I think it depends on how the phrase "Personal Achievement" is viewed. Personally, I view it just the way I read it........ Personal Achievement ....
If people are truly interested in promoting rc sailplane interest, it will have to be done at the club level and it doesn't have to have anything to do with contests. Let's get a little creative. The dying soaring clubs are not a result of LSF, they are a result of poor management and self interest. The folks that enjoy contests are not necessarily the same folks that enjoy fun flying, in my view we are talking two different personalities here. And one doesn't understand the other's view very well. The contest type are the guys that fly much more, practice landings, spend more money on travel and sailplanes and in general are very serious about their Personal Soaring Achievement. Many (if not most) of the contest guys are doing the work required to put on contests. This group needs new blood to continue having meaningful contests and they are the ones that will have to come up with the ideas to promote new blood. I believe they will have to get serious about club management and promotion if they want contestants at their contests. The sport flyer is just that, doesn't fly much compared to the contest guys, views the hobby as a hobby and when he flys, his goal is usually to see how long he can stay up .... doesn't need a club, a public park or private field will do. This group doesn't set performance goals or have any desire to measure their flying skills against someone else or group. There is a third group..... the in betweeners ... they want recognition, but are not located near contests, or don't do well in contests, or don't have the money required to compete. This is likely the group interested in a no contest required achievement program. The new curve (challenge) to clubs and soaring contests is the electric powered sailplane flyer, now you have a mass interest in rc flying that requires no club, no large field to put up a winch or hi start, no contests ( they hate contests) and they can learn all they need to know on the internet...... So where are new people going to come from ????? Ray Hayes http://www.skybench.com Home of Wood Crafters ----- Original Message ----- From: "d. o. darnell" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <soaring@airage.com> Sent: Wednesday, September 06, 2006 8:50 PM Subject: [RCSE] LSF - a personal achievement program for Don Quixote? > The LSF is said to be a personal achievement program. If this is so, how > come you have to beat 20 (at level 5) other people in a contest as a > requirement? Not exactly personal. With the number of interested parties > declining in R/C soaring, and the current structure requiring some number > of contestants (defeated) being the metric of the contesting component of > the LSF, it seems unlikely that the program will grow. More > realistically, it will decline as the necessity to seek out a contest with > enough contestants just isn't practical or maybe even possible in most of > the country. And it's been that way for a long time. We have the choice of > "ride it till it dies" or "adapt and overcome". > > Soaring is fun because of the lack of rules. Contesting injects both > structure and rules and is fine for those of us who need it. But for > anything, a program, a sport or a government to survive, it must adapt to > suit those involved. In my opinion, if the LSF (task structure > philosophy) remains arrogant enough to decline change, in the end the > accomplishment program will either be ignored or just won't exist. > > D.O. Darnell > LSF 249/4 (since 75?) > > > > > > . > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format > RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off. Email sent from web based email such as Hotmail and AOL are generally NOT in text format
