On Dec 30, 5:26*pm, Marc Ramsey wrote:
If you look at a map of the region, you'll note that pretty much all
of the soaring sites out here are near mountains, so even pilots with
fresh silver badges learn to deal with them. *

Marc,
Good point. I fly out of Black Forest with a field elevation of
7,000 feet and was foolish enough to earn my Silver Badge by setting
Pike's Peak (elev 14.110) as my goal to attain the 50KM distance. Some
may feel I made it too hard on myself but it has paid huge dividends
on growing my sailplane experience.
Of course, a career as a fighter pilot helped a lot as well. I
turned to soaring after retirement because the cross country tasks
give me about the same level of intensity for risk assessment and
decision making.
Finally, my club has a wealth of very helpful world class
sailplane pilots. They become especially helpful when I bring in beer
before asking them about techniques and strategies ;-0.
All this has helped me advance very quickly, but I also know not
every glider guider has this full house of advantages. Hopefully there
is a way to balance the challenge of starting new folks in racing with
the desire to keep it interesting for the old heads, regardless of the
site.

Good Soaring and Happy New Year,

Horst
L33