"Ian Johnston" wrote in message news:cCUlhtvFIYkV-pn2-ZDsNMdvUhfb2@localhost...

Hack

2) Stimulating interest by being a competition class.

Hack

It's a shame that more top-end pilots haven't taken to
it, but I suspect that the competition year is already pretty crowded.

Ian, if competitors are the only ones being listened to, and you want
to attract more people for the fun of it, you're listening to the
wrong people. Get rid of the competition mindset, and realize that at
the most, 5% of the people that fly compete. You're trying to sell a
Dodge Viper, when what's needed is a Dodge Shadow. Jetskis are more
common than unlimited hydros, and for two very good reasons. First is
cost, and second is that more people are interested in just having fun
than in competing. By trying to keep everything in a competition
mindset, first you're banging your head against a stone wall, and it
feels good when you quit. You might gain a few competitors, but for
most of them, they don't hear you. for a few, they quietly leave. By
giving the impression that competition is the "all", there are many
that won't even start as soon as the think they might be expected to
compete. It's very obvious that you are a diehard competitor, and for
you, that's fine. It's when someone thinks they're being pushed to do
something they don't want to do that you'll lose them. I know my
tolerance for being pushed into something is zero and getting less.
What the top end pilots want to do, let them go there, but don't think
they have to try to drag everyone else in their footsteps. Quit
trying to make competition replace generalized fun, and a few more
people might stick around for a while. I've had my turn at
competition, and realized too late that the fun wasn't there anymore.
The fun had been replaced with only a need to stay on the top, no
matter what. That isn't going to attract anyone.