(Peter W) wrote in message om...
So anyone who doesn't want the highest performing ship is just someone
who wants to do "aimless local flying"? What a stupid remark.
Attitudes like yours is why soaring is dying in this country (USA).
To measure all soaring in terms of competitive flying has caused a
whole lot of good and enthusiastic pilots to leave our sport.

Who gives a damn what a pilot is content with doing--as long as they
do it safe and they enjoy flying. Soaring has an ugly status
conscious band in it that will cause its demise. I picked up a recent
edition of "Soaring" and it look about 10 pages long. Membership is
going down in the SSA and glider activity at my local gliderports is
non-existent on some weekends.

The 1-35 is a good and capable ship that has made lots of pilots
happy. More pilots DON'T fly competitions than do. And those of you
who do, great. But soaring needs ALL glider pilots.

You have an almost uncanny ability to miss the point.

As a matter of fact, I am not a competition pilot myself, so why would
I measure all soaring in terms of competetive flying? You are
projecting, pure and simple.

You're pretty quick to launch into this canard about competition
pilots causing the decline of soaring. What did competition pilots
ever do to you? Did one of them steal your girlfriend?

In my experience, competition pilots tend to be among the most
deadicated members of the sport, and are generally very helpfull and
encouraging to newcomers who show a degree of enthusiasm and desire to
learn.

So how exactly are these people causing the decline of the sport?

In my experience, it is the guys who stick to aimless local flying who
get bored and drop out, the guys who get into cross country flying
stay in it for the long haul. The article in question was written, in
my opinion, to encourage the former and not the latter, hence I do not
like it.