On Sep 4, 1:27*am, Scott Alexander
wrote:
On Sep 2, 4:32*pm, JJ Sinclair wrote:

" I'm afraid the good old days are gone forever."

It's sad to hear that JJ. *But things can change on a dime, just like
weather forecasts, the stock market and even enthusiasm in our sport.

I was the key organizer for the Region 10 North contest last year. *We
gave lots of thought into what it would take to host our first
contest. *Financially speaking, IMHO, you only need 5 contestants to
enter a race to have it pay for itself and meet minimum entrant
requirements. *Not speaking to you JJ, but speaking to other clubs
across the country, I'm shocked that more people don't see it this
way.

For instance, I'm a part of a group of 5 pilots who meets up typically
every other week. *We call a task, race each other, and run the scores
through WinScore. *We grid our gliders, have a safety briefing, then
chow down on a combo of BBQ fixings and a shmorgishborg potluck. *As
the cumulus clouds are popping, we jam our throats with what's left
and fire up the towplane. *It's no different than a typical day at a
contest and costs 1 tow for each person. *When we're done, we sit
around the hanger, have a so-called winners speach over an ice cold
beverage and look forward to the next time. *If we wanted to do it 6
days in a row, we'd have to scrounge up a thousand bucks to
technically call it a contest and have our scores factored in to the
glider pilot ranking.

For the Region 10 Contest we organized, a 200 dollar entry fee, and
pay for each tow option as defined in the contest handbook, we were at
break even with 5 contestants. *5 X 200 = 1,000 bucks. *With that you
can pay your insurance, SSA sanctioning fee, welcome meal on the first
night, cost for a contest website and your basically set! *Have the
towpilots volunteer, get some of the crew to run wings (they'll enjoy
feeling involved) and stay away from wasteful spending. *T-shirts,
Banner's, extravagant winner gifts, trophies, etc can all be added to
the budget as more people pay the 200 dollar entry fee. *It takes
getting creative, thinking outside the box and using all available
resources.

Our club did this and we profited handsomely, $6,000 take home from
slightly less than 20 competitors. *When you add a few bucks to the
cost of meals, t-shirts, aeroretrieves, RV hookups, and all optional
extra's, it really really add's up. *Again, we charged the standard
200 entry and 48/aerotow. *20 competitors times 200 dollar entry fee
is 4,000 dollars. *Nobody is required to buy a t-shirt, nobody is
required to do an aeroretrieve. *Granted it was our first contest, so
we really penny pinched because many other clubs had told us how these
contests can suck all your money away. *Not with us. *We even added an
extra free meal and paid for some unexpected costs. *You don't need a
big tent, use an awing from someones RV, or an open hanger. *You don't
need to rent portapotties for a small contest, use what you would
normally use.

The result from our well thought through contest? *One club member,
bought his own racing glider afterwards in excitement. *Other members
set new goals in their soaring adventures to attend races. *And the
money earned was poured back into our club. *The Memphis Soaring
Society has grown since then and I honestly believe this contest
contributed to that.

I hate to see a contest cancelled, when ours was just sooo
profitable. *IMHO it just doesn't have to be that way. *Low attendance
just means fun in a different way - less competition for a higher
chance of winning perhaps! *The glass is half FULL.

Maybe I should write an article detailing exactly how we did this...

Scott .. This is an EXCELLENT commentary on the issue!!!!!!!! ... and
Memphis 2010 Reg 10 was an awesome contest!

Curt - 95