As a relative newcomer to the sport, my 2 cents on why there's a general decline in participation in contest soaring is that there is a general lack of a structure and interest of "passing XC knowledge" along in the soaring community to new guys. Folks just want to go to the gliderport on Saturday, assemble and fly, and I can't necessarily blame them.

Frank Paynter detailed many of these problems very precisely in the latest issue of Soaring Magazine in the Condor column. Go read it...I've encountered most of the problems he highlights and in fact have communicated with him about my experiences and thoughts.

I started a thread about obtaining XC instruction a while back on this forum in search of info. Sure, it's out there commercially if I want to drop 3 grand (plus airfare and expenses) for a week's instruction....or if I want to trailer my rig 1/2 way across country I might be able to attend some "XC camps"...but why shouldn't we be able to obtain some of this knowledge "locally" (or regionally) or perhaps by doing some online training sponsored by the SSA? I don't want to "learn under fire" by participating in a actual contest without picking up basic skills to keep me out of trouble first.

You want more contest participation? Get more guys comfortable with leaving the local area and going XC and I'll bet contest participation will increase as well.

I'm not anywhere near ready to fly a contest yet...but I want to be! But, from my perspective, it appears the barriers to "getting there" on developing good XC skills currently require a level of commitment (in time and money) that many weekend flyers look at...and walk away from.

Frank's article confirms this and offers some thoughts on fixing it (Condor)...but that won't solve all the problems. Maybe every Region should sponsor a Thermal/XC course for newbies (something like the folks up at Air Sailing put on) before each contest season????? Sounds like a good idea to me..


RS