Bruce wrote:
There is no substitute for experience. Go and do it - if possible with
expert guidance. Reading the books helps, but having the mentor in the
back seat for direct feedback is priceless.

One excellent option if you can afford the travel and time is to go to
Omarama and do a mountain flying course with GlideOmarama or Southern
Soaring. Have just completed the latter - and learned a lot in a very
short time, had a lot of fun and flew in some of the most remarkable
terrain. Of course I got the "worst weather in living memory" - but
still good enough for 11 hours in the Duo.

Gavin is also planning courses in the USA in 2008 during our summer -
Minden, Ely, and Parowan - in case a trip to New Zealand (highly
recommended) is not possible. See http://www.glideomarama.com/usa/40

--
Eric Greenwell - Washington State, USA
* Change "netto" to "net" to email me directly
* "Transponders in Sailplanes" http://tinyurl.com/y739x4
* "A Guide to Self-launching Sailplane Operation" at www.motorglider.org