FAI, soaring and Olympic Games

Not sure what FAIs end game strategy is with SGP yet...the right producer and it's off to the races...and yes, I've talked to several producers. Longshot is an understatement but you never know...

On Monday, October 31, 2016 at 1:40:30 AM UTC+3, Sean wrote:
What did you all think about the recent Soaring International article (Nov, 2016 issue) on the value of re-starting the sport of glider racing in the Olympics. I for one think this would be very, very smart with minimal downside.

I don't have that issue yet.

How many summer Olympics are held near to good soaring? I guess maybe, if it can be a couple of hundred km away.

The glider racing at the Dubai air games was a joke.

It would be great if Gliding could return to the Olympics. But I agree with Gregg that it is hopeless.

Gliding and the Olympics have evolved in opposite directions since 1940. Gliding has left the hill and disappeared out of view, while the Olympics have left amateurism and embraced the television viewer.

"New" sports that don't play well on TV have no chance in the Olympics. The IOC even tried to drop wrestling in favor of ballroom dancing a few years ago. After vociferous protests, they somehow found the ability to include both.

FAI and IOC are neighbors in Lausanne. They do talk with each other. There is some hope that paramotors or canopy piloting will make it as Olympic "test events."

But Gliding... no.

On Sunday, October 30, 2016 at 11:09:11 PM UTC-6, Sean wrote:
Not sure what FAIs end game strategy is with SGP yet...the right producer and it's off to the races...and yes, I've talked to several producers. Longshot is an understatement but you never know...

SGP ramped up as a high impact, professional formula racing series that would/could be shown on sports channels live and in repeats. That faltered. I don't know if the producers of the Chile SGP ever recouped their costs (helicopter video platform costs were $250,000 alone). He tried with a Kickstarter to produce another soaring promotion, but all contributors received were their DVD's and headgear, so SGP format wound up with IGC.

The World Class adopted the PW-5 and it was flown in the WAG in Turkey. As a design class, it could be produced by anyone, which seemed a purist approach. I don't now what international competitions say about skiis, rifles, sailing boats, and other equipment sports. Anyway, apart from the WAG, the PW-5 and World Class did not inspire a majority of participants. Many others opined the World Class should have been based on a 40:1 glider, the LS-4, which is one or, if not the most produced, single seater. WGC adoption might have kept it production for many more years.

The Chile SGP and the Italian WAG 2009 both used Yellowbrick.com for real time tracking solutions, though I think both used different display servers. IIRC, over 5000 remote viewers watched these real time, so the displays were slightly different though both were excellent and engaging to the point where you could see pilots make divergent (and sometimes wrong) decisions. Spot and InReach are not comparable. Yellowbrick was not cheap. Helicopters and live feeds are not cheap, so sponsorship and advertising would be needed to make it happen. Probably out of the question for qualifiers. However, looking forward to about 2020, there may be opportunities.

On the technical side, satellite MUX space is still limited. Iridium NEXT has yet to fly, but it could open the door for real time cockpit video. Whether there are other options affordable and available, I can't say. Kind of like the dark (unlit) fiber infrastructure. Kind of hard to find out who and where. I'm locally aware of optical fiber that's been around for a long time, but never lit, despite the fees paid to bring high speed Internet to the masses. I still feel like I'm in frontier land and now Google has stalled on their Google fiber.

Gee, if only pilots could live (or slightly buffer) feed their soaring flights to their Facebook pages. This could be possible by 2020, just around the corner.

Frank Whiteley

On Monday, October 31, 2016 at 6:06:08 PM UTC+3, Frank Whiteley wrote:
On Sunday, October 30, 2016 at 11:09:11 PM UTC-6, Sean wrote:
Not sure what FAIs end game strategy is with SGP yet...the right producer and it's off to the races...and yes, I've talked to several producers. Longshot is an understatement but you never know...

SGP ramped up as a high impact, professional formula racing series that would/could be shown on sports channels live and in repeats. That faltered. I don't know if the producers of the Chile SGP ever recouped their costs (helicopter video platform costs were $250,000 alone). He tried with a Kickstarter to produce another soaring promotion, but all contributors received were their DVD's and headgear, so SGP format wound up with IGC.

The World Class adopted the PW-5 and it was flown in the WAG in Turkey. As a design class, it could be produced by anyone, which seemed a purist approach. I don't now what international competitions say about skiis, rifles, sailing boats, and other equipment sports. Anyway, apart from the WAG, the PW-5 and World Class did not inspire a majority of participants. Many others opined the World Class should have been based on a 40:1 glider, the LS-4, which is one or, if not the most produced, single seater. WGC adoption might have kept it production for many more years.

The Chile SGP and the Italian WAG 2009 both used Yellowbrick.com for real time tracking solutions, though I think both used different display servers. IIRC, over 5000 remote viewers watched these real time, so the displays were slightly different though both were excellent and engaging to the point where you could see pilots make divergent (and sometimes wrong) decisions. Spot and InReach are not comparable. Yellowbrick was not cheap. Helicopters and live feeds are not cheap, so sponsorship and advertising would be needed to make it happen. Probably out of the question for qualifiers. However, looking forward to about 2020, there may be opportunities.

