Make Sailplane Racing Great Again

I believe it's possible to get a financing mechanism in place that allows for clubs and/or consortiums to purchase a glider without a guarantor if the have say 50% equity in a glider. Moreover, if more clubs had club class ships available for rent (for xc or regional contest use) then the dark ages problem might be somewhat alleviated.

Making sailplanes available through electronic contests might work. Run a national contest for non pilots. Use current racing tasks and invent a few more. Who can enclose the most area in two hours etc. Run the contest and the winner gets glider time at the airport of their choosing.

The idea of e sports can be tried, tasks experimented with, and we might just find a few new pilots.

I know nothing about Condor or any other sailplane sims but find the idea intriguing.

With a bit of help I'm interested in exploring this idea.

Ah... The closer we get to 4/1 the better this gets! Keep it coming,
Wil. I'd also suggest you create and submit a design for the
Participation Trophy and provide a rendering for all of us to see and
comment upon. I suggest it should be at least 6 feet tall to provide
space for all of the participants who will all, of course, be champions.

On 3/6/2017 8:43 PM, wrote:
5J,

Your proposal has been received and duly noted that: For those pilots racing via the condor app, they must submit a sealed, signed, notched, notarized statement from TWO Officials Observers that have at least 3 years experience working with the FAI to verify the processing speed of the computer.

A "fair" handicap for processor speeds will be applied to the scores after the race.

Further consideration will go to their respective joystick, and determine the penalties associated with that if the joystick has a vibration system to alert the pilot when entering a strong thermal (aka "the bump"), those systems will uniformly be given a 2% additional handicap.

Best ,

WW

--
Dan, 5J

Article on a race car driver that came from race car gaming.
http://www.gamespot.com/articles/mee.../1100-6419397/
The horror the horror

I am sure that all of you who advocate "making gliders available" to these upcoming e-pilots are talking about donating your own personal aircraft, and not assuming that someone else is doing so. Put up or shut up.

Only one post on this thread even mentioned the organizers. They are the ones who bear the brunt and take the blame when a contest does not live up to the standards of the exalted few. Of course, they do it for the money, which must be all of about two bucks after the thing is over.

Greg. Interesting article and most likely not the only one. It is a good model to follow. Thanks for pointing it out.

Sailplane racing and recreational flying is dying as we know it. To date, other attempts to revive it have had minimal success so what is the harm of trying a different avenue? What is the fear? It might succeed despite traditionalist's best efforts at keeping the sports comfortable for traditionalists. If this was the case think about TP cameras and how GPS allowed the sport to evolve. Without people willing to challenge the establishment sports stagnate and die.

Motorheads who have traditionally hopped up cars from the 50-70's didn't take motorheads who swap chips seriously. Look at the success of drifting. According to some, modern hot rodding isn't legit. Enough people have an interest in getting extra power from an engine and smoking tires that drifting is a multi million dollar sport. How many modern cars sport carbon muffler cans and aftermarket rear deck wings?

Using the E platform to bring any aviation into the public eye is great. We might not have great contests for a few years but we might.

Making contests great again might also be making the organizer's job more fun. I have worked the gate (I remember them fondly),retrieve desk, and as an official for an international contest and have real world experience with what a thankless job it is. I've also been crew which is a ton of work.

Maybe we, pilots, make contests fun for those who run them and they will work to make it fun for the pilots. Contest pilots might be going about this backwards. Make contests fun for everyone. This has been mentioned in prior replies and I wholeheartedly agree. Why not have trailer backing contests and some sort of fun glider related tasks for crew members? Pilot was DFL for the contest but the crew took home the trophy. Stuff for them to do at the airport besides wait around for a phone to ring. Those days were good for the team but kinda sucked as crew. Retrieves were always an adventure and I remember many more good retrieve stories then flight stories.

When flying contests, I always flew better when the rest of my team was having a good time.

Contests with a great reputation had something special about them. Good feeds; interesting destinations; stuff for crews to do when the flying was going on; stuff to do when the wx was garbage and it was a no fly day. The Seniors take a day off so the pilots can dote on the crew. Great idea.

The flying part of contests is driven by the weather which is out of our control. What can we control to make a contest great?

