Todd Smith posted:

I was a new guy in soaring about 7 years ago and as
I was working on
my Silver badge, got a lesson in how to smoke a windup
barograph and
all that. I bought a used thermal electric model that
required no
screwing around, all I had to do was put it in the
glider. I then
tried to do my Silver distance with a camera, the rigmarole
was
ridiculous. I ordered a Colibri immediately after that
and badge
flights have been simple (except for the flying) ever
since.
----------

Well, there's your mistake. No need for a camera to
do the Silver Distance flight, even back in the olden
days before GPS. I certainly didn't need one. I also
helped set one state record for distance without using
a camera.

Jim Beckman