"Bill Gribble" wrote in message
.. .
Does anybody know of any decent sites (or, at a push, books) that
illustrate the various different types/makes/models of glider that are
out there? Anything to help me recognise what I'm looking at, or picture
what people are discussing?

Get thee a Sailplane Directory from the SSA. It is published every now
and then as a special issue of SOARING, but I'll bet they keep extra copies.
I think the last one was July 1997, but not that many new gliders have been
introduced since then and certainly none in my price range. I always keep
my copy handy for just what you describe.

Vaughn