Contest participation

Here (in the Netherlands) from late april to late august there's at least one and often 2 weekend-contests at clubs within an hour or two driving. Finding 3-4 weekends a year works for most folks.

Better yet, most regional competitions used to be tied up in a bigger scheme, where if you participated in a minimum of 3 comps, there was a shared "total" scoring.

Works great if done locally, works for club ships and people with a busy job+family obligations. It also allows people without any competition experience to fly one at their trusted home field, try the waters an hours driving away and gain competition experience.