The last 25 years have seen a huge structural change in how contest flying is organized. I start with two whole new race formats, the OLC and Grand Prix
1. OLC
The OLC (online contest) is a big development. Pilots send their traces in from around the world, and are scored on various formats, most of which emphasize long distances. This is another instance in which technology (the internet) enables a form of race organization that was previously impossible.
OLC is immensely popular. Close to 1000 pilots fly OLC in the US, compared to about 350 that flew in a contest in 2010. Put another way, two out of three active cross country pilots chose not to attend any contests last year. Obviously, OLC is either a challenge – an alternative which may be sucking energy away from contests – or an opportunity: here is a target population which could triple our numbers.
Why do people fly contests? In part for recognition; you want people to see your accomplishments. The OLC offers that. In many ways OLC really is the modern substitute for badge flying in that regard.
And why might pilots find OLC satisfying over regular contests? Perhaps they dislike the tendency to short tasks, the milling around before the start, or tactical flying. Certainly there is some convenience in a short event that does not mean a long drive or weeks away from home (see wives and crews, above).
But they lose something. They lose the camaraderie, the lifelong friendships we develop from contest flying. They lose the fast learning curve that the interchange of ideas of top pilots in a common location produces. They lose the challenge of flying and racing on weak days, when your competitors around the world will rack up kilometers.
If we view OLC as a challenge, maybe OLC style contests will attract pilots. We certainly can get together for shorter periods of time, and declare a 3 turnpoint MAT with very long minimum time! Or perhaps we just need to view OLC as our targets and mine them for contest participation.
2. Grand Prix.
The Grand Prix is another new race format, brought about from the top by the IGC. We haven’t had one yet in the US, but it’s more and more popular around the world.
Grand Prix races are run in a fundamentally different way. A small number, less than 20, start all at the same time. They fly a short assigned task. They are scored by place, not by points.
These changes have a dramatic effect on the nature of the contest flight. Start gate roulette is pointless. Gaggling and leeching take on sailboat tactics – the right thing to do is “cover” the opponent and then dash to the finish. If “covered”, the right thing to do is tear off and do something wild. And you can imagine how “exciting” the finish is when losing by an inch is as good as losing by a mile. Pilots under regular rules would not fight over one thousandth of a point.
Another big change is that the Grand Prix is designed for media and spectators. It has 3D real time tracking, and now has sponsorship and money. (The sponsors like advertising the “green” nature of soaring. They don’t show the towplanes, RVs, retrieve vehicles, and so forth!) It came out of the IGCs frustrations at trying to get spectator interest for regular soaring.
And that’s why I like it. The grand prix nicely shows how regular soaring is a participant sport, not a spectator sport. The point of regular soaring contests is for the enjoyment of the participants, period. Watching a contest has always been as fun as watching paint dry.
Now that we have the grand prix, we can cleanly separate the two goals. Grand prix racing can go for the spectators. For that purpose, short tasks, and wild rules make sense. You don’t have to pay much attention to safety. In fact a few telegenic crashes will bring in more spectators. You don’t need big participation. In turn, regular soaring can stop even thinking about amusing spectators, and come to the realization that there aren’t any, and focus on increasing participation. So good luck to the grand prix.