Le samedi 4 mars 2017 11:17:12 UTC-5, a écritÂ*:
You will only improve if you are honest with yourself and admit your weaknesses. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. A tow rope looses 50% of its strength with a knot it in.

For those who have tasted flight, their eyes will be forever turned skyward. And for those who have tasted the excitement of racing alongside another sailplane, they will forever want to compete. Sailplane racing is a sport in which a 16 year old can compete against an 86 year old. It is the most pure form of aviation that exists. Hot air ballooning, helicopters, power aircraft to gyrocopters, can quickly reach a state where you feel you have mastered that craft. With Soaring, it takes a lifetime, an endless pursuit of winning a challeng that is always changing with the winds.

What are, in your opinion, the weakest links to sailplane racing?

My opinion is that the complexities of the game have become too overwhelming it takes the fun away.

Back in the old days, it was as simple as who can fly the furthest downwind. That's simple to understand.

Technology, spot tracking, no more cameras at the points have changed our sport, but is it really for the better? Are we embracing these technological advancements to rise our sport or has it been used to demise our sport?

More than often in the past decade have we seen dismal turnouts for classes. 12 pilots for the standard class national championship showed up! That's pathetic!

It makes me wonder, does the SSA leadership want a sold out contest? Or do they want a small turnout to reduce the competition they face? Actions speak louder than words! Or is it that this has become a good old boys club and we want to keep it small like a gentlemens hunting club.

It's shocking that a pilot can get a rating, buy a glider and finish last place in a regional contest and then with minimal qualifications qualify for a National Contest!

This alone clearly shows that what has been done to keep the sport the same size, or increase its participation levels has been a failure.

Sailplane racing was never great. With twice the membership you had twice the number of racing participant.
Gilles, starting my 49th season.

Craig,

Very well put. You forgot that fact he also has 2 sailplanes (I think). At least had 2 sailplanes to fly.

I have been around soaring for 35 years, and have competed, but it was not my thing to do, but I enjoy the camaraderie of soaring contests. I admire those who also can compete and get the job done.

Another factor, that I have not read yet, is that we have out priced soaring to an average naysayer. While the Sports class has do much to keep the average guy flying and competing. However, if you truly want to compete at the highest level and at an international level, you have to own and equip a $125,000+ sailplane, and that can easily be $200,000+ if you desire the best with an engine. What average guy has that money laying around for a sailplane, or what college student or graduate has that kind of money to compete at the highest levels?

Like Sean, I have a deep passion for the sport, a dying sport. I enjoy showing and giving rides to friends and curious naysayers, that might stumble onto the field on a given weekend day. Many of the people at my club, do not have a clue about the real amazing things about the sport of Soaring. As they never fly more than 5 miles away and make their flights and go home. They see some guys in high priced gliders take off at noon and come back at sunset, but do not stick around to help and ask questions at the end of the day. Because they don't see themselves at that level, because it is too expensive for them, and their wallets. While these guys and gals are flying, they are not interested in flying more, because they see it as too expensive.

I am not who said it above, but also the fact that some guy gets some money and goes out and buys an ASG29, and then in two years, is competing at a National level... Really? I would like to see more emphasis put back on Regionals, but saying that you can not compete at a Nationals unless you have a XX (82 - 85.00+) ranking. So you won't have a guy with a 56.00 ranking competing at National level, until he has flown a number of regionals and has perfected his skills and knowledge, and is able to truly compete with the "Major League" pilots. While I understand that there is still an issue with some sites getting limited participation. Hopefully this will put more participation for the Regional level, and might thin out some of the over participation in a National event (aka Uvalde). That's my 2 cents. See you at the GP.

....and the chicks, Mark. Don't forget the chicks!

On 3/7/2017 12:25 PM, wrote:
I am sure that all of you who advocate "making gliders available" to these upcoming e-pilots are talking about donating your own personal aircraft, and not assuming that someone else is doing so. Put up or shut up.

Only one post on this thread even mentioned the organizers. They are the ones who bear the brunt and take the blame when a contest does not live up to the standards of the exalted few. Of course, they do it for the money, which must be all of about two bucks after the thing is over.


--
Dan, 5J

Bring racing numbers back? Simple.

Just go resurrect Charlie Spratt.