I own a DG-800S. I love everything about it. It's one "flaw", is
that its wingloading when fully wet is slightly higher that a dry
ASW-27.
In the typically strong conditions in U.S. Contests, it is at a slight
disadvantage because of that.

The 808 should address that, due to the extra water it can hold. That
being said, many contest pilots "follow the pack", so they are not too
popular in the U.S.

In Europe, DG's are much more common, compete well, and win
frequently.

My glider was actually originally brought into the country as a
"Contest Demo" glider. It got 12th place in the 18m Nationals in
2000, and 3rd place in the 18m Nationals in 2001.

Then I bought it, and doomed it to likely never win again. Without
going into details, I can say that it has saved my life on at least 2
occasions, being more tolerant to doing what I was asking it to do,
than any other high performance glider.