US club class definition

On Tuesday, February 28, 2017 at 1:22:20 PM UTC-5, wrote:
All this arguing over who is the winner, when it takes an indepth education to understand who won given the complexities of the race. Meanwhile, the Daytona 500 was last Sunday and it was crystal clear who won the race. Millions watched it televised live around the world.

Soaring is exciting, it's thrilling, but all of these complexities reduces the interest of everyone to basically nothing.

Here in the world of Soaring, crossing the finish line first or last is entirely irrelevant. Only the elite few who have graduated from the College of Soaring Nonsense, can understand the race. Understanding how the rules work is about equal to understanding the tax code....

Once again, we find ourselves fighting over rules, and wondering why soaring is in a demise......hmmm, is this a parallel???

The more simple the rules are, the more attractive the sport is!

I didn't see any fighting. What did I miss?
As for complexity, look at Nascar rules. Their rule book makes ours look like a post card.
They do put on a good to great show, yet they struggle to retain viewers.
FWIW
UH

I have always had a difficult time understanding the attraction of NASCAR, they race around a track making left turns, in cars they call stock when absolutely nothing on them is stock. Grand Prix, seems much more exciting and is a sport enjoyed all over the world. Was it really that much fun to run from the cops with a trunk full of bootleg liquor? And what the heck does an American motor sport have to do with gliding?

On Wednesday, March 1, 2017 at 5:44:37 PM UTC-5, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote: SNIP And what the heck does an American motor sport have to do with gliding?

NASCAR is still the most popular in-person spectator sport in the U.S. American football is the most watched, including on TV.

The most popular participation athletic activity is fitness walking, followed by running, followed by treadmill (which, based on my observation, comprises a mix of fitness walking and running combined with reading magazines and watching television).

With the exception of the soaring Grand Prix enthusiasts, I'm not sure many glider pilots care too much about soaring becoming more of a spectator sport. It's probably never going to budge the needle. We do care about boosting participation, not just altruistically to share it with others but also selfishly to gain a little more influence in airspace and regulatory decisions. I'd say another reason is so gliders and soaring equipment could be less expensive but there already seem to be way more suppliers than the volume of sales could possibly justify so I'm not optimistic that even a doubling of activity would reduce my costs very much.

But speaking of money, that's one common thread in NASCAR and NFL football: sponsorship, advertising, subscription, tickets, merchandising, etc. None of that is likely to be available in soaring. Many think that's a good thing; we argue enough about arcane rules decisions just for fun. Add money and I hate to think what RAS would sound like.

As someone who's been a fitness enthusiast for 40 years, I know one thing that makes fitness walking or running attractive is that almost anyone can get into it easily. The only cost is a pair of shoes. The other gear is optional. The "rules" are simple, even for races. You can start running without any instruction and you can continue to train and improve (at least on an age-adjusted basis) for a lifetime. Once you gain some experience, you realize that it's not particularly weather dependent. So, among other things, you can actually plan the rest of your life around it. And you can easily share it with lots of other enthusiasts in all kinds of organized, informal, and/or competitive ways. It can be a big part of your social life, or you can be a solitary enthusiast. You can fit your workout in almost any time. Races and camps are held in all kinds of great places to visit so that even non-participating families enjoy going along for the ride.

None of the foregoing is true about soaring. It's amazing soaring still exists at all, actually.

With regard to competition, I do think rules complexity can be intimidating, even discouraging. I say that having been competing since 1968 and having come back from multi-year layoffs three different times, forcing me to "catch up" on the latest rules changes. I think the rules could be simpler (but wouldn't want to try to do it myself). I prefer certain types of tasks over others (but would not want to return to the days of 100% assigned tasks--we lost too many contest days that way, thank you). I think the cost of a new glider is insane (but I'm currently refinishing my 25-year-old ASW 24 that is still competitive in at least 3 classes).

Why is soaring, especially competitive soaring, declining? Probably not because of the factors I listed. Those have always been true. Soaring was never popular. What's changed is the plethora of alternative leisure activities available to the average American and the different lifestyles and attitudes today.

All the sniping over the rules is amusing to me. I suspect you could change almost any aspect of the rules--even throw them away and just invite everyone to show up and fly it off--and it wouldn't change much. The exceptions would be at soaring's version of destination resorts, such as Nephi, where the allure of spectacular conditions and a variety of flying activities appeals. But this year's OLC Camp and last year's 3-class nationals were both oversubscribed, so that probably says something about the futility of tinkering with the rules to improve participation.

I'm not saying we shouldn't try to "get it right". I've certainly joined the debate at times. But I can compete pretty much head to head in my glider in Standard, Sports, and Club Classes (referring to sailplane performance, not pilot ability). And that, coupled with a handful of regionals within easy driving distance and an almost sure-thing attractive national contest somewhere every year, already provides more alternatives than I have time.

Chip Bearden

On 3/1/2017 5:01 PM, wrote:
On Wednesday, March 1, 2017 at 5:44:37 PM UTC-5, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
SNIP And what the heck does an American motor sport have to do with
gliding?

