On Monday, November 12, 2012 7:46:26 AM UTC-7, Scott Alexander wrote:
On Nov 12, 2:51*am, gotovkotzepkoi

wrote:

I don't know whether this is the future but something needs to take

place fast that depicts gliding as exiting and cool. Otherwise this

sport is toast in the US. Look at how much publicity the World

Championship in Texas got: just about ZERO.



--

gotovkotzepkoi



Great point. Having live feed cameras, and the ability to watch the

entire race from the ground is a huge advancement in sailplane

racing. I thought that if any country in the world would do this, it

would be the good ole United States of America. Guess I was wrong!!!

Does anyone know if the WGC at Uvalde had at least a DVD made?

AFAIK there may have been a couple of independent video efforts. We'll see.. Live feeds will become increasingly doable and capable. Spot tracking was okay, though some of the competitors had daily 'malfunctions'. It's suggested that Delorme inReach will improve this significantly, but expect both Spot and inReach to be used for some time. Iridium NEXT begins launching in 2015 if it stays on schedule. That could also make live tracking of distance sporting events much more common. Whether it's a paradigm shift isn't clear. Yellowbrick works great for a GP format and inReach may come close at a fraction of the cost may be good for other racing formats also.

Frank Whiteley