"Eric Greenwell" wrote in message
...
Jon Meyer wrote:

Are you therefore saying that the world class must
have less than 15m span just so that it cannot be construed
as being equivalent to one of the existing classes?

No, I'm saying it must be smaller to be cheaper. Bigger costs money.

It is my understanding that the wingspan was driven by the desire to keep
open the homebuilding option and 13 meter wings will fit in a typical US
garage but 15 meters won't. Given that only one World Class Glider has been
homebuilt (and that by the person on the comittee who championed the cause
of preserving the homebuilding option), homebuilding doesn't seem to be a
meaningful requirement.

As the cliche goes, "If you want to build, build. If you want to fly, buy"

While shorter wings are probably cheaper, what really costs a lot of money
are small production runs.

Would an LS-4-like 15 meter ship attract more folks to the World Class?
Probably.
Would it attract enough to make a difference? Probably not.
Reason? Switching costs. Most of us can't afford 2 ships. If I already
have an ASW-20 or a 303, or an LS-3, or a DG200, or, or, or... to get into
the World Class I'd be trading like for like. Why do that? The only upside
being competing in a single class--but that's likely what I do already (more
or less) via Sports or Club class.

My opinion is that the fundamental problem of the World Class lies in the
population of glider pilots. Several hundred people, some small but
meaningful % of glider pilots, bought PW5s. Many that I know of were bought
by fairly new pilots and clubs--exactly the right target. Only problem was
that % multiplied by the pilot population was too small to yeild a viable
pool of contestants. Not really the fault of the ship's performance,
design, price, or anything other than market size and target profile.

Brent