On Jan 26, 10:25*am, T8 wrote:
A new thread, for Rick and John (and me and anyone else):

On Jan 26, 8:56 am, John Cochrane
wrote:

Rick asked about the insane (my opinion) 13.5 meter class, including
the momentous issue of water ballast.

People will race anything they can. *I support that.

I don't support supporting more than about 3 classes at the
international level though. *It's absurdly expensive and just dilutes
the intensity and prestige of the thing. *My own personal view is that
any sort of handicap racing is a waste of time at the international
level. *No handicapping system is truly fair and at that level of
competition arguments of "low cost" and accessibility really don't
wash. *So I'd toss all the handicapped comps. *Oh, and I'd prohibit
motor gliders... or at least restrict them to one of those three
classes. *Have I offended everyone yet?

My three: open (pure glider), 18m (motor permitted), 15m (pure
glider). *Feel free to explain to me why this would not be sufficient.

So: you guys want to race lawn darts or handicapped club class or 2-
seaters, have a ball. *But I object strenuously to sanctioning so many
classes for international comps.

I realize these comments fall outside the current igc agenda. *What
the igc should realize is that their willful deafness on this issue of
class proliferation hasn't caused general acceptance.

-Evan Ludeman */ T8

Evan, you just seem to be completely ignoring all the benefits that
the IGC world class brought to the growth of the sport of soaring. :-)

I personally think the whole 13.5m idea is silly, world class Mk II,
and I expect it to do as badly. Club/Sports class is there today for
entry level (yes I know club class can be extremely competitive a the
high end)/lower cost/handicapped competition.

The 20m question is maybe more interesting. I expect it may well
become the Arcus class, but maybe that's OK. Nothing stopped other
manufacturers producing flapped 20m ships in the past (and SH did with
the Janus). I'm not sure I see a reason to "protect" existing 20m non-
flapped gliders and their owners from market forces. And in the USA at
least there is already sports class where Duo etc. get to play (yes I
know this is a IGC discussion).

BTW thanks to Rick Sheppe for posting the original thread of questions
for the IGC meeting. Maybe brave to do so on r.a.s but a great move
since we lack any other widespread effective forum in the USA.

Darryl