On Thursday, March 26, 2020 at 2:52:53 PM UTC-4, Dan Marotta wrote:
A couple of comments:

If your tracker is not in calibration, you can have that done within 30
days after the flight (unless rules have changed).

For me, (steenkin') badges were a way of showing the community that I
had (30 years ago) what it took to fly unsupervised for long distances.Â*
OLC does not prove anything other than you can follow a decent path
through the sky.Â* A badge means that you can plan in advance and execute
a flight.Â* It's not as easy as you might think. And, yeah, the rules are
a pain, but nothing compared to film cameras, paper maps, and a
barograph.Â* So, plan a badge flight and fly it as planned.Â* You might
see the difference.

And as to mentoring newbies, though I can hardly be called a newbie,
there was a man, since retired from soaring, who owned a DG-500m-22 at
Moriarty.Â* He didn't much care to fly alone and anyone who wanted could
have the front seat and learn.Â* He happened to be a CFI, but I don't
recalling him doing any formal training.Â* He just helped people fly in a
nice ship and enjoyed their company.Â* Your Duo Discus guy seems to be
the same way.

On 3/26/2020 11:26 AM, Wyll Surf Air wrote:
John from my experience it has to do with the club atmosphere much more then the the fleet. I'm part of a small club out on the west coast. We have 2 2-33's, 1-26, and a DG-100. None of these are great cross country trainers, but the club is Very cross country oriented. In the spring when the weather is good there will b at least 5 or 6 people going xc in private ships and the students pick up on this.

Another thing to note is that you don't need to be a CFIG to teach cross country. One of the members of our club owns a Duo and he will often bring fleshly minted pilots on flights with him to see what you can really do with cross country and for mentoring. For me personally he has been the best resource for learning to fly cross country both on the ground and in the air.

Last note, and this is probably an unpopular opinion, but I think that badges, at least after the bronze badge, are a silly and outdated way to encourage cross country flying. For a badge one must declare a task, fill out a lengthy task decoration, find an official observer, find a certified tracker, if not in calibration get that tracker calibrated, and so on before making the flight. These steps are for the most part pointless, annoying, and discouraging people from flying. Thus I think OLC is a much better motivator for cross country soaring if you need one.

--
Dan, 5J

From current Sporting Code 3: "...shall be calibrated within 5 years prior to the flight or within 2 months after the flight."