US club class definition

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!!!

UH,

FWIW - Nascar, Indy Car Andy Grand Prix have millions of viewers. Total viewers of the Daytona 500 was 23 Million according to google.

How many people viewed the last Nationals? What is the max turnout (interest) you have seen at any glider race? It's virtually non existent.

With live feed cameras, spot tracking, and the age of the internet, passing on these resources to bring excitement to the sport will be another nail in the coffin.

You said it best UH, the rule book should fit on a postcard. Yet it's so complicated, the average aviation enthusiast can't understand how the race is scored within a 30 second explanation.

Grand Prix racing for soaring can and is understood within a short and simple explanation.

The SSA needs to have a major exploration into what the heck they are doing that is killing Soaring. For starters, it's complicated rules like above. The game needs to be able to explained briefly and simplistically to have anyone's interest be sparked. Multiple starts, going deep into a turnoint, or flying adding turn points on a MAT, just don't get the average joe excited about our sport.

Or you can just ignore the decline in our sport like a fool with cancer and die a slow death.

Tour de France, auto racing, swim racing, marathons, Reno air racing, to the cannonball run, all are understood with a brief explanation of how to win..

If this is not changed, we will only attracte a very small number of people..

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.

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.

Dan,

You've missed my point entirely. It went right over your head. But kudos to you and well played on preaching the mainstream political agenda of soaring cult policies (because it's always been this way, therefore it should remain this way forever). Don't you know an inability to change is handicaps the ability to grow?

Let's be clear:

When the wife says: "I would rather you take me shopping."

That translates to: "Your sport is boring, I can't cheer you on, there's no excitement for me, and I can't watch you from down below, when you come home first, I can't get excited you won, because you probably lost. It's not like all other forms of racing where spouses can get excited, because, sorry hunny, you're really not in a "race". I just sit on the side of the runway and get depressed."

When the kids say "Dad we would rather you take us to the zoo." That translates to:

"Dad, you leave us for hours, we feel abandoned. We can't watch your spot tracker and even begin to understand if you are winning. When you start heading home, you add another turnpoint with a MAT, fly away to a far off airport and go opposite direction. Really hard to understand. When it looks like your going to round a tue point, you go 30 miles past it like your lost, but then try to explain its for "more points". The rules are so co fusing with handicaps and turn cylinders that we would rather just go to the zoo."

Since you slammed swimming and biking, here are some stats for you.

Total number of viewers for the Tour de France was 3.5 BILLION.

Total number of viewers for the Olympic's in 2012 was 4.8 BILLION.

Total number of viewers for the last world soaring championship....maybe 1,000 estimated.

Grand Prix is on the rise! Soaring as we know it is on the demise!

This thread is all about how handicaps can push you from a loser to a winner. Just imagine how many fans of NASCAR would be upset if a 10th place finisher was by a handicap system announced 1st place. It would be an outrage and serious loss of interest in the sport.

I've said it before, the leadership in the SSA needs to make serious changes or otherwise face year over year decline in our sport. Perhaps doing away with the handicap system, and doing away with turn cylinders, and doing away with start anytime you want would be a new beginning and just would we need to revive the excitement of soaring.

I understand this is an unpopular stance, because in this sport, if you don't agree with the political figures at large, for no good reason, you will be looked at with serious discontent.

Folks, the silent majority has SPOKEN and either QUIT soaring or choose not to join.....

Dear Tango Whiskey,

You state that 95% of glider pilots are not interesting in racing. I think that's an honest and accurate estimation!

When 95% of any group finds no interest or enjoyment in something, that's because it's poorly designed!!!

Well said, bravo, bravo...

95% of gliders pilots have spoken.
The wives have spoken.
The children have spoken.

Hmmm.....is not clear to you all that the design is broken???