Are OLC and Contest Soaring really that different?

On Feb 29, 3:11*pm, Sean Fidler wrote:
Some observations:

OLC:
Get in your glider and go as far as you can, as fast as you can. *Start whenever you want. *Turn in your file and you’re done. *Before the flight you look at the weather and plan to use it to maximize your flight distance within the given local & conditions. *1000+ pilots. *Very few rules. *Growing.

Contest Soaring:
Register, fill out forms, insurance, etc, etc. *Travel to the contest site. *Go to the pilots meeting (safety, etc). *Listen to the weather briefing. *Beforehand the CD and task committee have looked at the weather, terrain, etc and planned a task that takes the pilots into the best flying conditions possible. *Grid and launch when told. * Once in the air, at some point, the start gate is opened. *Start whenever you want. *Maximize your flight distance and speed in an AAT or MAT task (more and more common with handicap based classes, AT's are very rare) within the given condition’s as planned for you by the task committee. *When done turn in your file. *Lots of rules. *Around 100 pilots. *Declining attendance in general with the exception of a couple rare regional contests.

I very much enjoy both modes. *A have flown more in contests than OLC. *But (based on the recent debates) when you think about it these two forms of glider competition are really much more similar than one might think in terms of flying challenge and actual process.

Especially if you consider a group of friends flying on the same day and out of the same flying field.

You are way off on the numbers of participants. And your growth
estimates for both.

OLC did have 1025 pilots with at least one flight in 2011. But only
587 with more than 5 flights entered in 2011. Growth has essentially
plateaued. Check the last few years on the OLC site.

SSA Contests have a seeding list of 576 pilots that have flown at
least one contest in the last 3 years. That is very stable. No
significant change in the last 10+ years.

OLC is set up to be decentralized. You can compare results. But there
is no fair way to compare pilot skill or glider performance. The
weather differences dominate.

SSA sanctioned contests are set up to be centralized. And to equalize
the challenge as much as possible for all competitors and then compare
the results.

Both are interesting and fun. For comparing pilot / glider
performance, the centralized contest is far better. For fun, well it
depends on what you find fun.

-Dave