Best places for a soaring pilot to retire?

When I moved to France, I didn't speak a word of French ("sortie" on the highway was the first I learned when I was moving my stuff).

I took 2 months of a half-day crash course at Grenoble University (not cheap, but very efficient), and after that I could get along. Six month later I was able to fight back a supplier on the phone.
At this time (25 years ago), people did frown at you if you didn't at least try French first. This has changed considerably since.

And as Chris said, immersion is the key. Also important - don't be afraid of making mistakes. 25 years later, my family is still sometimes laughing at me... but then I'd switch to German and have a laugh at them.

On Thursday, February 19, 2015 at 2:47:21 PM UTC-8, Ramy wrote:
On Wednesday, February 18, 2015 at 6:25:08 PM UTC-8, JJ Sinclair wrote:
Matt, I have flown all the major soaring sites in the West for over 40 years and it is my considered opinion that you can't beat the Sierras in the summer, July being the best. Air Sailing Sports Regional Championships has been the most consistently GOOD flying I have seen, year after year with speeds in the 80's or higher and 3 hour average tasking. See you there and anyone else who would like to experience the Sierras at its best!
JJ

Indeed cant beat the sierras (actually the great basin) in the summer.
I am still trying to figure where one can live to have access to consistent great soaring conditions *year around* within few hours drive at most. This is where I would like to retire. Does such a place exist?

Ramy

Ramy,

How about grass valley? 1 hr from truckee, 1.5 hrs from williams, occasional snow in the winter, 1 hr from sac intl. airport.

Switch to paragliding and the possibilities are much greater. Easier to chase the sun as well. Dragging a sailplane around the world seems such a pain.

On Friday, February 20, 2015 at 12:34:43 PM UTC+13, GB wrote:
Switch to paragliding and the possibilities are much greater. Easier to chase the sun as well. Dragging a sailplane around the world seems such a pain.

Using old legs as landing gear is a far greater pain.

On Sunday, February 15, 2015 at 3:41:00 PM UTC-6, Matt Herron Jr. wrote:
Looking for new Ideas for places to retire. The usual considerations apply; cost of living, health care, weather, and available soaring. Doesn't have to be the US. near water would be nice. I own a Ventus C.

Anyone live in/near Grass Valley, CA? 1 hr from Truckee and Sacramento, 1.5 hrs from Williams, 2.5 hrs from Bay area.

Thanks for any suggestions

Matt

I guess this sounds too simple. Look on OLC for the best clubs. Focus on the one with the best record for 2013 & 2014. Examine how many months a year they fly there. Go to the club's web site and look at the facility (note overnight accommodations and places for RVs in case you want to live in Austin, etc.). Consider the ease of building a hanger for your glider and the small $25 a year fee for use of the land. Finally, research the state income tax (Hint- none) and property tax on the glider ($0) That may be a reason why there are so many 18 meter and more wing spans. The pilots can afford to buy them and fly them. ( For additional fun trailer it to NM, Utah, NV, CA or CO in the summer when you want to deal with more challenging land-out situations. )

I see no one wrote anything about retiring and soaring in Spain. I understand Spain is very affordable wonder how the soaring is?

I'm just about ready to retire, maybe, within 2 years. I'm considering a motor home for now so I can visit different areas of the USA with my glider in tow. I really like the idea of So Cal but am afraid that California taxes would take a large bite out of my retirement income. Any retireies in SoCal that can weigh in?

This seems like a good topic to resurrect in anticipation of a convention soon in the Southwest. I expect to retire in 2018 and would love to meet some people at Reno who could answer questions about various clubs, towplane reliability, real estate prices, and summer XC possibilities. Winter XC is not so important for me as I spend most of my winters flying in South Africa. But I am trying to find a good retirement place in the Southwest.
ROY (who is really tired of shoveling snow)

Once you get used to the wind, Moriarty is a fine place for year round
soaring.Â* And at an airport with no fence and two 7,500' runways.Â* Lots
of nearby amenities in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Taos, etc.Â* Real estate
prices seem high to me but taxes are very low. Summers are not too hot
and winters do not have a lot of snow, either.

