When the water is dumped, the N2 is a very light ship (it's all about kg/m2, not about span or total mass) and will outclimb any 15 m ship.

Having said this, you need to be fairly motivated in order to meet the struggle with these old open class ships (are actually just all open class ships) everyday. When I was flying an ASH25 for 2 season, the question was always "Is the weather worth wile rigging?". With a 15 or 18 m ship, the answer is always "Let's just rig, and go and see".

Le mardi 5 janvier 2021 Ã* 11:46:42 UTC+1, a écritÂ*:
I had about 80 solo hours before I made the decision to buy my own glider.. I was also looking at Nimbus 2, but decided to go for a DG-101. It's 15m standard class (now club) and due to the span and weight, is very easy to climb with. Keep in mind that a heavy 20m ship will be better in banging weather, but when having to fight at 200m ALG on 0 m/s waiting for the thermal to develop, I really do love a smaller and lightweight club class glider. I have never outlanded in my DG 101 and fly between 300 and 500km frequently. It's very easy to rig as well and never had any issues with the L/D of 39 (I have never flown straight at best L/D speed)

Even though the high L/D is nice, L/D is just a number, it doesn't mean that the ship is better than a Std Cirrus. It all depends on experience and your style of flying. If you always fly in super weather with large thermals and over 2 m/s of lift, open class ships will be amazing. In Belgium, we don't have that luxury all the time and have to be happy with 1 up to 2 m/s with few exceptions above 2 m/s. Look at the weather in your area. Are you always going out on the big days or are you happy to fly with weaker days too?

My suggestion would be to look at the Std Cirrus, ASW19, Pegase, Std Libelle, DG-100, DG-300, LS4 (last 2 if budget allows). Those are great all-round gliders which will get you lots of fun and can last a long time. Great rigging, handling, great climbing and performance make these great choices for first gliders.