On Wednesday, December 9, 2015 at 12:38:14 AM UTC-5, Surge wrote:
On Wednesday, 9 December 2015 01:10:25 UTC+2, Casey Cox wrote:
I can understand why one would want a specific glider if one was planning to compete, but with so many more advantages of having a 13.5m, I wonder why more people do not consider them.

The performance of 13.5m gliders is a lot lower than even previous generation glass/carbon gliders. Most of the 13.5m gliders have max L/D's in the high 30's or low 40's and their performance drops drastically when some speed is added (typically 2m/s sink rate at around the 170km/h mark). Their lower wing loading limitations doesn't lend them for the booming weather found in Africa/Australia/Western USA.
Most of them also have much lower Vne's (around the 220 to 230km/h mark) and this becomes an issue at higher altitudes where one becomes Vne limited..

The only benefit that I can see in owning a 13.5m glider is easier rigging and derigging due to lower weight components but I'm not age limited yet.

I figured that but seeing someone else actually state it helps. The other advantage you missed is Self Launch. I did not realize that Vne limitation became a problem. (Haven't got there yet).

It just seems more manufactures are building 13.5m (LAK just introduced the Mini Lak at the 1st International 13.5m), and I wonder what sales are of 13.5m compared to 15m and 18m.

I'm hoping in 4-5 yrs I can be in a position to upgrade to an FES.