One thing that may not have been covered is cost. I see in
"Gliding
International" concern about the increasing cost of material
and
labour ("exploding"). If a shorter wing were used, there
would be
less of both.


There is not a single proof that this is true. The difference of
cost
between 14 m span and 15 m is presumably totally
insignificant.
One has to chase economies elsewhere.


I have a Russia and an ASW20. I've been through both of them
pretty thoroughly, and I am amazed at the complexity of the
ASW20 and the simplicity of the Russia.

The Russia weighs 300 pounds. The ASW20 weighs almost twice
as much. I'll agree that just a few feet more wing probably does
not add that much to the cost, but all the complexity involved in
getting 40:1 or better sure does. Both ships were done by
brilliant designers, each shooting at a different target. If you
want performance, the 20's got it. Still going strong after all
these years. If you want a ship that assembles by one person in
10 minutes, is super easy to manufacture, has a really low parts
count and still has enough performance to go X/C, then the
Russia is hard to beat. I don't think anyone has discovered how
to do both. It will take the discovery of a new material that
lends itself to automated molding to get there.

One thing that I noticed last year is that it is hard to go
backwards in L/D. After flying a borrowed Libelle on a few
X/C's, I could hardly get myself back in the Russia. From this
point of view I understand the low opinions of the shortwings. It
does not alter the fact that I learned on it, loved it and it
provided a springboard to better opportunities. It is also cheap
and easy to fly. This is where the World Class can beat all other
classes. New blood can get into affordable, easy to fly, easy to
assemble ships and have huge fun. If they stick with it and want
to move up, they will find a way.

Brian