US Team Committee2012 Fall Board MeetingActivity Report
US Team Committee Membership Changes
Richard Walters has been appointed the chairman of the USTC to replace Bill Elliot, who resigned in August. This leaves a missing USTC slot, so nominations will be accepted in November and an election held in December. The committee members felt it was prudent to wait for the normal election cycle, rather than appoint a new member. We are hopeful that someone with fundraising experience can be elected to the committee.
2012 WGC Uvalde
The US hosted WGC in Uvalde for the flapped class sailplanes was very successful. Team USA results were not as successful. Two daily wins by Dick Butler in his homebuilt sailplane and a 10th place and 7th place overall finish for Ron Tabery and Butler respectively, were the high points. We thank Dennis Linnekin for his efforts as team captain.
2012/2013 WGC Argentina
The upcoming WGC will be for Standard class, Club class, and World Class gliders. It will actually start in 2013 but will be considered a 2012 contest for USTC funding since the IGC deemed it a 2012 competition. Our team will arrive in Argentina near the end of December.
There has been a real effort by many to arrange gliders and cars for our pilots in Argentina. Gliders and cars were offered by US non competitors to assist team pilots, with only goodwill in return. Peter Deane, USTC member, will author a Soaring Magazine article late this year that details some of the machinations required to attend a WGC. Rick Sheppe is the Team Captain.
The organizers are allowing three entries in World Class, so our pilots will be Pat Tuckey, Bill Snead, and Tom Mcknight. Francois Pin has given up his position, so Tom is our newest team member. Club Class pilots are Sean Franke and Sarah Arnold. Standard Class pilots are Phil Gaisford and Peter Deane. We will provide no funding for the World Class pilots, per a decision made last year.
2013 WGC’s
Initial results show that Boyd Willat is our Junior National Champion and qualifies to attend the 2013 JWGC in Leszno, Poland. No other junior pilots qualify. Garret Willat is interested in being TC and crew for his brother. The feminine WGC will be held in Issoudun, France and Sarah Arnold is our only qualifying feminine pilot. She will decide soon if she can attend.
2014 WGC’s
Our five early selected pilots will be notified soon concerning attending the 2013 PreWGC’s in Finland ( Std, Club, 20M), and Poland ( 15M, 18M, and Open.) Due to the fact that two of the pilots will be flying in Argentina, I doubt there will be much interest in practicing in Finland next summer.
US Rules Committee Poll
The USTC has submitted two questions for the annual RC poll. One question deals with the new 20M two seater class at the WGC as well as a potential 13.5M class replacing the World Class. Do we select pilots for these new classes, and support them just like the existing classes?
The other question deals with a possible change to the selection method to eliminate long cross country drives to compete in nationals, which would allow results from non-class specific contests to be factored into ranking of pilots. The current system requires that pilots fly the same class nationals each year, which requires a very long drive at least every third year as the nationals move with the East, Central, West, Central prefered locations. The hope is that more pilots would be interested in trying for the team and possibly some new talent will emerge.
US Team Training Camp
Our first ever team training camp was held at Chilhowee Gliderport, thanks to Sarah Arnold. Over 70% of our current team pilots attended as well as several “reserve” pilots and a team captain. Brian Spreckley ( former WGC champion as well as UK team coach) was the coach and flew each day with Pete Alexander, who donated his Arcus two seater for the camp. By all accounts the camp was a success. We plan to make this an annual event and open up alternate years to pilots further down the seed list.
Fundraising
The US team had no booth or fundraising activity at the Reno convention. Having a local WGC ( Uvalde) made fundraising less critical than when we send two teams to Europe. However, the USTC needs to step up efforts and get the team pilots to actively participate as they have in the past. There is the possibility of a plea for donations before the Argentina WGC.
The USTC will be getting up to speed on the Mozer Trust with regards to Junior team funding. Much more effort needs to go towards fundraising.
Financials ( by Sarah Arnold, USTC Treasurer )
Fundraising efforts for the two WGC’s this year have been limited other than the Women
Soaring Pilots Association “Sarah Fund” which has been so successful that at this time it appears Sarah will not request assistance from the regular Robertson/Woods Trusts.
At the USTC meeting in Reno, NV this February it was voted to support Uvalde WGC pilots with full payment of registration fees and all official contest tows both during the competition and official practice period. With 78 contest tows and 29 practice day tows paid this averaged out to a defined benefit of $2312.50 per pilot. An additional $805 was spent on a US Team room and $1000 has been pledged towards expenses for the host country party. The US Team Committee treasurer is awaiting receipts before reimbursement of these expenses can be completed.
The funding situation for the Argentina team is complex. All three World Class Pilots are self-funded. As this is the last World Class WGC, in early 2010 the USTC decided not to fund it in any way other than team captain support which is for the entire team. There are many Club and World Class gliders inside the country of Argentina, and through various trading arrangements whereby the Argentinean team was supported for the pre-world and Uvalde WGC events, swaps have been made for gliders, crew and cars in Argentina. These swaps will benefit members of World and Club Class for gliders, crew and cars. Since there are no modern standard class gliders in Argentina these pilots will be forced to import and face horrific costs associated with Argentina customs. The standard class pilots will benefit from the swap in form of crews and tow vehicles. Since we do not yet know general and team captain expenses for Argentina it is difficult to forecast a defined benefit for those pilots at this time.
Costs for our successful US Team training camp at Chilhowee in April totaled $2947
which included Brian Spreckley’s 1000 Euro coaching fee and his airline ticket only. While he
was here the pilots took turns paying for his meals, and Jason Arnold purchased his hotel room
for the week.
For the Committee
Richard Walters
Chair