Andy,

I hope the committee will continue to consider changes seriously. I will try to address a few of your comments.

Not to speak for the site selection committee, but something like the above is generally the goal - host a couple of Nationals together for organizer economics - generally with a bigger class and a smaller one together (occasionally three classes, but that can lead to problems getting everyone launched in time - especially if you are talking out west with big gliders in the mix).

I think this is the correct approach. We can hold contests with three classes and still limit it to 60 gliders or less. It is the quality of competition, not the number of gliders that makes a competition meaningful. I think your point about launching is incorrect. Each class has to be in the air in one hour, not the entire field. Several classes actually make it easier (other than open class), not harder. You can run a competition with fewer tow planes.

The other goal is to make it so the folks with gliders that can reasonably fly in two different classes are eligible for at least one Nationals on their side of the country each year. The other objective is to flip/flop east and west each year so that the Nationals for each class move around geographically year to year.

This is a good idea, but should not be the basis for increasing competitors.. The gliders capable of this are all at the high end of the cost range. We are killing the sport by moving to 15/18m and 18/21M gliders with prices tags of $160K to $300K. We need to focus on the Club, Standard and 15M class to grow the sport.

I'm not sure how it would work to have two versions of each class' Nationals each year - at least without combining classes via handicapping. The expected size of each class would go down which could affect competitiveness.

Actually the size of the class has very little to do with competiveness to a point. Both Uvalde in 2018 and Bermuda High in 2019 were very good contests. The quality of the pilots and a field of 20 makes a very good contest.. Forcing pilots to gain ranking points at the regional level and earn their way into a nationals is not a bad system. It has actually been bad for the US to have National contest with lower ranked pilots competing. The top pilots get used to using the lower ranked pilots as makers and waiting to start later and “hunt” the other pilots down as markers. This technique does not work at the International level were most of the pilots are flying very fast.

This is particularly problematic for Standard and 20M where the number of participants hovers around the minimum every year.

If a class can not sustain a nations it should be dropped or combined with something else. I am not sure 20M is even worth pursuing. We need to focus on a few classes and build the quality of the pilots if we are going to improve the sport overall.

15M is not far behind.

15M is hurting because of the US contest site system, not because the class is lacks pilots or gliders. If we had a contest on the East and West each year it would likely be the largest class other than maybe Club. It is being hurt because most pilots are being forced to buy 15/18M glider to be able to race each year without driving 3000 to 5000 miles for a contest. The entry cost to fly the 15/18M gliders is killing new pilots joining the sport.