On Friday, December 29, 2017 at 4:12:33 PM UTC-8, wrote:
"All I have ever heard since starting soaring in 2012 is admiration and damn-near worship of the ship and the pilots that fly them XC."

Pete your own words tell the story. Since you are new to the sport you came in within the "glass" age and probably have never had the opportunity to fly a 1-26. If you ever do, and if you jump off the cliff like some of us and try to go xc in one, you will then understand why there is a pretty healthy respect for the guys who do remarkable flights in these little machines.

However, I can't agree with your assumption that making a run in an Arcus is a remarkable achievement. Sure I'd love to take one of those ships for an xc romp, but there is absolutely no correlation between a 500k flight in one of them and even a 500k flight in first generation glass like say a 201 libelle or let alone a 1-26. The skills needed to do that in an old libelle or even older 1-26 are many levels higher than what is needed in todays super ships.

Pete, I sure hope you get a chance to give these little ships a try. You will find the xc challenges are very rewarding and the group of guys that fly them are really great. They freely share the knowledge they have gained over the years and are super helpfull. You will not run into any semblance of snobbery whatsoever among their ranks.
Dan

The challenge (with an intended joke of a name) is not about 1-26s, 2-33s, PW-5s or even OS/X high sierra. It's more about:
I'd sometimes be met on landing the ASH26E by a friend carrying two cold beers. He'd check the temperature of the engine bay doors before handing one over, and rightly so!
May the Schwartz be with you,
Jim