(Going fer it) wrote in message . com...
So, If I wanted to fly world class for 2 weeks a year
I would have to buy a PW5 rather than say an ASW20
and accept that I would loose out on a large amount
of fun for the other 50 weeks of the year.

Guess you havent heard of hiring huh :-)



Have you ever hired a glider for World or Continental Campionships?
It's probably cheaper to buy a glider and sell it again afterwards.
Only difficulty here is the long wait for a new glider...

Now for real fun we ought to take all national champions
from all countries and all classes. Put them in PW5's
and let them fight it out for a single, true World
Champion. That would be a comp to watch!

Its sorta been done.
The first World Class Worlds in Turkey.....
Included a number of National champs as well as world champs!




43 pilots from 23 nations - among them two women - competed in the
contest.
Among the competitors were very experienced pilots - e.g. three former
World Champions -but also pilots with lesser experience. Astonishingly
the former World Champions ended on the places 8, 13 and 14.



Some former World Champions finished far worse at the wgc last year in
Poland. In proper elitist gliders...
If you had ever competed at World or European Campionships you would
know that most people finishing in the top 10 are also capable of
winning.

.......
http://members.lycos.co.uk/steve_smyk/ go to 1st World
Championship for results

So now perhaps you might understand while the "eletist" element dont
like PW5s.
They got their ASS KICKED by real pilots who were not relying on the
gliders performance to do the work :-)

Have seen the same reaction amongst other so called "Gun" pilots who
get wacked at PW5 level. ie its a crap aircraft etc etc.


I can't quite follow your argument.
You only mention the world champions. But look at the others, too:
1st and 2nd place by a strong french team, both have competed at world
championships before or are strong competitors at French national
level.
also places 5 and 7 are frequent wgc competitors.
At the 2nd WC-wgc winner and runner-up swapped places. 3rd was
Sebastian Kawa, himself not a no-name either.
At the 3rd WC-wgc Darroze won (he came 2nd at the 2003 wgc Standard
Class), Kawa 2nd.