why do you soar?

My brain has always been full of flying dreams.
When I was a child, the Gemini and Apollo launches usually took place around
my birthday and I felt they were done for me. I loved the thought of the
adventure those men were having and wanted to be an astronaut and have
adventures.
In high school, they offered ground school as an elective. When I went up
in a Cessna I couldn't find the adventure.
I had a little problem with authority in my teens and didn't pursue the
astronaut dream because of the route through the military.
Out of college, I took up SCUBA. Gliding out over a carribean wall that
dropped off into the blue felt like flying.
My wife sent me to a glider field as a birthday present and I was hooked.
The challenge, the freedom, and having an adventure every weekend are what
keep me coming back.
At my first contest, on three consecutive days I set personal bests for the
farthest and the fastest I'd ever flown.

The challenge, freedom, adventure, and the opportunity to associate with
and learn from some of the best people on the planet, doing what we all
love, is what soaring's all about for me.

(sometimes we're a--holes on RAS, but that doesn't count)

Brent

"m pautz" wrote in message
news:5MTib.557995$Oz4.510730@rwcrnsc54...
"Deftly they opened the brain of a child and it was full of
flying dreams" Stanley Kunitz. (Kunitz was the U.S. poet Laureate
2000-2001)

"Jose M. Alvarez" cofamco(a)cofamco.es wrote in message ...

As this thread is about why do we soar, and you don't anymore, and you don't
even like it, I can't understand why are you posting reasons about how much
you don't like soaring.

My intent with the first posting was to point out that there is no
such thing as "cheap aviation". Soaring is cheap when compared to
other forms of aviation, but still far out of the reach of the average
working man, especially since wages have done nothing but drop in real
dollars over the last twenty years. If there was some way I could
pick it up again, without having to go to a single purpose in life, I
might do it. As there is no way I could do it without going back to
work full time, it isn't going to happen.

Bill Gribble wrote in message ...


Perhaps our objectives are different. Perhaps geography plays a part.
But I'd say you were paying too much. Certainly far to much for what you
evidently got out of it.

I'm still totalling things up, but what I got out of it was a minimum
$7000 total loss. However, and I wasn't any different from any of the
other students we had, an average day would be three flights, $40 per
tow, an hours rent for the 2-33, another $40, and an hours
instruction, another $40. Once I was in my 1-26, prices got a lot
cheaper, but I don't think I ever took it on more than one flight per
day. Another problem came when, after a layoff of several weeks,
trying to get back on the schedule was only a matter of six more
weeks. Both instructor and the 2-33 were booked solid that far in
advance. Don't know if that's changed, but not being willing to be
financially strapped all the time, it doesn't matter. The nearest
club, the last time I talked to anyone there, no students unless solo
students. Not that that matters either, I don't like clubs, it's a
blooming hobby, something I do for myself, and if the small clique of
anal masters that always seems to take control of it doesn't like it,
I have "kiss me here" embroidered on the seat of my shorts.

But I find comparing the rewards of music and the appreciation
of a child (or any type of audience, for that matter) to the rewards to
be found "in a cockpit" to be a bit non-sensical.

Maybe, but after my first solo, I didn't have a grin on my face.
After the hug from Melissa, I did. After the first solo, it was only
the realization that I had finally done what I had wanted to do for
some forty years. The comment from Melissa meant much more, because
it wasn't just the social "gladhanding" that I got after the solo.
However, had I continued soaring, I could never have purchased the
Yamaha DGX-500, and my left hand is almost entirely shot, can't do
much on the organ anymore.

Sure. But would you have as much fun rotting your brain in coffee as I
do mine in beer?

Probably more, because in the morning I wouldn't be asking myself how
big of a damn fool did I make of myself the night before. But then, I
always figured that my dad drank enough beer that I don't have to.

Jack wrote in message ...
in article , Lennie the
Lurker at wrote on 2003/10/14 0:28:

I find that making repair parts for the other retirees, and not having
to charge for it to dump it in my glider is much more rewarding.

So, Lennie, what is it that keeps you here at r.a.s.: you don't seem to
think much of soaring?



Jack

And would that be Jack A., Jack O., or Jack S.?

in article , Lennie the
Lurker at wrote on 2003/10/14 20:39:


And would that be Jack A., Jack O., or Jack S.?

Who wants to know?



Jack

Jack wrote in message ...
in article , Lennie the
Lurker at wrote on 2003/10/14 20:39:


And would that be Jack A., Jack O., or Jack S.?

Who wants to know?

| I'm the least qualified to contribute. So far a total of three
launches,
| perhaps two hours in the air, maybe a little less. But you can
quote my
| name if you wish, if you want to use anything I have to say in
answer to
| your question.
|
| Life is a fast, complex, crowded and noisy thing on the ground.
You
| can't see the wood for the trees, you can't hear yourself think.
| Everybody and everything wants something from you. Hanging at the
top of
| a thermal just below the dewpoint at 4000 feet with nothing but
the
| whisper of the wind and the cloud dappled sky to embrace you is
the
| closest sensation to peace, to complete perspective that I've
found. The
| complexity, the crowds, the noise - all gone. You are simply
alive. A
| thing of the sky.
|
| Does it need anymore explanation than that?
|
| I've only just started. The dream of doing this solo is still a
long,
| long way off. I'm naive and a little idealistic. For some reason,
it's
| taken me thirty years to reach what is only the starting point.
But I
| can't remember ever not wanting to do this, and have always been
baffled
| by my earthbound friends that are most comfortable with their feet
on
| the ground and incredulous that anybody would harbour such a dream
and
| ambition.
|
| --
| Bill Gribble, UK

Beautifully put, Bill . .

Lots of good posts that cover some of the reasons that I soar.

One reason that jumps to mind in particular is: Soaring weeds out the
"Perception is reality" phonies and flakes pretty darned quick.

Oh, and I do mean soaring as in the act of actual flying gliders as
opposed to discussing flying gliders on RAS or any other venue.