Short Wings Gliders

At 18:06 29 January 2009, Greg Arnold wrote:
Brian Bange wrote:
I would be surprised if they ever get enough gliders
together to have a contest. If you are into racing, you will
buy
something with at least 15 meters of span.
Yep. But that is the 1-26. We were talking about a new
13.5
meter class -- such a class would soon disappear without a
trace
due to the lack of interest.
This snobby attitude really gets to me.

Snobby?


If you ask most non-
owners what their dream sailplane is, they'll say a Discus2
or
some other $100K German ship. Getting closer to reality,
they'll
say they would settle for an LS4 or an ASW20. Then at the
level
of disposable income, they most likely have the money for a
K6
or a Russia. I was one of these. I finally analyzed where I
was
at with my flying and my finances and decided that instead
of
waiting for the bank account to have the necessary funds for
old
German glass, I would be farther ahead to get something
now,
fly it for awhile and keep saving, then move up when the
time
was right. 7 years after buying a Russia I am switching to an
ASW20. Was the short wing bird the way to go. YES!!! I
have
had tons of fun learning to fly X/C with it and will miss it.
Most
pilots I fly with in short wing gliders are not interested in hot
competition. They are interested in improving their skills and
enjoy the comradery of like minded individuals. A fun
contest
like the 1-26ers have I think would be welcomed. I hope the
World class morphs into what Bill Snead suggests - a class
handicapped to +/-5% of the PW5. That would include a lot
of
ships that have no place to go right now. Realizing that one
big
reason that people fly short wing birds is the low cost of
entry,
smaller meets at more locations would be the way to go. Not
too
many people are going to pack up their PW5 or Russia and
travel thousands of miles to compete. Many will however,
drive
within their state to attend. My 2 cents.

Brian Bange

Most of them are not flying in Sports Class now. Why do you
think they
would fly in a 13.5 Meter Class?

And if they were flying in Sports Class, what is to be gained by
establishing a new 13.5 Meter class?

The comment here seems to be roughly the same as when we
see people
advocating kicking the modern gliders out of Sports Class -- if
we just
change the rules, lots of pilots will suddenly come out of the
woodwork
and start completing. Not gonna happen.


Two of us at my club tried to compete in a small mock sports
class that was being set up at a new location to prove to airport
management that they should allow glider competitions there.
One was a PW5 and the other was me in my Russia. The task
was set conservatively, yet neither one of us could finish it. Both
of us have accomplished diamond goal flights. There is just no
way that 30:1 mixes well with 40:1. I read in a report from the
Worlds at Reiti that the PW5's did not thermal well with the
heavier ships. In a gaggle the PW5's would be slower and
tighter, making things interesting for everyone. And, as I said,
the pilots of the short wing ships are in many cases new to the
whole competition scene. A friendly environment and tasks that
are reasonable for pilots of this caliber I think would be
attended. Especially if they were smaller and closer to home.
Mixing 30:1 into the present Sports class with all the other large
ships sharing the same airspace isn't going to attract short wing
attendance. Plus think about the mental aspect. Who wants to
be driving a Honda on the same track with Ferrari's?

Brian