On Sep 24, 5:38*am, Martin Gregorie
wrote:
On Tue, 23 Sep 2008 22:37:40 +0000, Sam Giltner wrote:
Martin Gregorie:
Please expand on the handicap system that you use and the gliders
allowed in the Club Class and the Sports Class under this system.
Thanks, Sam

In summary: in the UK "Club Class" includes any glider in the IGC Club
Class list and any glider with a handicap of 98 or below on the BGA
handicaps table. See page 26 in

http://www.gliding.co.uk/forms/competitionrules2008.pdf

for the full, gory details and page 18 for adjustments if the glider is
modified with tiplets, root fairings, turbulators, etc.

As a concrete example of the Club/Sport split, the Discus 1a or 1b,
ASW-20 and ASW-20f all have a handicap of 98. All other Discus 1s and all
other ASW-20s have higher handicaps: the ASW-20b,c have 100. The lowest
assigned handicaps are the Falke (46) and Slingsby T-21 (50). The highest
is the ASW-22bl and Nimbus 4 (118). To apply the BGA handicap, multiply
the actual speed by 100 and divide by the handicap.

--
martin@ * | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org * * * |

I'm a little hazy on the Club Class rules. But if it really includes
any ship with less than 98 on the BCA handicap list then the argument
that Club Class is a lot fairer than Sports Class loses a lot of
validity, as does the argument that handicap inaccuracies can confer
significant advantages in a contest. An ASW 27 has a handicap of 104
versus 98 for an ASW 20 - 6%. If you assumed the handicap was in
error by say 20% that would be a 1% advantage confered one way or the
other. That hardly seems grounds for claiming the system is unfair.
Variations in a single pilot's performance run 5-10 times that amount
typically.

Also, if I understand, all lower handicap gliders can legally fly club
class, which if true means that Club Class includes gliders with
handicaps in the 60s and 70s, so you haven't really narrowed the
spread meaningfully.

9B