Contest participation

I remember my early contests. The cameras that you had to master, the maps.... it's become way easier. And the mentoring back then was fantastic.

I then disappeared for 14 years. When I reappeared, the rules had utterly changed. While I was initially intimidated, I rapidly realized it was WAY easier than the old camera days. The computer does everything for you. Yes, you have to understand what it's doing, byt a couple of evenings reading books and manuals will let you know. And before anyone complains about cost... an Ilec SN 10 is an excellent instrument, and people on this website (including me) can't give them away!!!)

Mentorship has always been amazing. Just show up to the first meeting and let them know you'd like a mentor, and a bunch of world class pilots will line up to help you.

And remember, you don't have to win. you don't even have to finish! Just fly the first few times. So what if you miss a turnpoint, or leave early, or come back early? As long as you fly safe, no one will criticize you. In fact, if after three days, you feel tired, just take a day off!

There is absolutely a "ramp up". Start by just flying along and making a few mistakes. Not safety mistakes, those of course are not excusable, but they're easy to avoid. Come home high, come home early, miss an intimidation turnpoint, land at an airport if the return looks intimidating and miss the next day, and you CAN ramp up over time.

And you'll find the competitors unbelievably eager to help you. I can't think of another keenly competitive sport where the competitors are so friendly immediately after the end of the day's contest.

This is quite the response to a topic i tried to delete seconds after starting it...
Bob, I do completely agree with you that the "on ramp" is by far the hardest part of getting contest participation. While the other responses are very well and valid points, I appreciate your perspective that the non-participating 95% sees too many obstacles to jumping into contest flying.

Based on the responses below, I think possibly part of the "on ramp" problem comes from the disconnect between the club a regional/national SSA levels.. While there are lots of people at these events and contests to help you into contest flying, you must first already know that going to one is worth your vacation time and money, which is the leap I believe most pilots (including myself) don't make.

This topic is actually the reason that I started asking around as to how we might bring back the Region 1 contest (that UH and T8 mentioned), and make it a more relaxed learning experience, and try to make it something that the region clubs would start to come to as a group, to help bridge that first gap.

So I'm sure yes, you can just sign up for a camp in the back of SSA magazine, but after 10 years in the sport, as a single data point, I never have. I think it takes club encouragement and peer/mentor pressure for people to make that step on to the "on ramp", and the clubs with those people probably also see much higher ratios of their members in contest than those without..

That is a large part of why we are hosting R1 this year, so if you can make the trip, I would encourage you to sign up (maybe with another club member or two).

Chris

At 16:41 30 January 2016, Tango Eight wrote:
On Saturday, January 30, 2016 at 10:59:45 AM UTC-5, Bob Pasker wrote:
as a glider pilot with some XC experience, and no contest experience, I
c=
an you what keeps me from contests: there is no 'on ramp'. =20
=20
the only way that I know to participate in contests is to participate
in
=
contests.=20
=20
What we really need is a way for people to learn about contests before
ac=
tually entering one:
=20
1. ground school -- 1 day covering eligibility, rules, launch & land
proc=
edures, strategy & tactics, traffic, equipment, etc
=20
2. flight school -- non-competitive contests in 2-seaters=20
=20
3. newbie buddies -- when you show up at a contest, team up with an
exper=
ienced pilot who will be your mentor for the duration of the contest
=20
Reno Air races has pylon school:
http://airrace.org/event/racing/rookie-s=
chool/
=20
--bob

Hi Bob,

All that has been going on for literal decades in the Eastern US, where
are=
you? (You don't show up on SSA.org)

Every single contest I've flown has had mentors available for the guys
that=
want 'em, even the Nationals.

Some venues are better than others, some years are better than others,
but
=
there are a reasonable number of opportunities here for the guy who is
moti=
vated.

As far as rules complexity goes... that's a red herring. The scoring
rules=
are complex (handicaps, devaluing for incompletions and short tasks,
etc.)=
but the flying rules are simple enough. There's a "competition guide"
whi=
ch covers all you as a pilot need to know to compete without problems or
pe=
nalties, that is very much simpler than the rules themselves.

best regards,

Evan Ludeman / T8

Evan, your argument has a massive hole in it. Ask yourself why, if these
great things have 'been going on for literal decades', there is still a
problem?

thanks for all the info. I read Soaring and r.a.s religiously, and had no idea. I went to thermal camp last year at Air Sailing, and they also have an XC camp and wave camp.

Let me recap what I found.

