And he proceeded to scare me ****less. So I learned that spinning was
something which could happen to /me/ in gliders /I flew/, doing /
perfectly normal things/ - albeit not very competently.

I do not this a message of "Let's land and go up in a completely
different aircraft" would have made anything like the same
impression ...

"a spin is a normal mode of flight - unsuitable for landing" unknown
British aerodynamicist.

Pretty much all students in my club http://soargbsc.com get spin
training. And not the kind where you yank the nose up 30 degrees and
then stomp on the rudder at the top. I slow the glider way down and
start a turn (at altitude) and tell the student that we're simulating a
runway overshoot while turning from base to final. I add bottom rudder
to "help the turn along" and over she goes and the nose never got above
the horizon. It's a wake up call for many and the mantra to maintain
speed and coordination in the pattern (sorry, circuit :-) ), finally
means something.

Tony V.