For What it is worth.
The South African competition committee runs FAI Club class rules, with
a wider range of handicaps allowed to encourage participation.
Result as at day 5 at this year's Nationals - 3rd year of the allowing
the higher performance gliders in.
# CN Pilot Team Glider Total
1. TG Tommie Grobler ASW 19b 3871
2. YP Iain Rennie Astir CS 3814
3. L1 Konrad Stark AVP ASW 15 3586
4. ZP Kevin Mitchell DG400 3101
5. LEO Marcus Nouwens ASW27a 3041
6. YA Jean du Plessis Club Astir 3023
7. 01 Stephan van den Berg Std Jantar 1593
8. JB Jaco Burger AVP LS1f 1430
9. 122 Garth Beavon Astir CS 547
So there are 33% higher performance flapped 15m racers in there.
ASW19b - 1:41
DG400 - 1:42
ASW27a - 1:48
The rest are in the 1:35-37 range and best glide at lower speeds and
over narrower speed ranges.
That said - The racing seems to be quite well balanced by handicap - the
higher performance gliders do not seem to have much advantage.
Seems I was wrong - on the topic of contestants moving up and dropping
the traditional club class ships.
Of course the tasking and handicapping is critical.
So - it appears a straight FAI club class does work, even when you open
the handicap range up. Now - if there was more participation it would be
nice, but the poor participation is not caused by using FAI Club rules.
My advice would be - Go run a contest and see what happens. You will
probably be pleasantly surprised.
On 2012/12/19 7:21 PM, John Cochrane wrote:
Last two cents on these issues:
1. On "the rules committee doesn't listen." From the 2013 pilot
opinion poll
Question:
Split sports class into 'club' and 'modern FAI.' 'Club' allows all
gliders below, say, 0.90, while 'Modern' allows all gliders but
tasking and handicap adjustment stop at, say, 0.92. The two contests
are co-located, and revert to a single class if less than, say, 12
pilots in each class show up.
Approve 71%
Disapprove 9%
Don'tCare 6%
Poll http://ssa.org/files/member/2012%20S...%20Results.pdf
This is about the strongest approval we get for anything. Read
through the comments. I cannot find a single one suggesting that club
be carved off and fly strict IGC rules. (I just checked again,
searching for "FAI" "IGC" and "Club" just to be sure.) I'm not sure
with this feedback how on earth we were supposed to dream this one
up.
If 50 of you really think the current proposal is atrocious, and club
had to be moved to nationals only in full IGC purity, where were you
on the pilot opinion poll? OK, well, this is our process, and be sure
that it will appear on next year's poll, if you still feel this way,
answer then.
2. On "run an IGC contest if you want." This is a good idea. Better
than an unsanctioned regional, there has long been talk that the US
should run an IGC "continental championship." With FAI classes as well
as club class, this could be a big draw for pilots with world
ambitions from all over the US and Canada, international pilots who
want good igc rankings, as well as a US team practice. Needless to
say, such contests use full IGC rules and class definitions. The
minutes of the RC meeting
http://ssa.org/files/member/2012%20R...es%20Final.pdf
record substantial support for such a contest. This idea just needs
an enthusiastic contest manager and director ready to do all the
work. How about it, Seans?
John Cochrane
--
Bruce Greeff
T59D #1771