3-4 day Regional contests

DISCLOSU This is completely self serving.

When people discuss what limits pilot participation in contests - TIME does pop up as an issue. (yes there are many others, but let's stick to TIME here)

Has anyone had experience with running a Regional contest that was 3 or 4 days rather than than 7 days? is that even allowed?

I was looking at scoring and ranking and noticed that 2 days of regional contest get a pilot 95% of the rating he would have received from a full 7 day regional.

For me (and several employed friends) - 1 to 2 contests a year is the limit. I need to keep a few days (PTO's) for the extraordinary flying days and a few so my family believes there is still hope for a vacation.

The model we have right now is fine for youth that do not need to work and retired /self employed pilots. We are missing the 25 to 45 year old pilot age group.

Weather is always a crap shoot,y so why not gamble that the first 2 days are the best, rather than committing to possibly sitting in the rain for 7 days. May also be less grueling on the organizing group.

WH

(With 0r Without a Hard Deck LOL)

On Monday, February 5, 2018 at 6:39:44 PM UTC-5, wrote:
DISCLOSU This is completely self serving.

When people discuss what limits pilot participation in contests - TIME does pop up as an issue. (yes there are many others, but let's stick to TIME here)

Has anyone had experience with running a Regional contest that was 3 or 4 days rather than than 7 days? is that even allowed?

I was looking at scoring and ranking and noticed that 2 days of regional contest get a pilot 95% of the rating he would have received from a full 7 day regional.

For me (and several employed friends) - 1 to 2 contests a year is the limit. I need to keep a few days (PTO's) for the extraordinary flying days and a few so my family believes there is still hope for a vacation.

The model we have right now is fine for youth that do not need to work and retired /self employed pilots. We are missing the 25 to 45 year old pilot age group.

Weather is always a crap shoot,y so why not gamble that the first 2 days are the best, rather than committing to possibly sitting in the rain for 7 days. May also be less grueling on the organizing group.

WH

(With 0r Without a Hard Deck LOL)

It is allowed.
For many the logic is that once I've committed to time off, I want to maximize the benefit.
For vacation challenged pilots the split weekend regional is helpful. This favors locals and doesn't work so well for people coming from farther away.
R2N at Wurtsboro did the split the last couple of times and it has helped attendance. They will be doing it again in June this year. Stand by for announcement. It will be a non hard deck event.
UH

To get a yes, all you have to do is sell it. Meaning Pilots + Staff + Organization + Enthusiam (lots) and a clear understanding by all of the increase risk of failure to succeed due to wx. I could see combining a 4 day contest with other glider activity as a backup to no fly days. Like glider annuals, competition lectures, trailer maintenance updates, sporting clay shotgunning. So, no fly days would still have activities to draw pilots, achieve something of value more that cruising the aisles of Walmart.
Then again, enough willing is about all you need.
I believe the Competition Committee would love to work with you to make your dreams come true.

R

On Monday, 5 February 2018 16:39:44 UTC-7, wrote:
DISCLOSU This is completely self serving.

When people discuss what limits pilot participation in contests - TIME does pop up as an issue. (yes there are many others, but let's stick to TIME here)

Has anyone had experience with running a Regional contest that was 3 or 4 days rather than than 7 days? is that even allowed?

I was looking at scoring and ranking and noticed that 2 days of regional contest get a pilot 95% of the rating he would have received from a full 7 day regional.

For me (and several employed friends) - 1 to 2 contests a year is the limit. I need to keep a few days (PTO's) for the extraordinary flying days and a few so my family believes there is still hope for a vacation.

The model we have right now is fine for youth that do not need to work and retired /self employed pilots. We are missing the 25 to 45 year old pilot age group.

Weather is always a crap shoot,y so why not gamble that the first 2 days are the best, rather than committing to possibly sitting in the rain for 7 days. May also be less grueling on the organizing group.

