Good points.

The people who buy PW-5's generally are newer pilots who are buying
their first ship. Often, it is while owning the PW-5 that they get
interested in XC, and decide that they need a ship with longer legs.

Thus, the entire premise of the World Class is questionable. It is
designed to be a one-design racing ship, but it is bought by pilots who
are at the opposite end of the spectrum from racing pilots.

Why don't racing pilots buy it? Well, In essence, we already have
several one-design classes -- the Standard, the 15-Meter, and the
18-Meter. In terms of performance, there is no appreciable difference
between the various gliders that fly in these classes. Why would a
racing pilot sell his "one-design" Standard ship for a one-design World
Class glider with lower performance?

I suspect any World Class glider would be a flop, even if it was an
LS-4. Who would buy a World Class LS-4? The racers won't trade down
from their LS-8s. And the current PW-5 owners would view the '4 as too
high performance for their skill level. The market likely would be
limited to those who presently buy used LS-4s, LS-3, Mosquitoes, etc,
but to reach that market the glider fully outfitted would have to sell
for $30,000 or less (at $35,000 it would have to compete with used LS-6s
and Ventuses). Is that price possible? Even with minimal instruments
and a basic trailer, after shipping only about $15,000 would be left for
the glider.



Stewart Kissel wrote:
With winter upon us in the northern hemisphere, the annual PW5 thread had=
reappeared. I started thinking about this ship and one design racing an=
d thought I might post this. I started thinking about this topic in the =
summer when I saw two full size bus conversion RV's pulling two brand-new=
looking glider trailers on what appeared to be a trip to a national cont=
est. From my location in Colorado and then license plates on the caravan=
, it was at least a 3 day drive. Pilots have every right to spend their=
hard earned money in whatever way they see fit, but watching $200K+ roll=
ing down the road reminded me of the yacht racing aspect of our sport.

With such a small percentage of pilots who compete, and the amount of tim=
e it consumes, and the amount of money it costs regardless of the ship be=
ing used-is their really any sort of demand for low cost "one design"? P=
articularly in light of sports class here in the USA. One design still r=
equires $4K+ of instruments/loggers/software/PDA to be competitive. It s=
till requires long travels and much(all) vacation time used up. 1-26ers =
love their ships, but I am not so sure they would take that enthusiasm to=
another bird. And 1-26 racing involves different models of the ship whi=
ch makes the idea of an identical performing ship somewhat suspect. =20

And I just don't see how any bird being built currently can price itself =
below a nice used LS3 or 4. So rather then beat up the little PW5, maybe=
we need to look harder at the concept of one design racing. I like the =
idea but am not sure that in this day and age that is where so much effor=
t needs to go IMVHO. While digesting turkey thought I would write this o=
ut. =20