With respect, that's ********

Put on the spot I would argue that //my// generation are as eager and as
capable as yours ever were or will be of "going somewhere all day to
help other to have fun" for nothing more than the rewards of equal
participation. To say otherwise is nothing but ageist, bigoted conceit
talking, perhaps a little influenced by the charm of looking back over
your glorious golden age of days gone by through rose-tinted spectacles.

No offence intended.

But you do touch on part of the issue when you mention the competition
we suffer these days in terms of the availability of other adventurous
sports. White water rafting, riding around dune buggies, sky-diving,
aerobatics in an old biplane, the list is endless, adrenaline pumped,
accessible and for the most part very visually and energetically
advertised.

I think gliding will always be a minority sport. It is never going to
enjoy mass appeal. It either terrifies the average man in the street or
it simply fails to throw the necessary switch. The idea of flight is not
to him what it is to you and me, it's a means to an end, whereas here it
is the end in itself.

But beyond that, our principle problem is obscurity and inaccessibility.
Nobody knows we're here, and if they do, they've no idea how to access
us. That's certainly true here in the UK, and I'd guess no different
over in the States judging by some of the other posts in this thread.


-Bill

Don Johnstone writes
I think it has more to do with the perceptions of the new generations.
They are able to access 'fun' on tap. Go somewhere where their fun is
provided, have it, and then go on to something else. The concept of
going somewhere all day to help others have fun is alien to them, why
would the need to do that. My generation needed to do it, the current
generation don't and I think it is as simple as that, coupled with the
choice of adventurous sports now available giving much more
opportunity. The 'access fun provided by someone else' as opposed to
'make your own fun' ethos is here. Gliding is one of the sports that
needs people other than those actually flying to take place at all.

--
Bill Gribble
| http://www.ingenuitytest.co.uk
| http://www.cotswoldgliding.co.uk
| http://www.scapegoatsanon.demon.co.uk