On Thursday, June 14, 2012 7:30:37 PM UTC-4, John Cochrane wrote:
My website has a copy of the article "The National Contest
Participation Dilemma" that appeared in this month's Soaring. I put
together a lot of numbers on contest participation, and tried to get
at some causes.

A few surprises: lots of new pilots show up, but they don't stick.
Pilots do not like to drive long distances. There are lots of contest-
capable gliders out there.

The article is meant to stir up discussion on what we should do,
including east/west nationals, mixed handicapped classes, picking team
members from outside "their" class, or (not in the article because I
hadn't heard of the idea at the time) having just one big nationals
with many small classes and multiple super-regional qualifiers.

Direct link
http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/john...ticipation.pdf

Webpage
http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/john...index.htm#misc

John Cochrane

John,

Keep the writing up. Your articles have become the highlight of the magazine for me.

There are some shining lights:

1) GTA Racing Association in Region V is thriving this year after a few years of decline.
2) A half dozen competition pilots have entered the fray this year via GTA. All of these guys are young with the youngest being 16!
3) Bill Daniels reports that the last few months have seen a net growth in SSA memberships.
4) An SSA committe has engaged the Civil Air Patrol in constructive talks regarding glider training.
5) The SSA has some forward thinkers who are working hard to generate momentum.

The pendulum may be swinging in the right direction.

Lane
XF

Lane
XF