On Oct 6, 11:34*am, jcarlyle wrote:
John,

Very good job! Thoughtful and well written...

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I also really agree with this statement: "The natural progression of
our sport should be from license, to thermaling, to cross country, and
then to contests – without losing 95% at each step of the way." The
question is: *how do we convince them?

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I expect the most effective answer is to get them started flying XC
while they're young.

Young people are far more adventuresome than older folks - unless
those older folks were fortunate enough to become comfortable with XC
while they were younger. I think, for many people, there is a "window
of opportunity" in their teens and 20's when they are receptive to
cross country glider flying.

To test this theory, we need to find a way to get a large number young
folks into cross country flying. One way is to support youth soaring
through Mike Westbrook's SSA Youth Committee.

I also note there seems to be a large number of gliders sitting around
in trailers which never fly. Finding a way to put these in the hands
of qualified and insured young pilots so they could explore XC and
contest flying might have a very promising long-term effect on the
population of contest pilots.

Bill Daniels