On Jan 28, 7:15*am, Dan Silent wrote:
At 14:00 28 January 2009, Chris Rollings wrote:
How many gliders with a wingspan of 13.5 metres or less have enjoyed a
production run of over 1000? *...over 500?

1-26 (700)

Maybe because only few realized that short spans gliders
climb better if lightweight

That applies to longer wings as well. Lighter is better for climbing.
Heavier is better when the lift is good and you have places to go.

much easier recover from low

Debatable. But shorter wings definitely have more potential for
successful outlanding.

are fun to fly

True.

and sometime safer

Yes, sometimes. But the shorter the wings, the lighter you have to
make everything in order to have wing loading conducive to reasonable
sink rate. Granted that shorter wings are lighter and carry less
energy into a crash, the demands for light weight leave you less
margin for cockpit crash resistance.

45 to 45 in 2 secs instead of half an hour

True enough.

much less expensive to tow

In theory, yes. In practice, this hasn't been the case yet.

much greener on the ecological scale

True enough.

land on a dime

Okay...

very easy to rig and de-rig on land-out
easier to hangar

Definitely true.

of course when it comes to speed they sink like stones,

Debatable.

I think the fun part of soaring is thermalling,
unless dolphining!
going straight is boring........... particularly when high!

production runs of over 1000? *...over 500?
none in the past!
with new materials, new technologies, much lower prices
and new regulations wingspan of 13.5 metres or less
could take off in great number

Yup, could be, so long as it's regarded favorably among the youthful.
Maybe we can spin it as an extreme sport.

when the chinese start building them
they will sell like candies!!!

Um, no, I don't think so. I have investigated outsourcing composite
components to China. I wouldn't mind outsourcing simple shells and
other kit moldings, but I wouldn't want to be buying or selling any
critical structure that I couldn't thoroughly inspect inside and out,
and that I couldn't test for black fiberglass.

soon, when unobtanium will be available
price will drop a lot!

Unobtanium usually works the other way...

light motorgliders are now a big success............
over 300 sinuses sold, a new trend?

Among those with $75K of discretionary funds, definitely.

Thanks, Bob K.