Bob wrote:
Another thing, K-8's sell from 1500€ (2000$). These planes are still
flyable and have pased inspection in the last year as here in Germany
all planes get inspected yearly by the LVB. I checked about shipping
on 2 months ago and was quoted a price of 2000€ from Bremerhaven to
Charleston.



K8s are fun to fly, but very dispiriting if you have any headwind at
all. If you have USD10-20k to spend, and want to do any more than soar
locally around your home airfield, then glass is the only way to go
IMHO. I've had fun flying a K6, in which you can do good XC flying, but
this also becomes too tiring for a new XC pilot - serious XC in a K6 is
for the more experienced pilot.

The advantage of anything with a claimed 38:1 L/D or better (Astir,
ASW15, Libelle, etc) is that you can fly into wind and sample more than
one or two potential thermals. With the K6, K8 and, I suspect, the I-26,
if you don't connect first or second time you're on the ground.

As other posters have said, you will want a glider which (a) has a good
trailer and (b) is easy to rig. Every glider is made easier to rig with
two or more trestles (wood, nails hinges and carpet - dead easy to
build), and one man rigging gear can be really effective if you have
space in the trailer to store it. As an example, I fly a 1968 Open
Cirrus, which has pretty heavy wings and is not thought easy to rig.
With home-made (sub-USD100) rigging gear I can assemble it without help
in up to 15kt winds in about 20 mins. This means I can take it anywhere
to fly it, and even self-retrieve by hitch-hiking back and collecting
the trailer (though I've not yet alienated my friends so much as to need
to do so).

I used to fly a Grob Astir (again, not thought easy to rig), and using
two trestles and a simple wing root dolly two of us could assemble it in
15 mins with almost no lifting. One man rig would have been possible if
the trailer had had space to store the gear.

Leaving the glider assembled is very much over-rated. Apart from
anything else, if you're experienced in putting it together and taking
it apart, then you have no fear of heading off XC because, after all, it
needs to be disassembled somewhere (so why not a field?). I've known
friends who don't fly XC because they're afraid they'll have problems
retrieving the glider if they land out - I know mine will be back in the
trailer in 15 mins, so off I go.

In summary, my advice would be:

a. Buy 38:1 L/D (claimed) or better;

b. A good trailer is essential;

c. Assemble/dissassemble every time you fly until this is no barrier to
flying/going somewhere - make as many rigging aids as you need to make
this easy.

d. Fly it lots! Rig unless it's clearly not soarable. Don't be one of
those pilots who says, mid-afternoon, "it would have been worth rigging
after all". If you don't launch, it's only 15 mins (see (c) above) to
put the glider back in its trailer after all.