Frank Whiteley wrote:

One change
in 2005 (50km minimum distance) resulted in one club in our state to
stop posting, as they have about 8 1-26's in the private and club
fleet. The bar appears to have been raised a little too high.

This may not be as it seems, despite the fact OLC have stated just that
on their web page.

For both 2005 and 2006 flights scoring at least fifty _points_ are
apparently counted. Shorter flights are also displayed. I wonder if
perhaps the explanation on the OLC site is as clear as it might be on
that min. distance v min. points. It lacks considerable clarity on much
of the inner workings of the OLC. I put this down to the language
barrier, German/English, and not any lack of effort.

Consequently those 1-26 drivers should take heart, since their handicap
rating of 63 gives a minimum scoreable flight of fifty points with an
actual scoreable flight distance of only 31.5k. Not that tough, even
here in N. IL. When they go to higher L/D gliders then they'll have to
fly even more than 50k to get those fifty points.

Examples from the current 2006 season:

Iten, Brian flew 55.38km for 46.69 pts in a Discus (DAeC index or
"handicap" of 108). The entry is grayed-out on the page indicating that
the flight is "displayed but not counted" http://tinyurl.com/akkyz

Herrmann, Jim flew 36.52km for 52.1 points in a 1-26D/E (DAeC index or
"handicap" of 63). The entry is black text indicating "scored and
counted". http://tinyurl.com/9nh2z

As always, corrections to the above are encouraged.


Jack