Hi Russell,
Not as bold as you may think. Remember, I was referring to the top pilots, not all CL pilots. Quote from my post:
"....... For the "top" competition pilots we will see the conversion in the next few years pass the 50% mark and approach the 100% mark in less than 5 years. ......"
Please don't misunderstand me. I'm not hopeful for ECL in the US. Personally, other than keeping more flying sites, I don't really care if anyone ever converts to E power. For my own interest I should be telling everyone that E power is terrible and they should keep on flying their Felon Foxes! This would allow me to be more competitive for a longer time. ;-)
My previous comment: "......you can have my annoying loud Felon Fox when you pry it from my cold dead hands ..... " refers to many of the CL flyers in the US. Most of these will never convert, but given the average age (>65?) of CL flyers in the US that feel this way this is not a long term problem.
Like most changes, it moves very slowly at 1st like the past 5 years of ECL. Then it starts to become a movement beyond just the bleeding edge zealots, the stage we are in now. Then it really picks up the pace and becomes mainstream, like the next few years. Then it becomes the CL NORM, approx. 5 years out. Then wet systems become rare and young people ask: what the heck is THAT? when they see one. This final stage is about 3 or 4 years from now in the rest of the world, 7+ years from now here in the very conservative US.
But when it comes to the very Top pilots, I will stick with my bold prediction. :-)
I'm glad you started this thread. It will be interesting to see what others think of our progress, and the timing of milestones in our future.
Regards,