WH

(With 0r Without a Hard Deck LOL)

From the 2017 rulebook

4.0 PERIOD OF THE CONTEST
4.1 § The period of the contest shall include the period of competition only.
4.2 § The period of competition shall be specified by the contest organizers on the AFS form, in accordance with the following:
� § For a Super-Regional contest (¶ 5.1.2), from five to ten consecutive days.
� § For other Regional contests from three to seven days, in not more than three periods.
4.3 § An unofficial practice period may be scheduled prior to the first competition day. All contest support functions (Start/Finish,
Scoring, sailplane weighing, retrieve office, etc.) should be operational during this period.
4.4 § For an official Regional Championship, there must be a minimum of two valid competition days as defined in ¶ 11.1.3.

Two weekends is a good concept for local contests. A few were held at sky soaring in Chicago. In Chicago, it was nice to let the weather completely change. One of the two weekends is more likely to be good!
John cochrane

In Sweden has the precipitation in the "regionals" declined to a level where only one region has regionals every years. Something had to be done to increase the participation in beginners level.

We looked at our neighbor Norway and stole a concept they called Norway’s Cup. We soled the idea to an insurance company as sponsor and therefore do we call it “Inter Hannover Safe Skies� in Sweden.

The concept a
- Small and easy arrangement, any club can organize this.
- Tasks are set for beginners and only AAT with max task time 2-3h (to level out differences in pilot skills)
- 3-4 days competition. Trying to have it in holiday weekends.
- About 5 competitions per year
- Summarize the individual results into a cup results
- Winner of the cup gets an price in value of about €1000 (thanks to our sponsor)
- It is all about having fun, competition is just a way of having fun.
- We work hard to teach the new pilots an safe and uniform XC-culture.
- We set up an web interface for administrating, task setting, scoring and results. No need for SeeYou mobile competence, all you need as organizer, participant and spectator is a web browser.

We have run this for two seasons and so far has it been an success. We have increased the number of new competition pilots significantly compared to the 10 years before we started and this in only 2 years.

Why has it been an success?
- It is easier to off from family and occupation in an weekend compared to a full week
- We have advertised with focus to beginners
- It is all about having fun, competition is just a way of having fun (again, this is really important)
- The pleasure of news?

http://www.rst-online.se/RSTmain.php...ist&ihcup=list

On Monday, February 5, 2018 at 6:39:44 PM UTC-5, wrote:
DISCLOSU This is completely self serving.

When people discuss what limits pilot participation in contests - TIME does pop up as an issue. (yes there are many others, but let's stick to TIME here)

Has anyone had experience with running a Regional contest that was 3 or 4 days rather than than 7 days? is that even allowed?

I was looking at scoring and ranking and noticed that 2 days of regional contest get a pilot 95% of the rating he would have received from a full 7 day regional.

For me (and several employed friends) - 1 to 2 contests a year is the limit. I need to keep a few days (PTO's) for the extraordinary flying days and a few so my family believes there is still hope for a vacation.

The model we have right now is fine for youth that do not need to work and retired /self employed pilots. We are missing the 25 to 45 year old pilot age group.

Weather is always a crap shoot,y so why not gamble that the first 2 days are the best, rather than committing to possibly sitting in the rain for 7 days. May also be less grueling on the organizing group.

WH

(With 0r Without a Hard Deck LOL)

The problem in the US is that we have a big country and you can easily drive from point A to point B in the same state for 5 hours, not to mention going to a neighbouring state. If you have high density of clubs your area it makes sense to try this concept, in other locations it might be very difficult to get people to drive 5 hours each way for two weekends in a row.

On Tuesday, February 6, 2018 at 5:52:24 AM UTC-5, Per Carlin wrote:
In Sweden has the precipitation in the "regionals" declined to a level where only one region has regionals every years. Something had to be done to increase the participation in beginners level.

We looked at our neighbor Norway and stole a concept they called Norway’s Cup. We soled the idea to an insurance company as sponsor and therefore do we call it “Inter Hannover Safe Skies� in Sweden.

