Forget Dying; Is Soaring Dead?

Sports Class National is very popular with an aging sailplane fleet
so...

Beginning with the Regionals - Drop the Sports Class and allow both a
FAI type Champ as well as a Handicapped Champ for each class flown.

National contest could be run the same way allowing both a FAI Champ
and a Handicapped Champ, this may boost attendence.

The Open Nationals had about 8 pilots this year.

Sports Class Nationals could be scored by class as well, evening out
the handicap a bit. There were about 54 pilots there this year.

Mike

Computerized scoring makes it pretty easy to do.
Orion Kingman wrote:
wrote:
Only 21 planes on the grid at storied Uvalde, TX for the U.S. Std.
Class Nationals, even with three non-U.S. guests. This was apparently
Uvalde's smallest contest of any kind, including regionals, and smaller
even than most U.S. regionals.

A "get your entries in while they're still available!" posting today
from the folks at New Castle, VA...6+ weeks after the preferential
deadline for what has been an oversubscribed contest and "must attend"
social event for as long as I can remember.

The only U.S. contest I know of where seeding still matters (or
preferential deadline, for that matter) is the spring kickoff in Perry,
SC, where pilots crazed from a long winter of inactivity still flock in
droves, apparently not having gotten the word that soaring, or at least
competitive soaring--whose adherents have traditionally been more
willing to expend the vast sums needed for the latest equipment--is
dead. OK, maybe Mifflin, PA, but with this renowned venue being more
recently notorious for uncertain weather, it's not impossible to
foresee a dropoff there, too.

True, entry fees are up a bit. And so (not uncoincidentally) are
gasoline prices. And our core competitive pilot base continues to age,
notwithstanding wins this year by "junior" masters Liz Schwenkler and
Chris Saunders. But is that enough to explain these two startling
events?

What's going on?

Chip Bearden
ASW 24 "JB"

Fair enough, but what would you sugest to help the current
trend/situation?

Orion Kingman
DV8