On Aug 6, 12:28*am, John Smith wrote:
tommytoyz wrote:
I find it amazing that there are not more pilots flying the Diana-2 at
the worlds, since it seems to be head and shoulders above anything

If you just look at the overall results, yes. But if you look at the
dayly results, then the Dianas have outflown the other models only on
the one fast day. On the weak days they performed well, but not
unbeatable. Bottom line: Consistency wins, or in other words, don't
underestimate the pilot factor! If Stefano Ghiorzo wins a two week
contest in the Diana, then he probably had won in an ASG-29, too.

Cockpit size may be a factor in the USA, but in the rest of the world,
most people are still reasonably sized. So this isn't the killer factor.
The small cockpit will prevent clubs to buy it, but then, the Diana
isn't a club ship anyway.

However, for most pilots I know, money is a major factor. So they
consider the estimated resale value. For a ship from one of the major
German manufactorer, this is more or less a known factor. For the Diana,
it's not. Many pilots just don't want to take that risk

So, John, how many "oversized" US glider pilots do you know, compared
to, let's say, "well-fed" British or German glider pilots? Since the
US is by far not the biggest market for gliders, and most current
production gliders have ample size cockpits, it would seem logical
that it isn't the size of US pilots that is driving cockpit size, but
that of rich and well fed Euros.

To get back to the subject, Moffat in his original "Winning"
suggested that if one was serious about winning glider races (in span
limited classes), one would build gliders scaled around the obvious
smaller pilot population - women. Seems he was right, as usual.

Kirk
Well fed but comfortable in his LS6