On Sun, 19 Nov 2017 12:56:28 -0800, flgliderpilot wrote:

The problem with 1-26 is that you will have to be catching every
thermal ahead of you or you
will have to hurry back to the last one to prevent to be landing out.
You will land out with 1-26 a lot and with that the safe 1-26 has a risk
factor. Go for something better performance. The Libelle: My shoulder
with is 19" and I cannot fit in the Libelle 201, however if you have
17.5"
will work for you. There is lots of leg room in the Libelle, a 6ft 3"
tall person would fit in. There is one for sale in St. Louis for $9500
(Wings and Wheels) with TWO trailers, (open and closed), has great
vario, new canopy..... It is a nice glider and the seller is super nice.

True, this described my silver distance attempts exactly. I'd do 2/3's
of the triangle and get stuck in a weak thermal trying over and over to
get to the next thermal anywhere up wind. I'd have to scurry back
re-gain altitude over until the thermal would break up and I'd land out.
The challenge was of course fun at first but the cost of tow plane
retrievals started to add up and take the joy out of it. But, I hadn't
given up.

I may not actually fit in a Libelle... only 5'4 and around 200 pounds.
Not all that fat but stocky and wide (and add parachute).

Additional explanation: viewed head-on, the Libelle cockpit cross-section
is pretty much triangular with well-rounded-off corners. In other words,
the space between the canopy rails, which are at shoulder height for most
people, are quite a bit narrower than the part of the cockpit between
them and the seat pan.

At my club we have three Standard Libelles and a Club Libelle.

Almost anybody fits in the Club Libelle. It has the biggest cockpit I've
seen on a single seater apart from a Std Cirrus. BTW, the latter has some
of the worst rear vision I've seen thanks to the width of the rear
cockpit bulkhead. So lets ignore the Club Libelle for this discussion.

Our longest standing Libelle pilot is reasonably chubby and taller than
yourself. He says his is comfortable but admits that he has to wriggle
down and get his shoulders under the canopy rails.

I'm a moderately tall lightweight (5' 10", 65 kg) and have no issues at
all with the Libelle's cockpit comfort.

The third Standard Libelle is a new arrival at the club and is owned by a
syndicate. Both owners are about my height and a bit heavier than me.
Neither has said anything about comfort, so I assume they don't have
comfort issues.

If there's a Libelle near you, ask its owner to show it to you and let
you sit in it with a parachute on. If the cockpit feels too narrow, try
adjusting your position so your shoulders are under the rails. If that
works, fine.

If you can't get comfortable, then look for another type of glider.

Bottom line: ask to sit in anything you'd like to buy. If you can't get
comfortable in it, go and look for another type of glider. If its a type
you haven't sat in before and its owner won't let you sit in his glider,
move on.


--
martin@ | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
org |