Best Path to Race

More details would be helpful. Where are you located? What do others fly on your field? What type of budget do you have?

Short answer, don't wait to race. You can start this coming year in a local regional in sports class. You will learn more in the week than a year flying at your club. As long as you can fly a silver distance and are comfortable doing an off-field landing you can start racing. When you give more details we can help more with the plane.

Welcome back Jeff. Lots of us have made the trip back.

Looks like you are in Arizona if the SSA database is current. Awesome place to fly.

If you want to race, the glider you pick will have some impact on your racing options and possibly your satisfaction.

You can get pretty much any glass ship and fly Sports Class, which is a good place to start. It's handicap flying and not every contest offers sports, though it's pretty common. Club Class restrict you choices to gliders that are a couple of generations old. You only really gain the right to fly Club Class Nationals, so I wouldn't necessarily go there unless you are budget constrained.

If you want a ship that allows you to fly in non-handicapped contests and not feel at too much of a disadvantage then you are looking at one of the last two generations of gliders. ASW-27/ASG-29 or Ventus/Ventus2.

You can look at Standard Class as you suggested, but many Standard Class racing pilots have moved to 15/18 Meter as there are no current production Standard Class Gliders so ultimately Standard Class unhandicapped racing will become pretty rare. You will mostly find yourself flying in Sports/Club or FAI Handicapped. The problem here for you if you fly in the west is that there is no really good way to apply a fixed handicap to make a non-flapped glider equivalent to a flapped glider over all weather conditions. A Discus 2 plus 2% can compete with a Ventus 2 in typical eastern conditions, but you need 7-8% at typical cruise speeds in the west. A variable handicap system is just not going to happen any time soon.

Also, if you fly at high density altitudes you might want landing flaps to get into tight spaces on hot summer days up high.

Therefore, I'd recommend and ASW-27, Ventus or Ventus 2. It depends on your budget. In the long run 15/18 and 18/21 are the planforms that will have the most pilots, but 15 Meter will be around for a while because of the 15 in 15/18.

Andy Blackburn
9B

You can get pretty much any glass ship and fly Sports Class, which
is a
goo=
d place to start. It's handicap flying and not every contest offers
sports,=
though it's pretty common. Club Class restrict you choices to
gliders
that=
are a couple of generations old. You only really gain the right to
fly
Clu=
b Class Nationals, so I wouldn't necessarily go there unless you are
budget=
constrained.=20

You can look at Standard Class as you suggested, but many
Standard Class
ra=
cing pilots have moved to 15/18 Meter as there are no current
production
St=
andard Class Gliders so ultimately Standard Class unhandicapped
racing
will=
become pretty rare. You will mostly find yourself flying in
Sports/Club
or=
FAI Handicapped.

Modern STD Class is allowed in USA Club Class. Just look at the
last Club Class Nationals results. A Discus-2 or LS-8 can be flown
in STD, Sports, and Club Classes - all of them handicapped, so if
something newer comes along later, you will still be able to
compete.

If you choose to buy something which is new-mature production
in a flapped ship, just be prepared for the resale value to go down
in a couple of years when the next greatest thing comes out, and
you are now at a competitive disadvantage because there is no
handicapping in that class. In the USA, the resale value goes
down as soon as the glider is no longer top-competitive. In
Europe, the resale prices hold up better because there are clubs
out there which want those ships. I played that game for years.
I had 6 different brand new gliders in one 8 year period, all for the
sake of staying on top of the performance curve for racing. (non
handicapped STD Class at the time)

Modern STD Class gliders have come down in price along with
V-2's and ASW-27's. You can get a good D-2 for ~35% of what
a new ASG-29 will set you back. It all depends on how much
money you have to throw at it. If you aren't sure, I'd suggest
you try the lower cost entry point, and adjust from there (if
necessary) at a later date when you can define your parameters
a little better.

Good luck, and welcome back.

RO