Stephan Mentler<<stephmet>>
writes:

Let me begin by expressing my gratitude to the many pilots,
non-pilots, and organizations in the U.S. who support a strong Sport Class and
helped to make the U.S. team’s participation in this competition possible;
especially Steve Kroop at Flytec USA, Jim Zeiset at Monarch Manufacturing, Davis
Straub of the Oz Report, and the Foundation for Free Flight. I also want to
thank the Delta Club of Annecy and the volunteers for their efforts in planning,
preparing, and executing this mixed class competition that I thoroughly enjoyed.

Annecy is one of the most scenic places I have flown and I had one of the best
and most memorable flights of my life while there. I will definitely return to
fly there again one day. While technically challenging to a flatland pilot like
myself, the tasks we flew kept us proximate to safe landing areas and away from
some of the most difficult terrain. The French Open Class pilots who
participated in the event where supportive of the lesser-experienced pilots,
relayed local knowledge – which is key to flying the mountains around Annecy,
and remained humble throughout the competition. The region was accommodating to
English speaking persons (though I do speak French) and the locals were warm and
friendly. The only negative experience I had was with some of the paragliders
flying the area proximate to the main launch at the Col de La Forclaz.

This had nothing to do with the organizers – it is reflection of poor or
inadequate training of the paraglider pilots flying the area at that time.
Offenses included arriving in a thermal that had an established turn direction
and going the opposite way, even when arriving at the same altitude as gliders
already turning; not paying attention to lower gliders climbing through; and not
giving right of way to gliders flying the ridge according recognized norms.
Again, this is a reflection of poor instruction of the paraglider pilots that
were flying the area at the time and not the competition organizers. Had they
flown with due regard for rules of the air, their presence would not have been
an issue.

It is evident that if another international Sport Class Championship is held,
participating nations need to come to some kind of an agreement on what
constitutes the Sport Class (glider, pilot, and/or both), what qualifies a pilot
to fly in an international Sport Class competition, and what the ultimate
purpose or end game is (a stepping stone to Open Class, a class onto itself, or
a hybrid of both like minor league baseball in the U.S.). A meeting was hosted
during the competition by CIVL representatives to capture the opinions of
participating nations and to identify areas in which consensus exists. Based
upon formal and informal discussions that took place among the nations
represented there, I believe the U.S. probably has the largest Sport Class in
terms of number of pilots who participate and number competitions. I think the
announcement of the championship over two years ago was a big driver of this.

Unfortunately, countries with Sport Class Participation as strong as ours, such
as Columbia were not represented in France. Hopefully they get involved in the
discussion, as refining the Sport Class definition will have a proportionally
higher impact on them because of their numbers. The other key nation that was
unrepresented is the U.K. It may simply be a matter of semantics/lexicon as
their Club Class has similarities to our Sport Class competitions in numbers of
pilots and frequency of competitions. However, I do not believe consensus exists
among many of their regular competition pilots and governing organization as to
the necessity or appropriateness of a Sport (Club) Class international
championship. Those hobby (recreational) pilots who compete and have have
expressed interest privately will need to voice their opinions publicly if they
wish to effect change.