There is no such thing as a crappy glider.

There are state of the art super ships, and high performance racers, and
dependable club planes and gracefully ageing classics and collectable vintage.

Derelicts are just an opportunity to convert into one of the above. ;-)

Bruce
Owner of a well used , gracefully ageing shiny Cirrus - 36 years old and still a
thing of beauty - and it can out climb many of those top racers too. Some
advantages to lower wing loading, even if they disappear at warp speed when the
wings roll level...

1. Totally agree - old gliders are neat, have character, are usually
painted in neat colors...

2. In a real world "stay up" contest, I think low sink rate will often
trump low wing loading. My money would be on the Eta...

3. A well flown Cirrus is tough to stay with in a thermal!

Finally, 4. You don't know till you try - so everybody should launch
more often on weak days or early in the day and find out! There is
nothing like an hour of grinding around below pattern altitude to
sharpen one's thermalling skills - especially with a little wind to
make it interesting!

66