Sounds familiar...

The problem isnt time, PARTICIPATION
There is a limited market for used sailplanes, so lets ignore them for a
moment.
Look at the cost of a new glider.. Look at the support gear.
These are significant barriers to entry to the sport. Yes there are clubs,
BUT that doesn't appeal to the "normal" American getting into a sport.
The expectation is of an adult video game.... Turn it on, play, turn it off.
Forget DRIVING to the field to assemble the glider, forget assembly
itself....
Poeple today are such junkies for immediate gratification that putting in
ANY time to
enjoy the sport is foreign to them.

Rowing/Sculling has the same issues.
It is club oriented, the boats are expensive and a bitch to travel with AND
you need to drive there to play. But unlike Soaring, the "Rowing" clubs
are enjoying a reniassance. The difference is in HOW it is packaged, How
the game
is played and the fact that EVERYBODY is encouraged to race and train to
race.
Clubs put on Races, 1 DAY RACES. Training works on RACE PIECES and
techniques.
How do you start, How do you accelerate, How do you put a race strategy
together, the basics.
Speed is king and nobody makes any bones about it. There are crews that row
for the joy of it,
like me, BUT I STILL RACE. I always get my ass handed to me on a plate, but
my personal best keeps getting a bit better each outing. The winners of the
days event
almost always compliment me on my performance, because it is a bit less
about winning at my level, than it is about the participation itself. Move
up the food chain and go to a masters event and it gets "deadly serious".
I own a Wooden Shell. My boat isn't state of the are "tupperware" and it
can't match the hydrodynamic properties of the newest european shells (sound
vaguely familiar) BUT I look great losing.

IMHO, If soaring wants to grow, it needs to get back to 1 day task soaring,
training for races, actually racing, encouraging racing and providing a race
opportunity every day the place is open. My local river has a 100 meter
1000 meter and 2000 meter course permanently staked out. I can get timed
any time im on the water. THIS might be what soaring needs. Local tasks
you can arrive and fly. It might sound silly to glass guys, but what would
be so bad about an 8 to 15 mile task for 2-33's to fly with students. Teach
Racing, not just orbiting aimlessly and seeing the sights........

Scott