Eric Greenwell wrote in message ...
Kirk Stant wrote:


The US on the other hand, seems (IMHO) to have a substantial anti-XC /
racing majority - which would explain the "success" (?) of the
Sparrowhawk and PW-5 over here.

(Sound of loud buzzer for wrong answer) The people buying and flying the
SparrowHawk are most definitely cross-country pilots! You don't buy a
glider like that to float around the airport. It'd be a heck of fun ship
for that purpose, but the people that want to do that seem to buy
cheaper gliders or use the club ships.

Sorry, Eric, I disagree. The US soaring scene is unfortunately biased
by the prevalence of commerial operations - "show up, fly a 1-26 for
an hour, then go home and pull out the honey-do list".

XC is the most fun (to me and my friends, at least), when done in
company with friends, in similar performing ships. With most of the
established 15m and Standard ships, that works well. Somehow, I don't
see a Sparrowhawk keeping up with a V2, ASW-27, or LS8. And if you go
for the Sparrowhawk option, you are opting out of most racing -
unless you go for sports class.

I've seen several people out here buy PW-5s (all enthusiastic), do a
little XC, then give it up and sell them because everybody else leaves
them behind.

I see the Sparrowhawk as a typical US "we do it different here"
approach. I'm sure it's a nice little glider, but not sure where it
fits in the big picture. I know I have no desire to trade my ship for
it - it's easy to get addicted to high performance!

Kirk