Vaporware to slow down the sale of 29s and JS1s ;-)

Just like the Duckhawk and the JS1 prove, it will be a miracle if Shempp Hirth is able to produce a significant performance increase over the 29. Hype is a curious, highly predictable thing. The JS1 in 18 and the Duckhawk in 15 are very good gliders but they fell far short of being the game changers they were innitially advertised as being. The other gliders are still very much competitive. In fact the 29 has never lost the World Championship I believe. Now here comes the rumored V3 and many are touting it to be a "game changer!" Fact is that the 29 is "still" the standard by which all other 18m gliders are measured. It is going to be exceedingly difficult (and expensive) to significantly exceed it.

Furthermore, if a clearly superior 18 meter glider arrives, the 18m class (long strong due to perceived stability) will fracture a bit. Many will just stop competing in an uneven event rather than buy a new glider.

Once something new arrives which has a clear advantage, maybe I'll get in line :-). But I'm not that worried about it. It might be appealing just to start a "legacy" 18 meter class and exclude the V3. I like racing (well, OLCing) 29s and JS1s just fine.