My first glider was a 1-35C. It served me well. Entering the 36:1 club
for only $15-18K is a good deal. The 1-35 was designed to compete with
the growth in fiberglass planes; while it could keep up, it still was a
bit shy on performance at the higher speeds.

I flew side-by-side flight performance comparisons with a friend in his
ASW-19. We were perfectly matched in the common flight regimes but
differed in three areas: 1) The 1-35 thermalled slower and tighter due
to lower wing loading and flaps, 2) The 1-35 landed extremely shorter
thanks to the flaps and steep approach angle, and 3) The 1-35
noticeably dropped below the ASW-19's glide when faster than 80 KIAS.

But high speed was not the reason I bought one. Learning cross-country
and safely landing very slowly in fields were the huge draws for me as
a new guy. At the time of purchase, I had 29 glider hours; the flaps
were no big deal for me due to high-time in powered airplanes.

My 1-35C was the plane that first took me away from the airport where I
learned to fly gliders.

It was a good ownership learning plane for me. That is, when I put a
dent into it learning how to assemble, move, or put the plane back in
the box, it was easy to fix. Being metal also allowed me to feel
comfortable about flying it during our cold Colorado winters. My
current plane is fiberglass and thus stays in its box during the cold
season.

For around $15K, these two 1-35s are a great buy for both the new guy
and the experienced guy.

Raul Boerner