Matt,

Our club (North Carolina Soaring Association, USA)
encourages club members to fly cross country. After
a member gets settled into flying the club's L-33 Solo
or HpH 304C, they start to venture out from home base.
They may fly with more experienced cross country pilots
or they may make the flight of more than one thermal
away from home on their own.

Our club has a Master Cross Country Instructor and
he has given classes in the art of venturing out on
Cross Country. Members have also taken advantage of
the cross country and competition fun-fly's offered
by the Blue Ridge Soaring Society in Virginia, USA.
They've taken the club's L-33 up there for these courses
and last year, one of our members won a day flying
the L-33. (The Blue Ridge Soaring Society is located
about a four to five hour drive away from the NCSA
field.)

A member who starts going cross country is encouraged
to have a trailer hitch installed on his car or make
arrangements for someone with a tow hitch to retrieve
him, if the need arrises.

But for the past three weekends or more, either passing
hurricanes or the broken towplane (due to normal wear
and tear and not the weather) have kept everyone grounded
:-(

Ray Lovinggood
Carrboro, North Carolina, USA
LS-1d