On May 19, 8:03*pm, Tony wrote:
On May 19, 8:52*pm, Grider Pirate wrote:



On May 19, 2:40*pm, "Morgans" wrote:

As a student pilot, thinking more about gliders lately, I started reading
this group. *I can't help but notice that talk of contests seems to dominate
the subjects here.

I think I would enjoy gliders just for the fun of flying, and seeing what
you could do individually, and for the beauty of silent flight. *Is it so
necessary to fly in contests to have fun?

How many people here just fly gliders without flying contests?

Role-Call?

Fly mostly in contests -

Fly occasionally in contests -

Never fly in contests -

Where do you all stand? *Curious, I guess.
--
Jim in NC

I haven't flown in a contest.....yet. *I likely will some day. *For
now, I fly XC for fun.
I upload my flights to the OLC, but that's not like a 'live' contest.

but its still a contest. *If I would've gone straight on on my gold
distance flight instead of dumping into an airport with 1500 feet left
i may have won the day not only in the US but in the World as well!
The mystery of not knowing who you are competing against or what kind
of weather they have encourages you to fly as far as possible!

But...it is not a contest in light of a level playing field. I fly
from Moriarty, where we arguably have some of the best soaring
conditions in the world. If I fly 500k from New Mexico on one of our
great days and someone else does 350k from Harris Hill, who won? I may
be more towards the top of the list, but the pilot from Harris Hill
may be much better, so OLC as a contest must be taken with a grain of
salt. The OLC is great though, and has probably done more for XC
soaring than anything else in the past 20 years. It is great fun!