Yes, I see the same thing too. The Europeans make F3J and F3B the F1 of soaring and because they do they bring in the new guys.
You will get your butt kicked when you start out and what do they do to help you? Nothing.its sink or swim. The best teacher I ever had was a good ass kicking! Getting old? Can't see? Tough, move over old man there are 50 new guys waiting to replace you. No one is complaining about buying a winch or model and in many cases it's more difficult over there to come up with "Toy Money" plus the cost to travel to a comp is expensive. Yes sure Europe is small but have you ever drove from Spain/France to Germany? Shoot the toll fees will exceed the cost of fuel (at 8.00+ a gallon!) yet contests are full and the parties are well worth the effort. The USA TD contest pilots are dieing. I mean literally dieing (RIP) no new blood. The writing has been on the wall for years.. Its time to read the wall. Tom -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 9:16 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [email protected] Subject: Re: [RCSE] Contest Format A note in support of Tom's comments, I noticed that the Munich F3k Contest registration opened up last week. I was considering going over and was trying to organize it with some friends. The competition was full in 3 days 110 confirmed 15 on a back up list. I have seen this over and over in European Events. I have also noticed a younger crowd showing up. My Best regards Larry <<<<<<<<<<<<<<>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Wow lots of stuff here. In general contests outside the USA are well attended. Contests attendance inside the USA is diminishing. Why? Outside the USA they typically fly F3J or a local version of F3J with F3B winches that the pilots supply btw. They are strict about being on the line in time; they don't "soften" the task for anyone. They play hardball over there and their attendance is thriving. <<<snip>>>
