At 19:47 23 September 2008, noel.wade wrote:

Look at an individual sport like Bowling or Golf: Do you really think
that the handicap there makes everyone play at the same level? What
about the guy who can afford better clubs or a custom-drilled bowling-
ball? Does the handicap take that into account? No!

Actually, I think it *does* for bowling and golf. The handicap in both
cases is based on the prior performance record of the individual
competitor; if he's working with better equipment, that will show up as
better performance. Hard for me to see how the same approach could work
in racing gliders, but then again I know almost nothing about competition
- my very limited racing has been confined mostly to 1-26s. I *was* part
of a bowling team at work for a couple of years, though. Mostly we just
went bowling to drink beer and tell jokes. I've seen a lot of that going
on at glider contests, too.

Jim Beckman