Why should we support gliding contests??
I've had a little feed back about this so lets have the debate.
Contests in their traditional format would appear to cater for such a small group of active pilots, drain large amounts of resources, disrupt other club activities and take lots of the various trusts monies.
What's the payback??
Well, in the very first instance they get media coverage. The press love to cover races, contests or competitions. Turn on the TV...Golf, tennis, rugby, truck racing, lawnmower racing, bull riding, top models, cooking contests and so on and so on...
Would you watch some-one mow the lawns unless it had a racing element to it??? Why would anybody take an interest in those airheads (otherwise called models) unless it was in the form of a contest...same goes for cooking, yatching, and GOLF...what a bloody boring sport...
Secondly, for many of our new pilots it's the first chance they might get to get unfettered access to a club glider, go X-Country without some old naysayer planting doubt in their minds, and gain real experience in speed and distance flying. We often discuss trying to provide this opportunity in another format but we never seem to quite get around to it...
I will admit that the traditional format (you know the one...a fleet of expensive bits of fibre-glass trying to get around a 250km task in marginal conditions) needs the occasional shake up.
Signs of this are appearing; GP's, AAT's, a speed racing series on the Kaimai's, an aerobatic camp - are changes that come to mind and that's only in the last 10 years.
And lastly, it's fun.
But what about the International Contests? Those big and very costly events almost always held in Europe. Should little old NZ fund any participation in these events?
I'm not sure...if those arrogant Europe-centric pilots aren't prepared to come down-under and compete why should we support their supposed World champs...I'm undecided...Perhaps it's time we developed a Tri-nations contest - the Kiwi's, Aussies and Africans...
Still, getting to SA is no easy feat??? But there are plenty of unsold JS1's to fly when you get there...
I think gliding is primarily about going X-country...I realise that that's not every body's cup of tea...but surely we'll have much more success attracting people into the sport when we advertise where you can go without a motor...certainly more than a vision of circuit bashing.
It is interesting to note that we have a pool of youth who are just emerging from first solo and early X-Country flights (one even did a 1000km's...that's more than anybody in the local club has come close to doing...myself included). Let's develop these bright young things and see where they can take the sport...
All this against a background of a slow decline in overall membership of gliding clubs. This has been going on for years...we need to adapt.
If I could isolate 3 areas that require adaptation they might be;
Less and less people (especially those new in the workplace) work to the old 9am to 5pm, 5 days a week schedule. Drive into town on a Sunday...half the shops are open. Flying on weekends with instructors who are time limited doesn't fit the bill anymore.
A club requires critical mass to operate successfully...I suspect that a club with less than 50 members (of which 25 are active) will have real problems continuing to meet every bodies ambitions. Amalgamation of clubs needs to be considered...as does "Centers of Excellence".
Regulation/bureaucracy is growing...the "so called" safety culture works against experimentation, individual performance and that "sense of freedom". It's a bit hard to change this...it's a sign of a maturing society.
Talking about safety...here is a successful landing...the pilot walked away...see if you can spot the fortunate chap...(hint - draw a line from where the tail plane should be to the top RH corner...he's halfway along the line)
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