On 12/26/2017 8:29 AM, Roy B. wrote:
This seems like a good topic to resurrect in anticipation of a convention soon in the Southwest. I expect to retire in 2018 and would love to meet some people at Reno who could answer questions about various clubs, towplane reliability, real estate prices, and summer XC possibilities. Winter XC is not so important for me as I spend most of my winters flying in South Africa. But I am trying to find a good retirement place in the Southwest.
ROY (who is really tired of shoveling snow)

--
Dan, 5J

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i want to post a reply with a suggestion not put forward yet, but also post up a related topic..

Suggestion -- fly out of Ephrata Washington ... you can live a LOT of places, but the hidden gem I'd suggest is Richland WA.

Ephrata has excellent soaring -- perhaps not quite as good as Moriarty etc, but the great things about Ephrata are landing sites are EVERYWHERE, and there is spectacular variety of terrain within easy flying range. If you go due west you go across the Waterman plateau, cross the Columbia river gorge around Wenatchee, and then into the Cascades, beautiful Alpine soaring.

The terrain is much friendlier than the east side of the Sierras and the soaring is almost as good.

And the Richland area has excellent health care and a more cultural things going on that you would expect -- the big DOE laboratory makes it a highly-educated community. It's very sunny there, not terribly hot in the summer, and almost no snow during the winter.


Just FYI "God's soaring country," -- sometimes it's the Devil's too. I flew out of Minden years ago. Technology has made flying that terrain better (higher performance gliders, and GPSS has made an enormous difference in finding/managing landing sites) ... but if you plan to fly on the east side of the Sierras you want a high-performance sailplane that can carry a lot of water. I do want to fly there again with my Discus B ... but I'd say it is about the bottom of the performance spectrum I would want to fly in that terrain/soaring environment.

Some of my best, and some of my worst, memories in soaring are flying the east-side of the Sierras and out into the desert. Monster thermals that climb at 2,000 ft/min to altitudes near (or even above) 20,000 ft ... but then miles and miles of unrelenting strong sink over terrain that looks like the moon rocks and sagebrush ...or Joshua trees, in the southern parts. Landing sites are often far apart, and you better carry what you need to survive a day and night out in the desert. If I were thinking of making any of these places my home I'd want a ASG-29, or one of the new & more expensive big gliders with at least a FES, and they are out of my budget.



Question -- I'll be half-retired this year, going down to half-time until my last doctoral student is done and then I'll be done (due to the Trump administration starving NOAA and NASA I doubt there will be another major hurricane observational campaign for us), and I want to take my Discus and roam the USA for about 1/2 the year.

I'm looking for fun places to go, and putting together an itinerary that doesn't involve driving 2000 miles from Saratoga NY until I get to the first place ... and I am looking for the following too:

* I'm a CFI-G/ASEL, got my -G in 1971, and I love teaching, particularly in the club setting. I'm also a tow-pilot, have towed using just about every towplane type used in the USA, currently tow in Pawnees. I realize nobody wants to take an unknown pilot at word-value, but I am looking for places that have some interest in another CFI and Towpilot ... who isn't guaranteeing to hang around for ever. But I can fill-in tow on weekdays etc. I've instructed in everything from 2-22s (at Torrey Pines!) on up, currently instruct mostly in G-103s - own a Discus B and a Ka-6.

* I'm particularly avid about supporting youth training programs -- ran our (Adirondack soaring's) summer intensive this summer ... any place that is running a subsidized youth soaring program and needs a CFI/towpilot -- am willing to pitch in

* I want to end up the season someplace where I can safely store the Discus, and perhaps even my travel rig, probably somewhere between Bishop CA and Richland WA, and treat that as my "base" for subsequent roams. But I have ties to my crowd at Saratoga, and not thinking yet of giving them up, and then

* any idea of really relocating needs to pass "the Annie test," and so far that seems a high barrier, and a lot of places that glider people like just aren't going to pass it.

Lee Harrison, QJ