievements when you
get God on your side by visiting Texas!

The other thing to keep in mind is that the OLC is a decentralized
competition with no gatekeepers. There is no one to parse club bylaws
or check membership cards. It's up to you to join whatever OLC club you
want to. If you want to join a superclub based at a popular airfield,
or form your own personal club with only you as the sole member, or
anything inbetween that's OK.

So how does this help the Club you've been part of for years - which you
claim is one of the benfits of OLC League?

You can be a little fish in a big pond,
or a big fish in a little pond, whatever is your personal preference,

True. The problem is that the OLC has only one rule - you're stuck in a
single pond and you can't change ponds.

Gliding is a very mobile sport and all over the world pilots whose home
club is in a ridiculously uncompetitive area travel frequently to better
soaring sites to fly in order to maintain the enthusiasm which their own
site alone would not sustain.

I think the OLC should be trying to devise a rule which would recognise
this fact and also take account of the loyalty that many pilots have to
clubs they've flown with for a long time. The OLC encourages you to
trash one of the major glues that keep this sport alive. I hope it can
come up with something better.

You can also fly in MN, or TX, or anywhere else, that's your personal
preference as well.

No it isn't and no you can't. That is PRECISELY what the rule about a
designated airfield means. You can only count flights in MN or TX -
even though you're the same pilot in the same aircraft and want to
credit the flight to the same club you've been a member of for twenty years.

I think the OLC is great. I'm trying to encourage them to do better.

Graeme Cant

Stewart Kissel wrote:

The appeal of the OLC has been its relative simplicity
and lack of restrictions....

Absolutely agree. So why the designated airfield rule?

and the appeal of looking
at flight logs of other pilots. The .igc file provides
a cold, calculating eye of how the pilot did...and
allows pilots to learn what the hot pilots do.

Reviewing the OLC-Classic club competion from last
year(2005), larger clubs finish towards the top and
smaller clubs towards the bottom. I doubt there is
much interest in enforcing what dictates a club, since
the next step would be developing some sort of algorithm
to balance the club memberships equally.

Absolutely agree. So why the designated airfield rule?

And that could start down the slippery slope of weekday
vs weekend only fliers, geographic locations, airspace
regulations,
clubs vs commercial, etc, etc.. I don't think this
is what the OLC really had in mind. As JFK said...'Life
ain't fair'. If the OLC in its present form encourages
cross-country participation, and therefore gets more
pilots flying more often, IMHO lets leave it alone.
Those who enjoy a more regulated environment probably
will find that with traditional competions.

Absolutely agree. So why the designated airfield rule?

Some pilots are more then willing to yo-yo to their
heart's content to build up points, others prefer to
head out and hope to return, and yet others go after
triangles or speed tasks. They all get points from
the OLC, for doing what most appeals to them.

So why the designated airfield rule? Abolishing it would improve all
the things you like about OLC League. I'm not trying to enforce
anything. I want the designated airfield rule ABOLISHED. It would
leave the comp freer, fairer - better in every way.

I'm completely baffled by what benefit the organisers think the
designated airfield rule brings.

Graeme Cant





At 03:30 25 April 2006, Graeme Cant wrote:

Doug Haluza wrote:


As the OLC league is a club competition, only those
flights will be
scored, departing from the home airfield of each club.
... snip
For several clubs, flying at big airfields with many
different clubs it
might be a good idea to build one team consisting
of all the clubs at
this particular airfield, (like it was done already
at Königsdorf or
Unterwössen or Oerlinghausen) to claim their flights
with a better
chance for a good score in the league.

It seems that existing clubs at one popular airfield
are encouraged to
combine into a non-genuine, OLC-only SuperClub to maximize
the OLC score
of the 'SuperClub'.

OTOH, the OLC website says the rules are specifically
designed to stop
non-genuine, OLC-only SuperClubs being formed solely
to compete in the OLC.

Would the real OLC please stand up?

The OLC restricts a 'Club' to a single geographic location
to stop
weather-shopping which it sees as unfair. Apparently,
OTOH,
pilot-shopping and best-handicap-glider-shopping among
all the Clubs at
an airfield is OK.

Unterwössen has the German Alpine Gliding School.
Allowing all the
Clubs there to amalgamate for the OLC is fair? Allowing
members from
North German clubs to count their flights in Spain
on holidays would be
unfair? Give me a break.


The OLC team wishes all teams good luck and good weather
conditions!

Tricky that. As has been pointed out, wishing Minnesota
to have as good
soaring weather as Texas doesn't really cut it.

Graeme Cant


-----------------------------------------------------------------

--------------------

This is the link to the posting:

http://www2.onlinecontest.org/olcphp....php?olc=olc-i

Note that the list of US clubs linked from there is
static, and the
current one was prepared a few days ago. Since then,
we have
incorporated the feedback from the earlier posting,
and entered home
airfields for all US Glider (but not HG/PG) clubs.
So if you got a
recent confirmation email for your requested change,
don't worry about
the listing at the OLC site.

We have also edited the airfield names that caused
confusion to make
them more distinctive by adding the state abbreviation.Some
of these
changes are not reflected on the OLC club list yet.
If you check your
OLC club scoring, you will see the erroneous claims
have been corrected
to the new airfield names. You must use the correct
airfield name for
your claim to get your flight scored in the OLC League.

The OLC League should add a new dimension to the OLC
contest, and can
help increaase interest in soaring at your club. Please
help and
encourage people at your club to get involved!