On Thursday, March 12, 2015 at 11:11:44 PM UTC-4, Surge wrote:

My aim in soaring has always been to do medium distance (300-500km), relaxed, cross country flying (armchair ride) so with regards to performance and bang-for-buck it ticks the boxes. I am not interested in competition flying. I'd much rather cruise around at 160km/h with an L/D of ~40:1 than blast around at 200+ km/h trying to shave precious seconds off a task.

Something to consider... Long-winged gliders do present some challenges when it comes time to land off-field. It depends on where you live. The huge, flat fields of the US central plains are much more forgiving than the broken field flying we sometimes do in the Appalachian ridges. I am much more aware of narrow or rolling fields flying my 18M ASG-29 than I was flying the LS8 and LS4 that preceded it. Just another item to factor into your decision.

P3