I disagree that these super standard gliders should be allowed to race in (US) Club Class.

First, the idea of the ASW20 being of higher performance than an ASW28, D2 or LS8 seems rather questionable to me. An LS8 won a day at Uvalde recently. That was head to head with the state of the air flapped 15m gliders without any handicap. I highly doubt that an ASW-20 could have won a competition day in Uvalde. Uvalde soaring conditions are as close as we are ever going to get to laboratory sailplane racing conditions. The 28, LS8 and D2 are vastly under-handicapped gliders in my opinion. Especially if an ASW 20 owes them time. Seriously? There should be riots happening somewhere until this is fixed. ;-) and this is why handicaps stink and why utilizing the absolute narrowest possible handicap range is so important.

These gliders (20, 8 and 28) are very modern designs. They absolutely do not belong in a any class with the word Club in its title. Its awful that the standard class is dying, but that does not mean they should be sprinkled into as many other classes as possible. That it a bad idea in my opinion.

The whole point of the US group that pushed (for years and years) for a US Club class was to create a class which mimic's the International Club class as much as possible. They wanted real racing! They wanted assigned tasking. They wanted to have fun and select the best US pilots for the World Championships.

Perhaps we should stop "kidding ourselves "by including the words Club in what is clearly "US Catch All Class" which ranges currently ranges from 126 to D2? The "US Catch All Class" has no hope of having assigned tasks and has almost nothing in common with the international Club Class whatsoever. We are all going to going to continue to endure alot of irritation if the word Club is left in the name of this Class. It is a false word when compared with the current US Club Class specifications. Lets strip out the word Club and call a spade a spade OR lets refocus to what Club Class represent to the group that made the US Club Class a class by begging, kicking and screaming for years.

A D2 racing a task against a Libelle? Seriously? Whats the point?

In my opinion the D2, 28 and LS8 belong in only 2 classes. US Modern Class (which actually benefits more from creation of the US Club Class (US Catch All Class) than US Club Class does in terms of providing real racing by removing the very low handicap gliders) and 15 Meter Class with perhaps a small handicap.


Sean



On Wednesday, July 16, 2014 3:10:24 PM UTC-4, John Cochrane wrote:
Standard could pool both with club and 15 meter. Modern standard will be part of club. The only real issue is whether standard gets a handicap in 15 meter, and along with that whether older 15 get one too. Maybe a lower limit for handicapping as was done in standard. Then you can fly your d2 in sports, club, or 15!

John cochrane