I started competing in local contests to improve my cross-country
flying. As one of my colleagues put it, when you fly cross-country,
you are racing against the sun and weather. You'll go furthest and
have more chance of getting home if you fly efficiently. My main goal
was to improve my skills, not necessarily to become competitive.

Flying with other experienced pilots is the best way to do this - you
can see how well you do and pick up tips from others. Contests are
also great occasions to log lots of cross-country time in a short
space of time and there's always folks to retrieve you if, like me,
you don't have a regular crew.

I have now improved from being 15% slower than my colleagues to more
like 5% slower. I probably won't beat many folks, but at least I keep
up most days.

Of course, with OLC, every flight seems like a race these days - just
check the past week's log files!

Mike