At 02:28 16 September 2010, Westbender wrote:

If we have to resort to "eye-candy" to lure people to soaring, then
it's not necessarily about flying is it? Maybe it's just a niche and
nothing more.

Back in the 70s, I transitioned from power into gliders with the 2-33.
The first few flights were just getting used to the whole idea of
powerless flight and how it was done. But then around the third or fourth
flight, the instructor bounced us into a thermal and we climbed up several
thousand feet, as he coached me on the controls. THAT was what sold me on
soaring! Woo-hoo, these things can actually climb! What a wonderment.

Jim Beckman