ABQ Soaring -- nothing on their website http://www.abqsoaring.org/calendar.php?year=2016

Seminole Lake -- SSA calendar has "Seminole Lake Wave Camp," which has only the date and a person to contact. No info on the Seminole Lake website itself http://www.soarfl.com/Upcoming_Events.html

Lake Keepit 4 day xc -- http://www.keepitsoaring.com/LKSC/in...ay-xc-weekends

Ephrata -- http://www.thedustup.info/

Region 1 -- http://www.flynesa.com/Region1/ "The Bus class is intended to encourage clubs to bring a two seater, and more importantly bring members new to contests. Generally, this class features an experienced instructor pilot and a rotating cast of copilots new to the racing scene. What a great way to contribute to the growth of cross-country and competition soaring!"

Region 2 -- http://tinyurl.com/h8g64gz We will have an "OLC" class for pilots who want to participate but not fly in the normal regional contest classes. Pilots may select their own tasks or fly the FAI or Sports task. Flights will be scored using the OLC and daily best performances will be recognized. Coaching and mentoring will be available. If you are interested in flying the OLC Class, just register as a Guest and I'll contact you individually with other details.

some other's i found:

Air Sailing -- http://www.airsailing.org/xc_camp2016.html

Nelphi -- google finds old XC camp pages, but nothing up for 2016 yet http://www.utahsoaring.org/

For both OLC Camps and Traditional Race Contests:

What is PowerFlarm deployment rate?

Does it vary by contest/region?

Do some classes of contest have higher or lower deployment rates?

Does PowerFlarm have more value (real or perceived) in Western vs. Eastern regions?

Does mandatory PowerFlarm keep some people away?

Does non-mandatory PowerFlarm keep some people away?

Does low deployment rate of PowerFlarm at a contest keep people away?

Has Powerflarm been deployed widely at any clubs/contests/classes preemptively before a midair occurs?

On Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 6:30:04 AM UTC-5, Jim White wrote:

Evan, your argument has a massive hole in it. Ask yourself why, if these
great things have 'been going on for literal decades', there is still a
problem?

Hi Jim,

Mine wasn't an "argument", it's a provable statement.

Anyone that's attended the mandatory pilots' safety meeting at *any* US contest the last 20 years saw the CD ask for a show of hands for racers new to that venue -- those guys get a mentor *assigned*. You can refuse of course, but my point is: you don't even need to ask. Mentors I have had include Hank Nixon, John Seymour, Doug Jacobs, Ken Sorenson, Rick Walters... the very best of the best. All of these guys were fantastic to work with. I just wish I were a sharper student!

Numerous racing clinics have been held. I'm aware of week long clinics run by Doug Jacobs and Karl Striedieck, I know that there have been others. I was able to sit in on a couple of days with Doug and G Dale at Sugarbush in 2004 and it was intense, well focused, superb. I can't rattle off dates or numbers, but these are not terribly *un*common.

Karl Striedieck has been hopping back seat rides in his Duo at contests all over the country for the last decade. I don't believe the P2 ordinarily gets to do any flying, but you do get to see what goes on in Striedieck-world first hand, and guys I know that have taken the opportunity give it two thumbs up.

Lately (last 5 - 6 years) "Bus" classes have started running at regionals in the Northeast. Experienced guys bring the club K-21 or G-103 to a regional and rotate their students through the front seat on racing days. All backed up with ground school, of course.

My point is: The help and encouragement is there for the taking. What I can't do is freely distribute the motivation to jump on the offer and make it stick. Clearly, the one word reason for declining participation is "motivation". Addressing that is a different thread.

Best regards & see y'all at a competition next year.

Evan Ludeman / T8

PS. Just casually watching who's buying what in 2015 - 16, I see a bunch of 20m and larger two seat gliders getting purchased by guys with many decades of single seat XC and racing experience. Two that I know pretty well have made clear that their *main* purpose for doing this was to see if they could push some new pilots past their initial trepidation and into XC flying.. I suspect others are thinking similar thoughts. Opportunity in 2016 abounds.

Exactly. The SSA is very fractured (to say the least) in its communication and marketing execution even though that task should be job #1.

From what I can see, we at the SSA has no very little marketing or marketing strategy. Our website should be set up based on our key audiences. It is not. It is generally set up to serve active existing SSA members.

We very little in the form of a growth and development strategy. Very little social media strategy. We have an almost ancient website that speaks for itself. Again, it only really serves the people who are already familiar with the SSA and know what they are looking for. You really do not get a sense of what is important or really going on at the SSA from our website. For example, another forum was recently created to foster inter club communications. I'm sure that there are others. This information cannot be found as a resource from the SSA website.

