On Wednesday, December 19, 2012 2:58:10 PM UTC-5, BruceGreeff wrote:
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

It would have been a bit wider if my fiend Nick Gradinski did not have a last minute paperwork issue that prevented him from participating with his KA-6.
UH