New Class for US Nationals

At 15:02 14 November 2012, John Cochrane wrote:
On Nov 13, 10:26=A0pm, wrote:

Your proposal may be the best way to go. Who can say for sure? But
after
=
all this discussion, it's still not clear to me why the US should go
outsid=
e the existing FAI rules.

As a Club Class competitor, I'd really be chapped to know the pilot who
b=
eat me and made the World Team was flying a sailplane not qualified to
fly
=
in the Worlds.


How will you feel when you drive all the way across country to the
sports class contest, and then get sent home because 8 people with
just the right gliders didn't show up? Ask the PW5 guys how this
feels.

How would you feel, if you were a new pilot, flew a regionals, found
this great ship to buy, went to club nationals, but they sent you home
because your ASW20B, Schweitzer 1-35, HP 18 or American-made
sparrowhawk isn't on a list maintained by a commission of
international volunteers that meets once a year in Switzerland?

How would you feel if 10 gliders showed up, but 3 of them were like
that, so everybody got sent home?

How would you feel if you got sent home, but then they release the
club class list for Finland, and your ASW20 B is now on it?

The FAI rules are designed to run club class world contests, in
Europe, based on gliders available at European clubs. There is no
reason to expect those rules to work for the US.

SSA, please give this a good hard look.

I can assure you, days and days have been spent looking at this,
looking through all the angles, reviewing the turnout data from all
the club class regionals, thinking through all the ways that bright
ideas can blow up.

John Cochrane


John your lack of understanding confounds me- IGC Club class is defined by
a handicap/performance range (which the 20b, ventus and LS6 are not in) -
not a list of gliders - the IGC list can be added to if the glider falls
within that handicap / performance range and is competing in a championship
i.e. a Slingsby Vega is not on the IGC list but could be added to it as it
falls within the handicap range used. That range of handicaps has been
fairly static for a number of years and has not changed at every
championship as you seem to state. Thus a 1-35 and HP18 would probably fall
within that range -a Sparrowhawk I doubt.
Your analogy with PW5 Class is entirely bogus as there are vastly superior
numbers of potential club class ships out there, even in the US.
Does lack of numbers stop you running an Open class comp?