On Feb 10, 9:58*am, Mike the Strike wrote:
SNIP

For once I agree with John Cochrane - differences in pilot skills are
likely to outweigh any small differences in sailplane handicap. *I
have a very fine sailplane, but consistently fly 5% to 10% slower than
my better colleagues. *The only effect the proposed rule might have is
to encourage participants who might have been discouraged by a
perceived handicap disadvantage.

My suggestion to handicap pilots (like we do horses in races) has been
universally laughed at!

Mike

I am very encouraged by the civility and thoughtfulness of this
conversation.

Mike:
I just do not see how handicapping the pilot would ever work out in
our sport, especially with handicapped (gliders, as exists now)
classes. Maybe I just don't see the light.

If we handicapped pilots instead of gliders, then even the "best"
pilots, in any older glider, MUST to fly very well/brilliantly EVERY
DAY to make up for any lack of performance in handicapped racing (i.e.
Sports, Club, etc.). Do Gary Ittner, Ran Tabery, Karl Streideck, Bill
Reuhle, etc. always read the weather, the terrain, the "air" correctly
100% of the time? So then if they make a mistake or two, they then
have to come up with perfection beyond what is even their typical
greatness delivers to make up for what the glider will not give them.
Or is the implication that the "best" pilots would never be caught
competing in anything less than the most current generation equipment?
Or is the implication that a Karl Streideck, for example, in a ASW-27
would tie a Karl Streideck in an ASW-20 and Karl Streideck in an
ASW-15 each and everyday of competition? everywhere in the US?

Don't they reasonably handicap golfers because the course, the clubs,
and pretty much everything except gusts of wind and are the same for
everyone, each and every day. The difference is inthe golders stregth,
fitness, "eye", etc. Is flying different models of gliders in a very
dynamic environment in any way analogous to golfing? Can I make my
older glider better than it is in reality by anything I do other than
possibly my decisionmaking?

As an aside, does anyone know how or if auto racing numerically
handicaps either cars or drivers in auto racing? I believe they only
handicap by weight and power output (all things to do with the car -
not the driver)

Maybe we should be looking at making the current glider handicapping
regime better. Especially in this age of data loggers and computer
scoring, isn't it just a matter of writing code to crunch the abundant
data we have at hand each day? (Flame shield on - I am NOT a computer
guy). Why for example do we not adjust glider handicaps for the
achieved average climb rate on each particular contest day like they
do in S Africa (and other places - I believe)? Throw in windicapping
and I would think that we would have a VERY refined handicap system
that sought to eliminate the most dynamic part of our sport (the
weather) from the performance equalization equation. Then let the
pilots go at it and actually see whop the better pilot is in real word
flying, rather than assiging a pilot a handicap.

Handicapping the tools of the trade seems like a more realistic way to
promote handicap competition.

AND...

.... to other "Haters" of giving a handicapped Standard Class at US
Nationals:

If the current handicap system is "perfectly fine" for purposes of
equalizing (not necessarily perfectly) competition performance in
Sports Class, as I have often heard. Where is the harm in extending it
to Standard Class in an attempt to get participation up and make for
better racing? And if the idea of letting the Std guys to fly in 18m
Class with a completely random 4% bump will make for "fair" and
"equalized" racing, then why the heck would the idea of handicapping
gliders of like span, like wing-geometry, and restricted to adjoining
generations of said gliders, be such an abomination???

Standard class, while very much like, but not exactly like 15m Class,
is a class worth keeping good racing going in if the itnerest is
there. It is dynamic at the international level, and there sure are a
lot of new AND last generation standard class ships here in the US.

We need to be looking very carefully at promoting "equal opportunity
racing", within defined performance ranges, for everyone who wants to
particpate, rather than arbitrarily drawing lines in the sand and
axing classes that do not suit our personal competitive values.

Thank you RC for taking this step to see if close range/generation
handicapping can revitalize Standard Class here in the US!

Tim McAllister EY