On Wednesday, January 16, 2013 11:08:52 AM UTC-5, Peter F wrote:
Club Class: Used to be the case that the Cirrus / Libelle / LS1 / ASW15 level of performance was the way to go. But more than 2/3rds of the field are now flying higher performance ships (Taking the hit on handicap of course). Wasn't the Club Class originally intended as somewhere for the early (cheap) glass to find a competitive home? Do people think this is a good trend? Is this just a consequence of the expected weather in Argentina? And yes I do know that the current leader is flying a Std Cirrus Std Class: The perception (here in the UK) is that the D2 has the edge over the LS8 in strong conditions. However looking at the average speeds for most days so far the conditions in Arg have been fairly weak so the LS8s should have had the edge. D2s still seem to be dominating the leaderboard. Is this because the best pilots normally fly in better conditions, and therefore own D2s and are still winning despite the conditions? Any thoughts? Regards PF

The early Club class was Cirrus, Libelle, etc. Now it has expanded in part because of the gliders that are available in clubs, and also availability in the hosting country. It also give a new life to many gliders not competitive in their original class.
As to horses for courses, an ASW-20 is a pretty nice ride if the wind blows but, on the other side, in weak conditions with lots of gaggling, it may not be able to escape the group and thus beat it's handicap.
I recall in Gawler flying a very good LS1-f and almost keeping up with the LS-4gliders while making about 5% on handicap.
FWIW
UH