Stewart Kissel wrote:
OOOHHH...I think you may be onto something here JJ...

A class for ras posters only? Or maybe Kennedy assassination
conspiracy believers? Lots of possibilities....

In response to the other parallel thread....my last
post may have been unclear...I am not suggesting more
entries allowed per contest...rather races being set
up for the most contestants...ie a 50 contestant National
Club Class vs a 15 contestant Open Class Nat...

It may not be as poor a use of resources at it first seems, because
low-participation classes like Open Class Nationals are usually run
concurrently with another class; for example, this year the Open Class
Nationals will overlap the Region 8 regional contest, so the same
towplanes, facilities, contest director, etc., are used.

Way in the past, I suggested we have handicapping similar to what is now
the Club Class, but use it for the Standard and 15 meter classes so
older gliders (within, say, 10% of the newest and best) would still be
competitive. Not much interest at the time!

While I like the Club Class concept, I suspect having one would not
increase the contest participation, but would reduce the Sports Class
participation as some pilots shifted to the Club Class. It would be a
great survey question, I think!


But then I fall into the category of non-racer making
suggestions for something I don't participate in....so
I will refrain from further ideas....

In the '80s, when I was an SSA director, I thought it was a weakness of
our contest system that it did seek out the opinions of those that WERE
NOT racing. It is still a weakness. I hope that a way will be found to
include people that might become racers so their opinions can also help
guide the rules committee. In other words, make increasing participation
a goal of the rules, not just pleasing the pilots ALREADY racing.

--
Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly

Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA