Papa3 wrote:
...
Every time I read an article about some soaring camp in the Alps with full-time
instructors and government buildings [...] I just have to laugh.
...

I think the above is an allusion to our national center in St Auban (France),
the CNVV (Centre National de Vol a Voile), where it is true that we have full-
time instructors, and the buildings were certainly at least for some extent
payed by the governement. It is also true that in the past ther was a lot
of government support for soaring, but this time is over, it was already
over whe I started gliding 9 years ago. The full-time instructors at CNVV
are payed by the pilot's fees. I had 3 recent stays there, 2 weeks for a
prepartory course for an intructor rating, 3 weeks for the proper instructor
course, and 2 other weeks for the prepartory course for the 2nd level
intructor course (I botched the last one, so I have to do it again or
find an alternative). Each of these weeks costed 850 euros. I got a total
of 900 euros as help from our regional commitee for soaring. Even if this
commitee receives some government subside, a lot of its resources come
from the fees all glider pilots pay to our national organization. However
the old time of government support has still some effect on the present
costs. A general consensus on the fact that gliding should remain as
cheap as possible remains and most people are working for that, e.g. most
instructors (including myself) are volunteers. Also some glider fields
are always owned by the french State and let for free to the clubs
(including mine).