Folks,

Thanks for all the thoughts and replies, this is exactly the type of discussion I was hoping I would generate.

Let me be more explicit wrt my quals...I'm a newly minted Bronze badge-holder with a strong desire to cut the apron strings. I have a large amount of power experience, but have only flown gliders for the last two years and have less than 100 glider hours.

Contests sound like a great venue to improve my skills, but my understanding is most if not all want pilots showing up with their Silver badge done or an equivalent level of experience. I'm not there yet. (and Tony, if you're the Tony who's wing I ran at Region 10, Great Job in that Cherokee! Hope you enjoyed the contest and flying at Llano!)

Soaring at Minden sounds like a great option, heck I'm already seriously considering towing my steed (ASW-19b) up there to do the Air Sailing camp, but the distance is daunting. Dalhart sounds interesting if some leader/follower flights can be done. I've done one of those this year here in Central Texas, had a blast and learned a bunch...but the coordination with todays work situations to get it scheduled to say nothing of asking a much better pilot "dumbing down" his flying for me to keep up...is a lot to ask.

The structure/syllabus presented at Air Sailing appeals to me...a set of objectives and learning goals, pre-stated....it matches what I experience in my flying day jobs training department. I like that approach better than a "strap in and go fly" approach that one can learn from...but doesn't do as an effective job in my opinion. If something like they present is out there somewhere (the Dalhart suggestion maybe?) or perhaps another club famous for minting xc pilots, I'd appreciate the point out.

Thanks again and for all the suggestions...and a note to John Cochrane, I have really enjoyed reading the soaring section of your website. Lots of good gouge on there and I'm having a hard time finding room on the cranial hard drive for it all!

Rob