US SSA-OLC League new for Summer 2006 Season!

Doug Haluza wrote:
The final OLC League rules were just posted to the OLC web site:
....snip
One requirement of the OLC-League is that flights to be scored must
take-off at the home airfield of the club. So each club must designate
a home airfield for the OLC League competition. We are assuming this is
the same as the home airfield of the club....

The OLC-League sounds great but this rule raises a few questions.

My own club is a very active XC club but our home field is in a hilly
region and it's quite difficult to carry out long or fast flights from
this field. Much of our best XC is done from various camps held during
the year at several other airfields. Why would flights carried out at
these camps (organised and run by the club for many years) not count for
Club points in the OLC-League?

It's actually an academic question since my country's not on the list
but I can't believe that our situation isn't also the case for a number
of Euramerican clubs. For example, this rule restricts the benefits of
the specially favourable Alpine conditions to those who have regular
access to St Auban or Minden. Why shouldn't flights by North German or
Ohio club members count when they fly in Spain or Arizona on holidays?

I would have thought that the aim of the OLC-League was to encourage XC
flying by more pilots at more clubs but this does the reverse. If you
live near and fly with a club in a poor XC area, your club will never do
well in the comp. No new members will be encouraged to take up XC since
only the best three count from any club no matter how many fly.

It also differs from the normal FAI framework. There's a great story on
the MSC site about a Polish National record being set by a young woman
at Minden. It only needed to be flown by a Pole to count. It didn't
matter where it was flown.

I've read the rationale on the OLC site. They explain that it's very
easy to form an "OLC-Club" which would shift its flying according to the
season. I think this is unlikely but their solution to this
hypothetical problem ensures that a few clubs in favoured areas will
probably dominate the competition. The restriction to only the best
three flights from each club will pressure results even more the same way.

As I see it, the departure point of a flight has more influence on the
likelihood of a great XC flight than the weather. Think of this:
hardly anybody lives in Omarama but it has as many glider pilots per
square inch as anywhere in the world - and they're there most of the
year. Here's another thought. If we can produce a handicap list for
gliders, why not a handicap list for flying sites? That might make the
OLC-League rule acceptable.

Graeme Cant