Rtr,

I am a fairly high time power pilot that did my glider add on a couple of years back and had many of the same questions you're asking.

If you like to contact me off this message board where it's a little less hassle to exchange info, I'd be happy to pass along what I've learned in my ~3 years in the sport, then you can come back here and have the resident experts fill in the gaps.

Contact me at aggies78 "at" gmail dot com.

Rob