Nyal Williams wrote in message ...
To give SSA its due; membership numbers are as good
a sampling as any to show the decline in the sport.

As with any other hobby, membership in the central organization
indicates what is happening in the hobby, not the other way around.

Soaring requires a lot of investment of time across
several years to make it more than a passing fancy.

Look at this statement, soaring is another hobby, nothing more, a way
to entertaining ones inner child. It, like any other hobby, can
become obsessive, and the "one" the "all" when it's really only
important to the one that's doing it. When it becomes an obsession,
it ceases to be fun unless the reason one does it is satisfied.

As far as investment in time and money, I have 44 years as a
metalworker, and I'm still learning, I'll never know it all. In
money, I probably have as much invested in hobby type machines as I
had in that waste of money called a 1-26. (I _know_ I have, and
probably three times as much.)

Never before has so much been available to people that wanted to try
something but found it "just out of reach" for them, and with the
notable exception of soaring, never has there been so much serviceable
equipment available as cheaply as it is now.


So far, all of the arguments I've read here are, "sit back and hope
SSA does it for us." It ain't gonna happen. Every hobby that's now
flourishing is doing so because the materials and equipment are
readily and cheaply available. Interest in many, the ones that are a
continuous drain on resources, is declining, as is the amount of
disposable income. Look at the situation as it is, not as you want to
see it. Soaring doesn't need another $80k custom built hand made by
gnomes or trolls in der black forest, but anything that doesn't
measure up to some peoples wishes will be met with a blast of badmouth
right away. Almost every sailplane made today is made with the
competitor in mind, and the manufacturers aren't going to listen to
any suggestion that maybe something more pedestrian might sell. Which
suits the competitors quite well, and insures that the number of new
people will remain small, and declining.

Saying that people are "too lazy" to soar is like me saying soaring
people are too lazy to try metalworking. I just made a skid plate for
a 2-33 out of 1/4 inch AR plate, 3 1/2 hours pushing it through the
saw to cut to size. Call me lazy if you will, but I'd rather push the
steel than pay through the nose for what soaring costs, and it's just
as interesting.