Mark Gaskill, the USHPA Vice President, sent out an enthusiastic
email message to USHPA members on February 3rd. You'll find it
here (and in
its original form
here).
Mark writes:

Presently the emphasis has been on race-to-goal events.
Unfortunately, it seems as if the ranks of people competing in these events are
shrinking. Meanwhile we are seeing a great deal of interest in other competition
structures (open distance and aerobatic competitions). To date, relatively
little attention has been given to supporting these other competition
opportunities. This has been unfortunate as these events are very popular and
are supported by a significant group of enthusiasts. The Board believes
reversing this trend is important to the sport in general, our organization and
to providing greater value to our membership.

It is really unclear if any of this is true. For example, the 2010
Flytec Race an Rally is oversubscribed. There are more pilots who wish to attend
it than can be accommodated by the existing resources. Over the last couple of
years David Glover has tried to tamp down enthusiasm for the Big Spring
competitions because of the cost of getting tugs and tug pilots to Big Spring.
The 2010 pre-Worlds in Italy are oversubscribed as 250 pilots vie for 150 spots.
Many US pilots will be attending (and a number have been shut out).

In 2010 we have five major US national hang gliding competitions planned and
there are just as many paragliding national competitions planned. Steve Pearson
has recently stated that there is more interest now in competition that he has
seen in years.

There is interest in other types of competition, for example, "open" distance.
This is shown by the continuation of the King Mountain and Chelan Cross Country
Classic meets, as well as other local meets. How much interest is not exactly
clear yet. There is an interest in aerobatics meets from a small number of
pilots, as well as some interest in speed gliding (a topic that Mark does not
address).

It is not clear just what the USHPA should be doing about other types of
competition, but it is no doubt a good idea to discuss if they can do something
useful to promote more competition if that's what the members want.

The USHPA hasn't done much to support competition other than have an uniform
Rulebook, keep track of NTSS ranking (done by a volunteer) and nod when the team
is selected to go to the Worlds. Having a central national organization to
provide that nod is important to a few US pilots who wish to compete at the
highest level at the Worlds.

This national organization is not needed for "open distance" competitions, as
there are not international open distance meets. Aerobatic pilots may or may not
need a national organization to give their approval if and when a Aerobatic
Worlds gets held again.

If the USHPA believes that competition is helpful in retaining pilots in the
sport and in the organization it may find a way to encourage more competitions
locally, we'll see.