On May 10, 7:45*pm, wrote:
On Thursday, May 10, 2012 9:18:42 AM UTC-4, Sean Fidler (F2) wrote:
I would suggest an article on the progression of avid Condor pilots and how achieving the ability to participate in the higher levels of regular Condor online racing is impacting their real life contest flying.

I think this could be eye opening and perhaps inspirational story to many. *I dont think many understand how seriously some take Condor in terms of training for the real thing, and the impact of that experience with Condor.

Also a realistic depiction of what it actually takes in terms of dedication and time in order to really "get over the technical hump" and become "proficient enough" within Condor to ACTUALLY begin learning sailplane racing at a very high level. *This is not game that is learned in a few hours. *Many have many hundreds or perhaps even thousands of contest hours in Condor. *This is a 2 hour, 2 - 4 nights a week (or more) kind of thing. *People take it seriously because it helps, and it is very fun.

Sean
F2

Sean,

That is an excellent idea. *A paragraph or two 'testimonial' from several different 'real life' competition pilots could be very persuasive. *Even better, I wouldn't have to do much of the work! ;-)

But it's not just race experience. I recently took a trip to Minden.
I'm a somewhat new, flat land soaring pilot. So I fired up Condor and
flew all over the Minden area in all sorts of conditions is similar
gliders that I was planning to rent. I put the local scenery and
turnpoints in XCSoar which was connected to my PC. I looked at OLC
tracks for wave entry and practiced those in Condor. I flew some
tasks in Minden with my brother who lives 1000 miles from me. I
practiced soaring the ridges and learned the topography. It was
amazing, I felt right at home when I got there real world. I got a
solo wave flight, ridge flights, knew the dangers and limits of
safety. My instructor jokingly said that I knew the place better than
he did. It made the experience much more fun and probably safer.

....Aaron