Emily schrieb:
Is it worth it?
If you just want to add another rating to your collection to show off to
the girls, no. If you're really looking for the experience of soaring,
definitely yes.
But soaring isn't just "go there, do my lesson and go home". Soaring
takes the better part of a day, and the need of friends which help to
rig the glider in the morning, de-rig in the evening and possibly
retrieve from an outlanding. (And a very tolerant wife!)
There are clubs and there are commercial operations. As always: Clubs
are cheaper money-wise but make this up by voluntary work. There's no
free lunch.
At
http://www.ssa.org you'll find a list of clubs as well as commercial
operations. Pick your choice. You can also look into rec.aviation.soaring.
A last word: You should definitely look for an operation (club or
commercial) which a) has a modern fleet and b) encourages cross country
flying. Otherwise you'll miss the best part of the joy of soaring.
Stefan