On the technical side, satellite MUX space is still limited. Iridium NEXT has yet to fly, but it could open the door for real time cockpit video. Whether there are other options affordable and available, I can't say. Kind of like the dark (unlit) fiber infrastructure. Kind of hard to find out who and where. I'm locally aware of optical fiber that's been around for a long time, but never lit, despite the fees paid to bring high speed Internet to the masses. I still feel like I'm in frontier land and now Google has stalled on their Google fiber.

Gee, if only pilots could live (or slightly buffer) feed their soaring flights to their Facebook pages. This could be possible by 2020, just around the corner.

Frank Whiteley

Don't forget the 2006 NZ Gliding Grand Prix

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc_aUMLEwNk

I thought the computer graphics at that event were superior to those that have followed.

Last week I was watching live video feed from Warren Crammer from Wurtsburo flying in thier ASK21. I could hear him talking to me and I was texting him (while someone else was flying of coarse).

Not sure why you think live feed video is far away?

WH

On Monday, October 31, 2016 at 7:30:10 PM UTC+3, wrote:
Last week I was watching live video feed from Warren Crammer from Wurtsburo flying in thier ASK21. I could hear him talking to me and I was texting him (while someone else was flying of coarse).

Not sure why you think live feed video is far away?

Sure, if there are good mobile phone networks in the place you're flying. Much glider racing around the world takes place in areas with nil or weak mobile coverage.

How about a soaring reality show on Discovery Channel? We could all get
tattoos, grow beards, quit getting haircuts, spit and cuss a lot, have
girl groupies with big boobs and low cut necklines... It'd be a hit for
sure! Where do I sign up?

On 10/30/2016 11:09 PM, Sean wrote:
Not sure what FAIs end game strategy is with SGP yet...the right producer and it's off to the races...and yes, I've talked to several producers. Longshot is an understatement but you never know...

--
Dan, 5J

Actually, in Olympics, Pan Am Games, etc., often the sailing events are held miles away from the main Olympic city. For example, the Atlanta Olympics held our events (Sailing) in Savahnah, Georgia. 3-4 hours by car.

I think you miss the point of Dubai entirely Bruce. You may be thinking only of yourself, and even then only conventionally.

If we want soaring to grow substantially then we really need dramatically more poeple to notice it. To get interested in it. We need dramatically more exposure. Assuming we found a means of increasing public exposure (and image) of soaring...out of that pool, a few might get inspired to try it. Out of that few, some will get their license and so on.

These events, such as Dubai and the Olympics, are aimed at gaining exposure for the sport of soaring. They are aimed at demonstrating how soaring competitions work to the public and honoring the athletes & teams and ultimately the champions.

The Americas Cup has adapted itself to fit the TV format required to build advertising value. They run very short, fast, exciting races in a stadium environment as much as possible. This has raised awareness of the sport of sailboat racing dramatically and he events (NBC sports) are actually getting impressive ratings.

It is possible for soaring to have a similar jolt of energy. It just requires the proper circumstances. And none of this, Olympics, Dubai, etc., affects any other soaring pilot negatively. It simply raises awareness to a sport which is dismal (especially in the USA) from a marketing perspective. See sailplane Grand Prix.

In other word you should be thankful. We could use all the help that we could get right now...don't you think?

I think we should be more positive and thankful to those trying new ideas vs. insulting them.

On Monday, October 31, 2016 at 9:09:01 PM UTC+3, Sean wrote:
Actually, in Olympics, Pan Am Games, etc., often the sailing events are held miles away from the main Olympic city. For example, the Atlanta Olympics held our events (Sailing) in Savahnah, Georgia. 3-4 hours by car.

I think you miss the point of Dubai entirely Bruce. You may be thinking only of yourself, and even then only conventionally.

If we want soaring to grow substantially then we really need dramatically more poeple to notice it. To get interested in it. We need dramatically more exposure. Assuming we found a means of increasing public exposure (and image) of soaring...out of that pool, a few might get inspired to try it. Out of that few, some will get their license and so on.

These events, such as Dubai and the Olympics, are aimed at gaining exposure for the sport of soaring. They are aimed at demonstrating how soaring competitions work to the public and honoring the athletes & teams and ultimately the champions.

The Americas Cup has adapted itself to fit the TV format required to build advertising value. They run very short, fast, exciting races in a stadium environment as much as possible. This has raised awareness of the sport of sailboat racing dramatically and he events (NBC sports) are actually getting impressive ratings.

It is possible for soaring to have a similar jolt of energy. It just requires the proper circumstances. And none of this, Olympics, Dubai, etc., affects any other soaring pilot negatively. It simply raises awareness to a sport which is dismal (especially in the USA) from a marketing perspective.. See sailplane Grand Prix.

In other word you should be thankful. We could use all the help that we could get right now...don't you think?

I think we should be more positive and thankful to those trying new ideas vs. insulting them.

I watched the air sports from Dubai. There was pretty much exactly zero coverage of the glider races. I doubt many people saw it of even knew it was there. And those who saw it probably didn't get excited by a literal sled ride. It was nothing like even a Grand Prix race. It was not even anything like the sprint races on the last day of the 2006 NZ Grand Prix, which at least were close to terrain and required making use of what lift there was to improve the average speed (you could I think just about finish the course at best LD with zero lift). The Dubai races started with enough height to be MC 3 or 4 (or more?)


The glider aerobatics near Palm Jumeirah got quite a bit of coverage, but that's not us.