ORIGINAL: Morison
ORIGINAL: can773
I know for certain that the decision to hold the F3A WC was not further pursued because of this very reason (it would have almost certainly been granted for 2007), so it absolutely does affect things.
Chad, you are without question closer to the F3A decision makers, but I'd suggest that the decision to not bid for the F3A worlds had less to do with critisism than it did with a feeling that the event could not break even. Suggestions otherwise are misplaced.
Similar to scale, F3A requires judges to be brought in and housed ... that makes it hard to balance the books for sure. I also understand that there is a lot more ceremony with the F3A events than sailplane typically has (and definately more than We had.)
This is a complex issue, but it is also fair to say that the board would not likely have approved another world champs in Tilsonberg (I heard, but could be wrong, that was where the event was to be held) without a solid budget showing a surplus. Protecting against unforseen losses is one thing, incurring in planned deficit is another...
The biggest problem with the nationals is that it is next to impossible to find people to run them. If BC backs out because of manpower, will Gerry Shaw step in to do it all again in a year's time? We need to be in a position to promote these events all year long. If the Nats reports in the mag can't point to the 2006 event, we're missing promotional value. If the event isn't held with the publishing schedule in mind and if the event co-ordinator won't provide timely information ... we're also missing the boat!
I know of a handful of people that are already planning for the Vancouver Nats in 2006 ... let's hope they happen.
F3A does need judges which cost, but we pay nearly double the entry fees of any other event....this year I coughed up abour $800, the manager was $400......if you figure in France 118 pilots - 94.4K, 43 countries @$400 each (for managers) - 17.2K or 111.6K just in entry fees alone. Typically entries are in the 100 pilot range with 35 countries attending, there is no reason we would have not had those numbers here. There are typically 21 judges and 3 Jury members brought in for the event, I dont have a good feel what the costs are associated with those individuals, but I think it was somewhere in the 60-80K range for them....that could be wrong though.
The cerimony is dependant on the country, some go all out some dont....the banquets are covered by the pilots.....I think its 50 Euro for our banquet tickets ($75 CND) in France. There is always an "offering" to the pilots, we get glasses, shirst all kinds of little goodies and stuff when we get there....costs on that are intangible to me? Harry had a preliminary budget from what I remember seeing (this was a number of years ago now) it was not showing any loss and if I remember his entries were conservative at 90. There was also no reliance on spectator income (who the hell wants to watch pattern LOL, not even me!).
Tillisonburg was to be the venue, primarily we need space.......the flight lines need to be separated by at least 1/2 km I think to have good in air separation between planes when the lines are collinear with each other (typical setup on a runway).
Anyways, to my knowledge the non-continuation of the bids was not because of budgetary concerns for the event.