On Wed, 08 Sep 2004 07:59:22 +1000, Robert wrote: >>Jeez Mike, do you have to be so jaundiced about *everything*? >
I do wish the Nationals all the best. One of the effects of having been around for a while, there is knowledge on historic background that informs why attitudes develop. Back then, a group of pilots couldn't get access to the Nationals because they didn't have 'proper' (ie current generation) sailplanes. They asked for entry under handicap. They were told to f.off by the GFA, unless they got proper gliders. (My letter came to me from the late Roger Woods, who offered the salve of being allowed to enter the NSW state contest which did allow such outdated equipment in at the time.) You can read up for yourself the scoresheet for that comp. (One of the few times I beat that Victorian hotted up Olympia driven by Keith Nolan). Oops, I don't think it has a GFA approved Experimental category rating. My Boomerang had been modded at Mildura by the fibreglass shop. Oops, it doesn't have an Experimental category either, and the factory wasn't GFA approved. Drat. The Sports Class Nationals that evolved from that NSW state contest did unconsciable things like use handicaps; which the greater wisdom of the GFA decreed could never work in gliding. And that anyway, this was the opposite of the sport wanting to evolve with current generation gear. ($A:DM 4:1, a Cirrus for $8,000, ah, the good old days). So anyway, no GFA sanction for that renegade lot. They would have to survive or fail on their own. So it made me smile when Nigel Baker said last year I should turn up to Club Class with a proper glider. (dejavu) Because I was having trouble making it around the minimum AAT task in the daylight hours available in the Super Arrow. And for some strange reason didn't want to glide straight across the irrigation on track in the low convection heights being experienced. (Just another sign of a lack of proper competitive spirit as described in the book 'The Clouded Sky'). Which is why that was the last time a wood glider will attend a Nationals. (Let's not even consider the mods, certification, authority issues involved). The effect on entry numbers will hopefully not be great. I hope that this year's additional minimum mandatory individual pilot insurance requirements doesn't greatly affect entry numbers. So some people have seen the flux and flow before, and can't get as enthused as do some new chums. Anyway, about time you upgraded from that early 1970's technology, isn't it Robert? _______________________________________________ Aus-soaring mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] To check or change subscription details, visit: http://lists.internode.on.net/mailman/listinfo/aus-soaring
