Due to my present endurance limitations, I keep my flights to less than 2.5 hours. The terrain and lift conditions where I fly are complicated and a recurring challenge. I'm not bored. I often need to find lift on the way back to the airport and landing out is always a possibility. But I'm not flying XC.

Here's the thing. I fly 3X as frequently as most XC pilots at my club. For the most part, they only fly on 'good XC days', and the coincidence of 'good XC days' with 'days off' is infrequent in Vermont. I'm not sure that I would/should want to ever fly that infrequently.

I have fun flying on a lot of 'marginal days'. Timing my launch to coincide with the 1-2 hours of workable lift on a marginal day is fun.

So sure, I'm trying to extend my endurance so that I can fly real XC flights. But I hope that flying on marginal days does not lose it's appeal. If at some point, I join the ranks of XC pilots that only fly infrequently, I may very well quit the sport at that stage. Maybe when I reach that stage, I won't have to fly so frequently to maintain my currency. I'm in no rush to quit the sport, so my present fun and extremely slow progression to fly XC seems a good way for me to enjoy the sport for many years to come.

Do XC pilots ever recover the joy of flying on marginal days?