NASCAR is still the most popular in-person spectator sport in the U.S.
American football is the most watched, including on TV...
Good, thoughtful, assessment on "soaring participation considerations"
snipped...

....so I can quibble about a stat that was making the aviation press rounds a
few years ago, i.e.: air shows are America's most watched sporting activity.
(I saw it in several magazines, so it *had* to be true.) Since - so far as I'm
aware - no one/agency seeks to actually gather and "census-ize" airshow ticket
sales, so...take *that* NASCAR!!!

BTW, throughout a considerable portion of my misspent and extended youth, I
went to LOTS of airshows...even saw a few sailplanes (3 different pilots, to
be exact - long before those noisy jets came along) in 'em too! Take *that*
NASCAR!!!

You don't see the draw? Really? It's the accidents, Dude. Everyone
wants to see explosions, fire, parts bouncing down the track. Bring
your beer and hot dawgs. Yeeeehaw!

(I'd rather be flying)

On 3/1/2017 3:44 PM, Jonathan St. Cloud wrote:
I have always had a difficult time understanding the attraction of NASCAR, they race around a track making left turns, in cars they call stock when absolutely nothing on them is stock. Grand Prix, seems much more exciting and is a sport enjoyed all over the world. Was it really that much fun to run from the cops with a trunk full of bootleg liquor? And what the heck does an American motor sport have to do with gliding?

--
Dan, 5J

1. Soaring as a spectator sport will never be popular.
2. If #1 is wrong you guys are going to hate what soaring becomes. All of you currently racing would be out of the game, perhaps allowed to compete only to fill the grid as backmarkers.
3. Soaring is declining in popularity because men have given up control of their free time. When soaring was more popular if your dad was a soaring pilot you grew up at the airport. Now you grow up playing team sports while your dad drives you around to your games, that is when he isn't standing around the mall holding your mother's purse.

So many naysayers!! Each of you are contributors to the decline in our sport!!

Does swimming in the olympics have explosions?? Does the Tour de France have explosions??? Does the World Cup have explosions???

Our sailplanes go almost as fast on a ridge day as a stock car. And on a moderate thermal day, the inter thermal speeds are around 100 mph, that's exciting!! Our sport may not have the explosions, but neither do so many other competitions that are televised and enjoyable to follow.

If you want this sport to draw interest, Grand Prix soaring is the solution.. Look at the reaction on the faces of the spectators in the videos from other countries. They enjoy the excitement just like other forms of racing.

Having a sport where the ultimate competition is not even a time trial, nor an all out race, but a screwed up set of rules where a winner can cross the finish place last and a loser can cross the finish line first, is a very very hard sport to sell.

The point you're missing, "Wil", is that not every one cares the
slightest bit about competition. If you want to race, have a ball, but
the vast majority of soaring pilots aren't interested in glider races.
I think the decline in the sport is due to what someone else stated
earlier: that today's man and woman have given up control of their free
time. I can't count the number of times I've heard, "Sorry, I have to
take the wife shopping", or "Sorry, I have to take the kids to the zoo".

It's a matter of choices and management. Some of us have one, some have
both, unfortunately a lot have neither. And what possible interest can
there be in watching a bunch of guys pedal their bicycles? And who
watches Olympic swimming anyway?

Dan (not afraid to sign my real name)

On 3/2/2017 12:04 PM, wrote:
So many naysayers!! Each of you are contributors to the decline in our sport!!

Does swimming in the olympics have explosions?? Does the Tour de France have explosions??? Does the World Cup have explosions???

Our sailplanes go almost as fast on a ridge day as a stock car. And on a moderate thermal day, the inter thermal speeds are around 100 mph, that's exciting!! Our sport may not have the explosions, but neither do so many other competitions that are televised and enjoyable to follow.

If you want this sport to draw interest, Grand Prix soaring is the solution. Look at the reaction on the faces of the spectators in the videos from other countries. They enjoy the excitement just like other forms of racing.

Having a sport where the ultimate competition is not even a time trial, nor an all out race, but a screwed up set of rules where a winner can cross the finish place last and a loser can cross the finish line first, is a very very hard sport to sell.

--
Dan, 5J

I would say that 95% of the pilots are not interested in competitions whatsoever.

So many naysayers!! Each of you are contributors to the decline in our sport!!

Does swimming in the olympics have explosions?? Does the Tour de France have explosions??? Does the World Cup have explosions???

Our sailplanes go almost as fast on a ridge day as a stock car. And on a moderate thermal day, the inter thermal speeds are around 100 mph, that's exciting!! Our sport may not have the explosions, but neither do so many other competitions that are televised and enjoyable to follow.

If you want this sport to draw interest, Grand Prix soaring is the solution.. Look at the reaction on the faces of the spectators in the videos from other countries. They enjoy the excitement just like other forms of racing.

Having a sport where the ultimate competition is not even a time trial, nor an all out race, but a screwed up set of rules where a winner can cross the finish place last and a loser can cross the finish line first, is a very very hard sport to sell.