On Sunday, June 24, 2018 at 3:37:34 PM UTC+1, Karl Striedieck wrote:
Pilots should be thoroughly familiar with the slow speed turning behavior of their ships. Take a new ship to altitude and put it in a thermal type turn and then "abuse" the controls with skids, slips and too much back stick to see what it is going to do. Repeat this occasionally to remind you of the warning signs of incipient spins.

The Standard Cirrus wing twist (washout) was increased in 1972. Although earlier birds responded promptly to wing drop/spin they were (are) less tolerant of less-than-ideal pilotage than today's ships like the Duo Discus.

KS

I had an early Std Cirrus with the lesser washout in the early 80s and it was very prone to dropping a wing on take off and spun easily with wing drop.. Many years later a friend and I flew that same glider for a season and my friend fitted a top and bottom surface mylar aileron seal kit (from Glasfaser). Normally the top surface hinged ailerons only have top surface Tessa tape seals. I was doubtful whether it was going to be worth it but it turned out that the low speed handling was transformed for the better on take off and near the stall.