Forget Dying; Is Soaring Dead?

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"

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

wrote in message
oups.com...
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"


Competition from the OLC?

Bill D

I don't think the numbers bear any of this out -- though of course I'm
too lazy to go look them up right now to prove it.

My impression is that overall the number of pilots flying contests in
the US is stable or increasing. So is the number of classes and venues,
hence the occasional contest with small numbers. Yes, there were more
gliders at a nationals in the 1960s -- but there was only one
nationals; now we have 6! Why was Uvalde so empty? Perhaps because so
many standard class pilots had already flown sports at mifflin, 15
meter at Montague or 18 meter at Hobbs, or any number of high-class
regionals. The new classes give pilots more choices, which is a good
thing, at least for a pilot!

I see lots of new faces at each contest. The average age seems to be in
the low 50s exactly where it always has been. Competitive soaring is,
has been and probably always always will primarily draw middle aged men
with the money and time to pursue it. The "young blood" is in their
late 30s, which is fine, so long as they keep coming.

Contests with room means supply of contests is growing faster than
demand, not necessarily that demand is shrinking.

But of course all this is idle speculation. Chip; how about going
through the past contest results on the web and telling us how many
pilots actually did fly how many contests, both national and regional,
over the last five years?

John Cochrane BB

If the percentage of sailplane pilots who race drops
from 5% of the total group to 4%...does this indicate
the sport is dying? Perhaps.

Racing, particularly in the non-handicapped groups
has always appealed to an energitic minority. Having
pilots excited about what part of the sport interests
them is certainly a good thing, but does racing drive
the sport? For instance the Open Class...how does
that category fit into the sport as a whole?

At 19:24 26 August 2006, Bill Daniels wrote:

wrote in message
roups.com...
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.

Must be a US thing
Lasham regionals in Uk 68 entries was on at the same
time as the open class nationals with 26 entrants (
mainly Nimbus3/4, ASH25 and ASW22)
The Standards 49
15m 36
18m 49 simultaniously with the club class 41
According to FAI stats UK has about 9000 glider pilots
and USA has far more. Is it travelling distance that
is the problem?
Nigel

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

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"

A few numbers to consider:

In 2003 there were 111 US Pilots registered for the OLC, 250 in 2005,
550 in 2005, and 660 this year.

On the 2003 Pilot ranking list there were 551 ranked pilots, 636 ranked
in 2004, 636 ranked in 2005, and 590 ranked in 2006. If a pilot
doesn't fly a contest for three years they are droped off of the list.

So the question presents its self: is soaring on the decline, or is it
competitive soaring? From the brief look that I took, its appears that
it is competitive soaring that is suffering. So how do we as a comunity
correct this trend? What is the UK comunity doing correctly to have
such high atendence numbers? Clearly the distance is a significant
issue; for a west-coaster to drive to Mifflin, or for a an east-coaster
to drive to Montague, can mean the difference in competing in the
contest.

This dialouge never has a magic cure, but it is good to keep it alive,
becuase it does keep us thinking about the future of our sport.

Orion Kingman
DV8

As with most things I think that the reasons behind this issue falls
somewhere between John's "not to worry" thoughts and the idea that it may be
at least somewhat true but multifactorial.

One thing that I've noticed at contests recently is an increasing number of
pilots that have flexibility in their schedules. This may be because they
are retired, part time workers, run their own businesses (OK I know those
guys work hard too so don't flame me) or have found a way to live frugally
and opt to travel around the country flying when they like. One guy has
even taken advantage of cutbacks for pilots at a major airline by going to
more contests. I also don't have any numbers to back this up....just an
observation.

At the same time I've noted that many folks including a lot of racing
pilots, are either in the process of changing jobs and have little vacation
time available or are being asked to take on more and more responsibilities
at the jobs they currently hold. In an attempt to make the bottom lines at
companies improve, workers (at least in the US) are being squeezed. It also
makes for more folks being stressed. I've wondered if anyone has attempted
to quantitate this. That would be BB's field of expertise so would defer to
him.

So the final line is that we are seeing a larger number of the flexible
schedule folks show up at contests and fewer numbers of the others. That
should mean that the age of contest pilots, at least those at the nats
because its a farther drive generally, should be going up if many of the
"flexible" pilots are retired or semiretired. John disagreed with the
latter part and like I said I have no data either so who knows?

Personally I had 2 weeks available from May through August for vacation.
That meant that I could have chosen to spend it all in Uvalde or split it up
doing a bit of flying (Ely for me this summer) and another week getting
outta this Phoenix heat (Colorado). And even though I think that I have one
of the most understanding wives in the racing scene it would be stretching
it to ask for her to spend our entire vacation on a racing trip. I sure did
miss Uvalde when I had to follow those super days from afar though!

Casey Lenox
KC
Phoenix

A 2006 Sports Class REGIONAL rule change (see below) makes it necessary
for pilots to have a Pilot Ranking Score or have earned the FULL FAI
Siver Badge to qualify for competition. (This may be just a formallity
to many experienced XC pilots...but enough to keep them from competing)
Previously only participation in a formal XC soaring program was
required.

Does anyone know of any pilot who did not fly in their first Regional
contest due to this requirement? I have been concerned about the
effect this change.

Also....do you know of any pilots that did not compete due to the lack
of an installed ELT...in contests where one was required?

I wish I had gone to Uvalde!

Curt Lewis - 95
Genesis 2
//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Regional Sports Class
5.4 Pilot Qualifications and Requirements
5.4.1 Experience requirements
5.4.1.1 Each entrant shall meet one or more of the following
experience requirements:
5.4.1.1.1 Have a Pilot Ranking Score (Rule 5.2.1) greater than
zero.
5.4.1.1.2 Present evidence both of having completed a previous
National soaring contest and of recent cross-country soaring
experience.
5.4.1.1.3 † Present proof of having earned the FAI Silver Badge.


///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

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"