I think the whole point that Tim and I have been trying to make is that we are trying to kill two birds with one stone. In another thread, it was mentioned that the currently proposed Masters class wasn't challenging enough for the likes of Tony F. and others who were pushing for a higher difficulty. Derek started this thread to let us know that the NSRCA agreed and was changing the proposed short sequence to a more difficult sequence. Let me make this clear.....it should be harder! The downfall to this is that it makes a huge leap for Advanced fliers to come up and be competitive without several years of flying. Again, to be clear, we are speaking of the "average pilot" not the "gifted and talented". The average pilot makes up the majority of the Masters class. If this wasn't true, we wouldn't see the same people win over and over and over again.

We, as a whole, have worked very hard to take all skill levels into consideration and the Sequence committee has definitely worked hard to make sure that there is a fairly smooth transition between each of the classes. The point is if we are going to make Masters slightly more difficult so that the people that have decided to make Masters their "destination" can be challenged, which we are doing by the creation of this thread, we need to continue making the move to each class smooth instead of a gigantic jump. If we leave things the same as they are now, meaning 4 AMA classes, and we choose to want to continue to introduce techniques and making a smooth transition between the classes, we have two choices. Raise the difficulty of ALL classes to maintain what we've started or bring in a class that bridges the gap between Advanced and Masters.

I spent some time talking to a long time friend this weekend and he explained why he was absolutely against adding a class and...it makes sense. Where he is, they have enough trouble making enough in each class as it is. Adding another class would "thin out" the field even more. This definitely makes sense for the smaller districts or at least those that live in an area that doesn't get much participation. I also realize that these areas need to be taken into consideration. For these places, the CD has the right (per Derek's phone call) to not fly that class for his/her contest if it makes that big of a change to the number in each class.

By adding a class...
1.) We've raised the cost SLIGHTLY because the CD must now purchase or make three more awards. OK, I'll pay 3 extra dollars to compete to do this and I can't imagine that each contestant wouldn't do the same. If this weren't true, we wouldn't pay $35 at one contest and $25 at another. No one complains about that (THANK GOD).

2.) We've also given the "middle packers" in Masters a better chance to be competitive along with the guys moving up from Advanced. There are many more "middle packers" than winners. Again, very important, we compete to win! Every single person has agreed to this. To back this up with facts, look how many people have said "I stay in Masters because I want to win the NATS before moving to FAI". So, you can't tell me we don't want to win, it's in our nature.

3.) We have allowed Masters to be more challenging and bridged the gap between Masters and Advanced.

4.) We have given everyone another goal, level of competition, and avenue to improve their skills.

Anyways, please keep in mind we aren't trying to fight those that are against, I think we are just trying to think of a way to make the MAJORITY happy and to get you to consider this side of things. Don't shut it down just because you don't think it's the way to go, weigh the Pro's and Con's.

I say this with <u>COMPLETE and UTTER respect</u> but I find it interesting that most of the people that are against this ( at least in this thread) are the people, at the very least, getting to the podium in Masters. It would be good to hear from those that finish mid-pack or lower all the time and see if they are truly happy with this. I don't understand how this is possible since we are all competitors. Arch and others, truly I'm not trying to be disrespectful by saying these things. One day, I can only hope to fly as good as y'all regardless of how all this turns out. I simply would like us to try to figure out the best way to make the majority happy, not get stuck in a mold of how things should be, and work on improving not only the quality of our sport, but increasing the enjoyment and continually grow what we have already started.