On Tuesday, January 29, 2013 12:31:23 PM UTC-8, noel.wade wrote:
Regardless of whether or not you think "Club" or "Sports" is the way
to go, I would like to point at myself as the perfect example of what
Peter is referring to. I'm 35 (which is young for a US glider pilot).
I started gliding in late 2006. I bought my DG-300 in 2008 (a fancy
and "high-dollar" ship for someone with less than 100 hours in the
sport). I tried my first competition in early 2009 - a little regional
down at Warner Springs, CA.

If it wasn't for the Sports class, I probably never would have even
tried competitions (or maybe once, just to say I'd done it). But why
pay for competition entries just to get my ass repeatedly kicked by
D2s, V2s, and other high-dollar glass being flown by super-experienced
pilots?

One tiny point of dissent with your otherwise good post ;^)

When I flew in my first sanctioned contest, an R12 Regional at Tonopah back around the turn of the century, they were only doing FAI classes, so I had to fly my DG-300 in Standard Class against D1s, D2s, and LS-8s flown by super-experienced pilots. Oddly enough, I managed to win a day. Now, that was back in the days of the 9 lb/sq ft wing loading limit (which put the DG at less of a disadvantage), and while I had no sanctioned contest experience, I had a fair bit of local league racing experience, thanks to the efforts of Peter Deane. Plus, I'd been flying in the Great Basin for years, so I knew when to zig rather than zag like nearly everyone else did that day. My point is, no one need be afraid to fly older ship in FAI class regionals (or even nationals, though I never had time or inclination). You still learn a lot, and skills and technique can often make up for some deficit in performance.

Now, to be honest, I dislike MATs (I'd rather just do my own thing closer to home), and as a result never entered any Sports Class contests. If we can actually get some Club Class contests with sensible performance ranges, and a decent percentage of ATs and TATs I, for one, would likely jump in again...

Marc