R6North Contest Poll

R6North Contest Poll

Dear SSA Members:

I'm gauging pilot interest for competing at a R6 North Contest to be held either at Ionia, Owosso, or Lenawee County (Adrian) airports in late June or July 2019.

Both Adrian Soaring Club and Sandhill Soaring Club (my home club) have expressed an interest in hosting a regional contest, which would be the first time in nearly two decades either of the two clubs hosted a contest.

Please know that if there's sufficient interest to justify a R6North the clubs are committed to ensuring its success. Consequently, the two clubs are looking to host a weekend "GTA style" XC Camp/Contest together in 2018 as a practice run for 2019.

It should be noted that Ionia often gets a bad rap but can deliver some exceptional conditions at times. Please consider we're tweaking the dates to achieve the highest probability of hosting a successful contest for both Sports and FAI classes.

At a time when gliderports are shutting down and contest sites are dwindling, please consider attending and showing your support for XC development and sailplane racing in Region 6. Likewise, SSA members from outside R6 and from nearby R7 and Chicagoland are encouraged to attend and invited to respond to this poll.

Lastly, this will be a Beginner and Junior friendly contest in terms of tasking in Sports Class and making two-seaters available for beginner participation. Please contact me if you have any further questions.

Sincerely,

Chris Schrader
SSA Director, Region 6

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Please reply back with the response that best applies to your situation and I will contact interested pilots in the near futu

2018 GTA style weekend XC Camp (possibly in SGP format)
MAYBE
LIKELY
FOR SURE

2019 SSA Sanctioned R6 North Contest
MAYBE
LIKELY
FOR SURE

First & Last Name ("Contest ID")
*Please let us know too if you're a Junior.
** We welcome any other comments or suggestions pilots may have for us.

2019 SSA Sanctioned R6 North Contest
For Sure
-Ben Kairys

Sure

Responding as proxy for Mike Stimac - M1 - in Cadillac, MI.

2018 GTA style weekend XC Camp (possibly in SGP format)

FOR SURE

2019 SSA Sanctioned R6 North Contest

FOR SURE



Paul A.

If you are going to do the 2018 event as prep and training (for both pilots and organizers)for the 2019 event, I'm not sure you would want to use the SGP format.

Please put AG down as a Maybe for both.

Thanks for creating another upper mid-west contest!

Lou

Likely for both.

Don Grillo F2

Consider Handicap Distance Tasks. I have written the task setting software
to accommodate US style handicaps and measuring sticks i.e. miles

This format provides the fairest, simplest, and most fun racing for a wide
range of handicaps especially if the soaring window is modest.

No need for complicated scoring. Shortest completed task time wins.

See www.handicaptask.uk for details.

I would definitely be interested --

Though it does depend a bit on what Region 6 South is doing in a given
year as CCSC is a shorter drive for me

Likely interested in both

AE

To maximize participation and to achieve full contests, I would like to see R6North and R6South each host a contest every other year so they're staggered and the two locations aren't competing for the same pilot pool.

I would also suggest that Central Indiana Soaring Club could just as well put in a bid to host R6South at Caesar Creek. In any event, we should all be working together to try to increase contest participation and recruit new pilots. IMHO, this should be our number one goal - above all others!

Lastly, if an R6 site holds a nationals they should also include a regionals too and give priority to those R6 applicants who want to participate in the regionals but not necessarily in the nationals.

Food for thought.

-Chris Schrader
SSA Director, Region 6

Lastly, if an R6 site holds a nationals they should also include a regionals too and give priority to those R6 applicants who want to participate in the regionals but not necessarily in the nationals.

Clarification: If an R6 site holds a nationals it should also hold a concurrent regionals. Equally important, R6 applicants who wish to participate in the regionals should be given priority over other applicants looking to participate in the regional contest. It should also be noted that if a national contest fills up and there's excess demand for a nationals, the R6 site should coordinate with the other site so the other site has an opportunity to host a R6 Regional Contest at a time that doesn't conflict with the nationals. Again, what we want to achieve is maximum participation and recruitment of new contest pilots (i.e., beginners), especially those in the 30-40 yr old pilot segment, as well as Juniors.