Given all the circumstances I think it is fair to say that our team were underdogs going into this competition. But I still think that we can take pride in how they represented our country. Dick Butler, in particular, completed Concordia, won two Contest Days and placed 7th in the Open Class. That is quite an achievement!

There have been many GREAT glider pilots that never won a world title. That does not diminish their skills or their achievements and certainly I don't respect or admire them any less for not having won at the World level. The level of competition and the difficulty of the competition itself serves as a reminder of just how special our own World Champions have been. It makes me appreciate the accomplishments of the late Paul Macready Jr., the late A.J. Smith, George Moffat (twice) and Doug Jacobs all the more.

I was happy for Dick Butler's success and think that we should celebrate the event by congratulating all of our USA Team Members for their efforts in representing the rest of us.