On Saturday, August 29, 2015 at 10:20:03 AM UTC-4, wrote:
On Friday, August 28, 2015 at 11:20:23 AM UTC-5, Dan Marotta wrote:
"Land out miles away, what follows, not so much fantastic."

Actually, land outs can be an entirely different adventure!

I believe that the 'good old days' of soaring really did happen and that they still do at some popular locations, but the 'little woman' is no longer eager to crew, and there may only be one or two tired (and older) pilots on the ground late in the day.

I'm confident that my club could muster a retrieve, but the XC participation rates have fallen below the threshold that makes land outs routine.

OLC, Badge and Wave camps are another story because there are a large number of pilots present (like in the old days), they are on vacation from their normal evening activities and commitments, and they're looking for a late afternoon/evening adventure. I'm willing (even eager) to help with a retrieve, but the only one that I've ever done was at a wave camp.

So for the foreseeable future, I'll be flying with a zero MacReady. Maybe relocate to a more popular XC location. Maybe FES someday.