Mike Schumann wrote:
My favorite club glider is our K-8. I love it when I'm in a tight thermal
and I'm climbing away from a DG-1000!

And I like being in the DG-1000 because I can leave the thermal and fly
both faster and farther than you before needing to thermal again. :-)

That's really just a round about way of making a related point. There's
a substantial number of glider pilots who get stuck in the gap between
taking friends for sled rides and flying cross-country in a fun and safe
manner. Getting people across that gap often helps them stick with
soaring much longer.

Jeremy