You're description of learning about cross country camps, etc from RAS and varied sources really speaks volumes to the larger problem.

No wonder RAS is so popular. It's really the best communication platform available. This is sad. What a huge opportunity for the SSA.

The SSA should have its own moderated (login required) forum really...

This problem (finding cross country camps or destinations or destination based non contest events, etc) is a perfect use case example for an SSA site rebuild.

Who are the target audiences for the SSA website? Are we providing them with good information or are they forced to go to RAS or "search around" for themselves? Of course if they are forced to go elsewhere the SSA has failed, miserably...

Quick list of SSA website target audience...

General public (unfamiliar but somehow interested in soaring and doing research...)
Contest pilots
Prospective Contest Pilots
Cross country pilots (non contest)
"Prospective" Cross Country Pilots
Pilots looking for soaring travel destinations
Pilots looking for soaring camps and coaching, training, mentoring...
OLC community
Prospective OLC Pilots
Commercial Soaring Operations
Prospective Commercial Operation Customers
Club pattern pilots (non-cross country)
Student pilots
Prospective students pilots
Prospective existing (but non glider) pilots (power, etc)
Tow pilots
Soaring Clubs
Soaring Club members
Junior pilots (should be top of this list)
Female pilots
Soaring Club members
Soaring Clubs
Instructors
Cross Country active Clubs
No Cross Country Clubs
Media
International Soaring Community
Potential Event Sponsors
Etc., etc.

This is a significant task but each of these audiences are very important. We need communications and marketing strategies that serve most or all of these communities. Little exists for them now.

We need to bring the SSA out of the 90's and into 2016.

Sean Fidler

On Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 10:19:15 AM UTC-5, Tango Eight wrote:
My point is: The help and encouragement is there for the taking. What I can't do is freely distribute the motivation to jump on the offer and make it stick. Clearly, the one word reason for declining participation is "motivation".

I don't think its simply motivation.

as I tried to point in in my most recent post which lists the XC training programs I've found as a result of this thread, there is a gap between what is available and what is known to be available.

the SSA and event organizers can do a better job of getting the word out.

--b

On Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 11:09:58 AM UTC-5, Bob Pasker wrote:
On Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 10:19:15 AM UTC-5, Tango Eight wrote:
My point is: The help and encouragement is there for the taking. What I can't do is freely distribute the motivation to jump on the offer and make it stick. Clearly, the one word reason for declining participation is "motivation".

I don't think its simply motivation.

as I tried to point in in my most recent post which lists the XC training programs I've found as a result of this thread, there is a gap between what is available and what is known to be available.

the SSA and event organizers can do a better job of getting the word out.

--b

We'll put Sean right on it :-).

XC camps and racing aren't for scratch students, so I would presume that by the time most are ready for this, they have an awareness of where to go for information.

My complaint about motivation has more to do with competition flying. We've always seen the XC clinics fill up. There's another big step between recreational XC and competition flying.

best,
Evan

On Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 9:37:54 AM UTC-5, Bob Pasker wrote:
thanks for all the info. I read Soaring and r.a.s religiously, and had no idea. I went to thermal camp last year at Air Sailing, and they also have an XC camp and wave camp.

Let me recap what I found.

ABQ Soaring -- nothing on their website http://www.abqsoaring.org/calendar.php?year=2016

Seminole Lake -- SSA calendar has "Seminole Lake Wave Camp," which has only the date and a person to contact. No info on the Seminole Lake website itself http://www.soarfl.com/Upcoming_Events.html

Lake Keepit 4 day xc -- http://www.keepitsoaring.com/LKSC/in...ay-xc-weekends

Ephrata -- http://www.thedustup.info/

Region 1 -- http://www.flynesa.com/Region1/ "The Bus class is intended to encourage clubs to bring a two seater, and more importantly bring members new to contests. Generally, this class features an experienced instructor pilot and a rotating cast of copilots new to the racing scene. What a great way to contribute to the growth of cross-country and competition soaring!"

Region 2 -- http://tinyurl.com/h8g64gz We will have an "OLC" class for pilots who want to participate but not fly in the normal regional contest classes. Pilots may select their own tasks or fly the FAI or Sports task. Flights will be scored using the OLC and daily best performances will be recognized. Coaching and mentoring will be available. If you are interested in flying the OLC Class, just register as a Guest and I'll contact you individually with other details.

some other's i found:

Air Sailing -- http://www.airsailing.org/xc_camp2016.html

Nelphi -- google finds old XC camp pages, but nothing up for 2016 yet http://www.utahsoaring.org/

Hi Bob
How long did it take you to search out the information above?
Thx
UH