On Tuesday, March 14, 2017 at 6:48:35 PM UTC-7, Roy B. wrote:
...but if you're wrong you wind up in the dirt with a midnight retrieve and the next
day you're cleaning mud and cow pies out of the gear, wishing you had slept more hours than you drove while the motor guy is well
rested and flying for a record again that next day.

And what if you happened to own two gliders, a towplane, a helicopter and the staff to maintain and operate all said equipment.

Land out in the boonies, and within minutes the helicopter shows up to take you back to the airport (since the crew has anticipated a possible landout, so headed out some time ago) while leaving someone behind to wait for the ground crew to show up. Next day, you fly the same ship if the crew get it back in time, or fly the spare.

No engine, no problem. Just a few more $$ spent.

I flew a ASH-26E for 15 years and loved it. It gave me the confidence to stretch the day knowing that if I did "land out", the engine *might* start and get me home without a late retrieve. My wife worked long hard hours, so constantly asking her to risk a long retrieval and late night was not nice.. We could afford the self launcher, so I had it.

I mostly took aero tows, and occasionally avoided a relight by using the engine. I can literally count the number of engine "saves" on one hand in the 1500+ hours I flew. Some day, I'll have to go through my logbook to confirm.

My wife is now retired, and I will be as well in a few years. So last year I traded the '26E for a ASW-27b which is much less expensive to own and a lot easier to handle on the ground. I will now continue to fly exactly the same way as I have for the last 15 years knowing that I won't be burdening my wife with a long, late retrieve. We'll just treat it as an adventure and take our time getting home. No worries about needing to be rested for work.

Yes, the motor is a convenience, but so is time and money.

At a contest, I would typically commit myself for a landing, since the engine start really needs to happen early on the downwind leg to a *large* safe landing place. Leaving the engine retracted allowed me to for a potentially smaller field and maybe a low save from base leg.

An interesting anecdote is starting the engine and immediately hitting a nice thermal. Been there, done that several times - the engine ran for less than a minute before I stowed it.

So yes, the engine changes my mindset, but not about the soaring performance. Just the convenience it affords if I don't have the money or time to stay "pure". Am I repeating myself? :-)

Just my $0.02

5Z