Expanded World Class

On Thu, 04 Oct 2007 15:12:17 -0000, Vsoars wrote:


I know most of you want soaring to grow and know that the rising cost
of gliders threaten the sport. Don't you wonder why a few people are
trying to kill World Class? Perhaps these are some of the reasons:

None is trying to kill the World class.
In fact, by choosing the PW-5 it commited suicide.

The market has decided. Face it - there are simply very few people
who are excited by flying a PW-5.


Diminished impact. - A few pilots want to impress others with their
terrific flight. They may not want to share the glory with a person
flying a ship costing a fraction of what they spent.

Sharing the glory is not part of the problem.
The problem is that extremely few pilots love to spend big $$$ on a
glider whose performance is inferior to even basic two-seat trainers,
not to mention 1st-generation glass gliders like Libelle, ASW-15 et
cetera that can be bought for one third of the price for PW-5 - and
which outperform the poor PW-5 hands-down.


Recent World
records speak volumes about the PW 5's suitability for long tasks,
even over difficult terrain. We are just beginning to see what the
ship can do.

Depends on the definition of a "long task". The PW-5 offers the same
performance as an ancient Ka-6E - but today's pilots standards are way
higher.


I don't need to explain to you that one class design is the way to
build our sport. Look at one design sailboats. I have never heard a
J Boat owner berate a Sunfish enthusiast. Maybe it's because he/she
learned to sail in that boat. If the World Class loses its one design
status, we will be back to people buying their way into the winner's
circle.

There's one difference though: People actually BUY one-design-class
boats in significant numbers.


Most of you don't feel threatened by the World Class glider. Why not
support the ideals that brought World Class into existence?

Why not simply buy a much cheaper glider that offers far better
perfomance and have fun flying Club Class or Sports Class contests?


Bye
Andreas