Make Sailplane Racing Great Again

Soaring is not fostered by the clubs in the US, gliding is. If you can't
soar, you can't race. A newly minted pilot must choose between a 20-100k
investment and teach themselves to fly X/C or earn an instructor
certificate and spend the rest of their days in the back of a 2-33. (this
is why membership is down.) The self starters who spend their money to
buy a private ship care little about fostering a fledgling pilot unless
they want to buy a glider and try to keep up. The whole system is out of
wack. Clubs that won't invest in high performance equipment and advanced
instruction miss the opportunity to sustain membership and improve the
sport. The instructor group refuses to acknowledge the problem because
it exposes their inexperience in x/c and time in high performance a/c.
They have no desire to invest money out of pocket as club members in the
higher performance a/c or the financial investment required of themselves
to become x/c proficient. Take a look at the JR. program in the UK. Do
you think they expect those kids to buy their own gliders and figure it
out themselves? No, they have real instructors and real sailplanes. If
you have a large number of x/c proficient pilots with a bunch of high
performance gliders laying around the racing part will take care of
itself.

Other than desiring soaring's future health to be (at the very least) no worse
than it is today, I have no skin in the soaring racing game...though I *do*
maintain a 'following interest' in soaring competitions.

The (U.S.) club to which I belong has long-owned a DG-505 and a Discus at the
'performance top' of its fleet, has long-/actively-encouraged XC (in club
ships), and is currently contemplating exchanging the last of its G-103s for
'something else' (TBD, and presumably more modern, and of higher performance).

I've a hard time identifying with broad-brush bashing of 'U.S. club/instructor
culture' for several reasons:

1) I know for a fact my club isn't the only one of similar
philosophic/club/fleet structure in the States, therefore such '2-33 and
instructor-based bashing,' is demonstrably inaccurate (though I suppose it
does allow one comfort in simplistic, pre-conceived notions).

2) It also ignores a host of other, human-nature and economic-realities-based
issues impacting sailplane competition.

Analogies and comparisons are always imperfect, but - so far - no one has
drawn an aviation-based one, so I will: closed course speed racing. Arguably,
the proportion of GA pilots participating at Reno (continually going on since
the '60s, for the past few years viewable-with real-time commentary on the
web, and before then occasionally even on subscriptionless, over-the-air,
network-based TV) is no higher than soaring's competitive contingent, i.e.
'small.' Jets and hopped-up ex-WW-II airframes are at one end of the available
classes, highly-restricted 200-cubic-inch-engined Formula I and homebuilt
bipes another. And, some 'soaring nuts' also participate in power-plane racing
activities, to the point (even!) of owner-operated, seriously-recognized (and
presumably profitable), business-based concerns! And while there may be babes
hanging around the periphery of some of power-plane racing classes, somehow I
doubt they're the fundamental sustaining interest in participating. And
yet...very few 'mass market people' follow (are even aware of?) the activity,
and far fewer actively participate in it.

The point attempting to be made here, is that - in today's world - fans
semi-actively participating in 'attracts the masses' *racing* pretty much
isn't a reality in other than niche markets of automobile racing (NASCAR;
Formula I; CART; WEC; etc.), bicycle racing (arguably country-specific and
scandal-riddled), and America's Cup boat racing. I may have missed a sport or
two, but a little critical thought should lead a person toward the conclusion
that mass-spectator-engaged racing, and mass-participation-racing (with
associated spectators), simply isn't ever likely for soaring, given human
nature. And that's *without* considering any other factors at all, e.g. time,
money, etc.

That said, in no way do I wish to discourage anyone from indulging their
interest (or interests) in sailplane racing (I've attended several contests
just because I could, and twice as a crew), or even seeking to grow the
activity. More power to everyone so inclined! I'm merely hoping to keep stuff
like 'RAS commentary' and 'personal visions/hopes' more or less 'within
sensible boundaries.' Visionaries often help advance all manner of human
endeavor (and, arguably, just as often fail miserably...as the history of
aviation amply demonstrates). I simply am of the opinion that 'more or less
reality-based visions' are more likely to accomplish measurable positive
progress than those based upon wishful thinking or casual,
arguably-unsubstantial, denigration.

Respectfully,
Bob W.