The concept a
- Small and easy arrangement, any club can organize this.
- Tasks are set for beginners and only AAT with max task time 2-3h (to level out differences in pilot skills)
- 3-4 days competition. Trying to have it in holiday weekends.
- About 5 competitions per year
- Summarize the individual results into a cup results
- Winner of the cup gets an price in value of about €1000 (thanks to our sponsor)
- It is all about having fun, competition is just a way of having fun.
- We work hard to teach the new pilots an safe and uniform XC-culture.
- We set up an web interface for administrating, task setting, scoring and results. No need for SeeYou mobile competence, all you need as organizer, participant and spectator is a web browser.

We have run this for two seasons and so far has it been an success. We have increased the number of new competition pilots significantly compared to the 10 years before we started and this in only 2 years.

Why has it been an success?
- It is easier to off from family and occupation in an weekend compared to a full week
- We have advertised with focus to beginners
- It is all about having fun, competition is just a way of having fun (again, this is really important)
- The pleasure of news?

http://www.rst-online.se/RSTmain.php...ist&ihcup=list

Wow - very interesting. Like the model very much.

I wonder if sanctioning/insurance fees from SSA for a series as opposed to a single contest are an issue in the US.

I think the 2 weekend contest is OK for local people with shorter commutes - we do that now.

I personally don't mind a drive if it is one drive and at the end it is completed, hence the idea of a short 3 day event that maybe can happen more often and become a series like the Swedish model.

Proof is always in the doing...............

WH

On Tuesday, February 6, 2018 at 7:06:59 AM UTC-5, Andrzej Kobus wrote:
On Monday, February 5, 2018 at 6:39:44 PM UTC-5, wrote:
DISCLOSU This is completely self serving.

When people discuss what limits pilot participation in contests - TIME does pop up as an issue. (yes there are many others, but let's stick to TIME here)

Has anyone had experience with running a Regional contest that was 3 or 4 days rather than than 7 days? is that even allowed?

I was looking at scoring and ranking and noticed that 2 days of regional contest get a pilot 95% of the rating he would have received from a full 7 day regional.

For me (and several employed friends) - 1 to 2 contests a year is the limit. I need to keep a few days (PTO's) for the extraordinary flying days and a few so my family believes there is still hope for a vacation.

The model we have right now is fine for youth that do not need to work and retired /self employed pilots. We are missing the 25 to 45 year old pilot age group.

Weather is always a crap shoot,y so why not gamble that the first 2 days are the best, rather than committing to possibly sitting in the rain for 7 days. May also be less grueling on the organizing group.

WH

(With 0r Without a Hard Deck LOL)

The problem in the US is that we have a big country and you can easily drive from point A to point B in the same state for 5 hours, not to mention going to a neighboring state. If you have high density of clubs your area it makes sense to try this concept, in other locations it might be very difficult to get people to drive 5 hours each way for two weekends in a row.

We are pretty lucky here in the Tri-State - ACA had a wave seminar that drew 50 pilots from our area - commuting around 2 to 3 hours - ish............ it was inspiring.

It planted the seed - if you make something attractive - with the right timing - the right time commitment - the right atmosphere.......... you can have a successful event that promotes Soaring to both new and experienced pilots.

WH

You should know, but to edumacate/inform others........
We have several "local" North East sites that can do/have done "weekend contests".
Dansville, NY, HHSC in Elmira, Wurtsboro, NY, way back when, "little guys meets" in NJ and eastern PA. P3 and others also did those....

Yes, there is some room for this type of contest.
Yes, they tend to also do rookie camps. The older little guys meets were where I first did "contest flying" (turnpoint cameras, no GPS, very early electric Cambridge vario given to me from Raouf Ismail himself.....).

A handful of years ago, when I was more active on the contest scene, time was an issue. Contest season was about the same as our major work time and I was a senior field service guy, so I was on the road a LOT!
WHen work was slower, I could go skiing, but that wasn't contest flying.

Recently, well, I just haven't flown enough to make the basics "automatic", so I don't fly contests other than a day last season at Wurtsboro, as the second pilot in the ASK-21 with UH.