Mark James Boyd wrote:

I think here in the US lack of "hassle factor" is a big motivation.
Here, we've seen the ultralight and hang gliding community
boom while the glider population is decreasing. Some people
(including me and Dennis Wright, our SSA chief) think this is
because ultralights and hang gliders have practically a "0"
hassle factor (no checkride, no signoffs, no minimum distance
flown from people, no tail numbers, no radio skill, etc.).

It's an enduring myth among sailplane pilots that hang gliding has a low
hassle factor. I've talked to a number of former hang glider pilots who
are now sailplane pilots, and they say it is often the reverse. The
reasons will vary from place to place, but here are few from the last
one I talked to:

-get to hang glider site: no wind, no fly.
-ruin a car/truck every four years driving over logging roads to site
-every cross country flight is a retrieve
-glider depreciates quickly
-leave home early, get home after dinner, wife grumpy
-very tiring to fly

Now he's flying a Ka-6:
-leave home after lunch, home by dinner, wife ecstatic
-easy drive to airport on paved roads; car still good
-hugely better performance
-long cross-country flights end back at airport
-glider worth more now than when he bought it
-relaxing to fly

So, plenty of hassles, but different ones.

And, unfortunately, the hang gliding community, at least in the US, is
not growing either.
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Eric Greenwell
Washington State
USA