The Decline of Soaring Awards

On 3/24/2020 4:31 AM, Mike N. wrote:
If you can find a copy for sale on eBay the book: Soaring For Diamonds is a
great read. About flying 1-26 to various levels of badges, including
Diamond. This is the 1st book I read about soaring and really fired up my
imagination.
https://www.cumulus-soaring.com/book...orDiamonds.htm

Much good, basic feedback/advice from others already. Two - somewhat redundant
- points for consideration: 1) XC *can* be safely (and satisfyingly and
'funly') self-taught with a modicum of common sense (don't hit things you
don't want to hit; don't put yourself in the position of 'being *forced*' to
hit things you don't want to hit; fly within your existing skills, and *not*
within some imagined 'XC-necessary' skills; etc.), and 2) high L/D (whatever
that may mean to any individual) is *NOT* fundamentally necessary to going XC.
And as I'm sure others will be eager to point out, YMMV and a person *can*
kill themselves in soaring by doing things in a less-than-sensible fashion.
Don't do what they did, and remember - perfection is never an option. Live
life accordionly...

"Soaring for Diamonds" was the first book I found in a library after bumbling
into soaring way back when. Great read! Years later I obtained a copy for
myself. Minor reviewer's nit - Joe Lincoln (author) was "up to" a 1-23 by the
time he bagged his diamonds. He didn't really *need* it, I suspect he was just
impatient!

I trained in a small club in the MD mountains; it trained in a 2-33 and had a
1-26 and a member-owned tug. No XC training per se that I ever noticed, just
basic inputs from my instructor, mostly in response to my questions. My
instructor was an old guy of about 30 who - I later (after my first landout)
learned - had built his own 1-26 from a kit. So far as I could tell, he seemed
to know about what he taught...which emphasized the basics: don't stall in the
pattern; pick a decent field if you're gonna have to land out *before* you're
down to pattern altitude; you're in charge - so act like it. It was sufficient
when soon after solo I bumbled my way into needing to make an off-airport
landing...without even trying to! Other than the elevated heart rate and
sweaty palms (telling 'em to stop didn't help, ha ha), it was little different
than landing at the airport - every late-training/subsequent-solo approach to
which had been an intentional short-field approach over a pretend obstacle.

Result? Successful OFL; no damage; greatly increased belief in what ye
instructor had been telling me! Never looked back. Began ownership by
partnering with instructor and another newbie new glider-only pilot in
instructor's 1-26; soon enough 'was forced to' (job location change) purchase
a 1-26 outright in which I (unofficially) completed my Silver Badge.

Have been amused ever since by pundits convinced - as judged by their
willingness to share their opinions - XC is impossible in (used to be) 30:1,
and is today seemingly 35/1 or even 40/1 ships. The late great Dick Johnson
begged to differ (cf: old "Soaring" mags; superb resource!), as do I, members
of the 1-26 Association, Uneek (also with a Most Excellent article in the
latest "Soaring" mag as well as a longish history on RAS of fundamentally
sensible soaring-/XC-/pilot-centric food for thought. And no, I've never met
the man...)

It's been interesting to infer your own soaring-centric growth over the past
few years on RAS, John F. Best of continued luck!

Bob W.

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