The victims in CCC chess

August 8, 2019

Perspectives surrounding the exclusion of the umbrella model Tripleseven Gambit from the 2019 World Paragliding Championships in Krusevo. Tripleseven's Gambit is the most complex CCC screen on the market. But is he really in the market? // Source: Tripleseven, Facebook Right at the beginning of the World Cup, there were exciting tactical moves in the back rooms. After some back and forth, the Tripleseven Gambit was excluded from participation (Lu-Glidz reported 1 | 2). Since then, the discussions in forums and social networks are running: Was this exclusion justified and compliant? Has Ozone played foul here to kick start an emerging competitor at the start? To what extent did Tripleseven want to exploit an unclear rule unfairly? Has the FAI paraglider section CIVL been correct in its decisions? Clear answers can not be given, if only because the set of rules based on the last disputed point of a timely "availability" of the umbrellas is formulated too spongy or too interpretable. FAI's CCC rules (pdf) mention the availability of one type of umbrella in two places. On page 5 it says: "All sizes of wings must be at least 30 days before the event." On page 13 it says again: "Any CIVL Competition Class certified paraglider is permitted if (...) c The gliders have been made available to the pilots at least 30 days prior to the start of the FAI Category 1 event." It remains unclear what exactly is meant by "available". Available in the sense of "delivered and flyable", or available in the sense of "orderable" (regardless of any delivery time)? Likewise, it remains unclear to what extent availability must be guaranteed: does this basically apply to all potential pilots in a competition, or is it enough to provide a glider just as a small series for a select group of pilots? Tripleseven relies on the standpoint of available = orderable. However, the manufacturer made clear from the start that he could only produce the wing for the World Cup in a very limited number of pieces. That would mean: At least theoretically, some selected pilots would have been able to gain a "exclusive" competitive advantage with the Gambit. For a major manufacturer like Ozone, who has long been committed to providing an egalitarian supply to the masses of competitive pilots with a competitive product, such an attitude is understandably difficult to accept. Because if the Gambit proves to be superior with its much more complex (extremely multi-cellular) construction, you would be in a dilemma. It would certainly be easy for Ozone to construct a similarly elaborate umbrella. To bring such a model into mass production at acceptable prices would be difficult to realize. At the same time, Ozone could not afford morally, in addition to an Enzo for the masses also a kind of Super Enzo in a small series for selected top pilots to deliver, only to demonstrate its competitiveness. So what is a fair solution for the pilots? The CIVL was caught by these discussions on a very weak footing. Basically, your interpretable policy does not allow a clear decision in this case. As a way out, the team leaders at the World Cup were called to vote on the legitimate approval of the Gambit, as a kind of jury. But even that is probably missing the legal basis. Theoretically, this incident could even have an aftermath in front of a sports court. From Tripleseven there are already such mind games. Whether it actually comes to that? Probably not. Because for Tripleseven there would not necessarily be something to win, except perhaps to feel in the end as a moral winner. But the Valic brothers as bosses of 777 can do that already - at least in the mirror of the comments in the social media. The brand is doing well and probably got a lot more attention from the story than when a gambit pilot landed on, say, a good fifth place at the end of the World Cup. You could also look at the whole story from a different angle: Let's just assume that the name of the screen is a program: Gambit is a term from chess and refers to an opening in which a figure is sacrificed early on thus providing a strategic advantage for the rest of the game. "For the material sacrificed usually a tempo gain and development advantage is achieved," it says on Wikipedia. From this point of view, the end of the Gambit could even be a clever opening for Tripleseven at this World Cup, in order to position itself strategically better for further entry into the CCC Circus. Analogous to the Gambit in the chess that would mean that Tripleseven had deliberately provoked the disqualification of his screen for the World Cup participation and accepted. To attribute such a thing to the Valics would of course be a case for the conspiracy theorists of the paragliding scene.

This article has been translated for your convenience and was originally written in allemand.