On Thursday, August 9, 2018 at 8:19:44 AM UTC-7, Dan Marotta wrote:
Good advice about a mentor.Â* If you can find an experienced XC pilot
with a ship of similar performance to yours and who is willing to take
you by the hand and lead you around a course, you're golden.Â* I was
fortunate that I found someone with the same ship that I had when I was
new and he lead me out to surf the leading edge of a cold front.Â* What a
revelation it was to get away from the field!

Ask questions as much as you can.Â* I recall asking a woman who, on a
practice day before a small weekend contest, had completed the task
before I was half way down the first leg, "How did you fly so fast?"Â*
She simply said, "Don't spend so much time climbing."Â* Again that was
great advice and, following it, I finished in first place in the Sports
Class for that contest.

Read, observe, and ask questions, and then, starting small at first,
extend your range and, before long, you'll be soaring great distances.Â*
It'll change your life.

On 8/8/2018 11:51 PM, 2G wrote:
This forum is SUPPOSED to be about that, but degenerates into back-biting all to often. I recommend starting by reading some good reference books. For starters, you can get the FAA's handbook for free at:
https://www.faa.gov/regulations_poli...h-8083-13a.pdf
Then, I recommend reading Reichman's books:
https://www.amazon.com/Flying-Sailpl.../dp/B0006E1VSK
https://www.amazon.com/Cross-country.../dp/B0006CU278
These books are out of print, but used copies are available.
I don't know where you are located, but I strongly recommend that you find an experienced glider pilot mentor with whom you can discuss specific topics in detail. Unfortunately, forums are not very good at this, and can actually be counter-productive. Send me a private email with your phone and I am happy to discuss this further off-line.

Tom

--
Dan, 5J

All good advice. I should probably provide some clarity to my training situation. I joined Soaring Society of America, and found a flying club about 45 minutes from my house. Through them I connected with one of their lead CFIG's, and have an open line of communication with him. I'm sure I could ask him my same questions; but figured asking the masses would likely lead to more insight. With the responsiveness of this aviation group, this might be my best bet. Coincidentally, when I was working on my PPL over 10 years ago, I used rec.aviation.piloting, and found it to be a good place for insight.