Contests the end-all?

On May 19, 2:40*pm, "Morgans" wrote:
As a student pilot, thinking more about gliders lately, I started reading
this group. *I can't help but notice that talk of contests seems to dominate
the subjects here.

I think I would enjoy gliders just for the fun of flying, and seeing what
you could do individually, and for the beauty of silent flight. *Is it so
necessary to fly in contests to have fun?

How many people here just fly gliders without flying contests?

Role-Call?

Fly mostly in contests -

Fly occasionally in contests -

Never fly in contests -

Where do you all stand? *Curious, I guess.
--
Jim in NC

I haven't flown in a contest.....yet. I likely will some day. For
now, I fly XC for fun.
I upload my flights to the OLC, but that's not like a 'live' contest.

On May 19, 8:52*pm, Grider Pirate wrote:
On May 19, 2:40*pm, "Morgans" wrote:



As a student pilot, thinking more about gliders lately, I started reading
this group. *I can't help but notice that talk of contests seems to dominate
the subjects here.

I think I would enjoy gliders just for the fun of flying, and seeing what
you could do individually, and for the beauty of silent flight. *Is it so
necessary to fly in contests to have fun?

How many people here just fly gliders without flying contests?

Role-Call?

Fly mostly in contests -

Fly occasionally in contests -

Never fly in contests -

Where do you all stand? *Curious, I guess.
--
Jim in NC

I haven't flown in a contest.....yet. *I likely will some day. *For
now, I fly XC for fun.
I upload my flights to the OLC, but that's not like a 'live' contest.

but its still a contest. If I would've gone straight on on my gold
distance flight instead of dumping into an airport with 1500 feet left
i may have won the day not only in the US but in the World as well!
The mystery of not knowing who you are competing against or what kind
of weather they have encourages you to fly as far as possible!

On May 19, 8:03*pm, Tony wrote:
On May 19, 8:52*pm, Grider Pirate wrote:



On May 19, 2:40*pm, "Morgans" wrote:

As a student pilot, thinking more about gliders lately, I started reading
this group. *I can't help but notice that talk of contests seems to dominate
the subjects here.

I think I would enjoy gliders just for the fun of flying, and seeing what
you could do individually, and for the beauty of silent flight. *Is it so
necessary to fly in contests to have fun?

How many people here just fly gliders without flying contests?

Role-Call?

Fly mostly in contests -

Fly occasionally in contests -

Never fly in contests -

Where do you all stand? *Curious, I guess.
--
Jim in NC

I haven't flown in a contest.....yet. *I likely will some day. *For
now, I fly XC for fun.
I upload my flights to the OLC, but that's not like a 'live' contest.

but its still a contest. *If I would've gone straight on on my gold
distance flight instead of dumping into an airport with 1500 feet left
i may have won the day not only in the US but in the World as well!
The mystery of not knowing who you are competing against or what kind
of weather they have encourages you to fly as far as possible!

But...it is not a contest in light of a level playing field. I fly
from Moriarty, where we arguably have some of the best soaring
conditions in the world. If I fly 500k from New Mexico on one of our
great days and someone else does 350k from Harris Hill, who won? I may
be more towards the top of the list, but the pilot from Harris Hill
may be much better, so OLC as a contest must be taken with a grain of
salt. The OLC is great though, and has probably done more for XC
soaring than anything else in the past 20 years. It is great fun!

I got into soaring before knowing anything about the contests, and
while I'm now a poster boy contest junkie, I love it any time I can
(1) get in the air, and (2) do some cross country.

So the answer is (E) all of the above.

El Tuno

On 5/19/2010 4:40 PM, Morgans wrote:
As a student pilot, thinking more about gliders lately, I started reading
this group. I can't help but notice that talk of contests seems to dominate
the subjects here.

I think I would enjoy gliders just for the fun of flying, and seeing what
you could do individually, and for the beauty of silent flight. Is it so
necessary to fly in contests to have fun?

How many people here just fly gliders without flying contests?

Role-Call?

Fly mostly in contests -

Fly occasionally in contests -

Never fly in contests -

Where do you all stand? Curious, I guess.

There are a lot of pilots who enter their flights into the On-line
Contest (see
http://www.onlinecontest.org/olc-2.0...2010&c=US&sc=).

You can compete with everyone in the world, every day you fly. Clubs
can compete against each other for total points, etc.......

You don't have to go anywhere or do anything special. All you need is a
flight recorder and an internet connection.

--
Mike Schumann

On Wed, 19 May 2010 23:46:39 -0500, Mike Schumann
wrote:


You can compete with everyone in the world, every day you fly. Clubs
can compete against each other for total points, etc.......

You don't have to go anywhere or do anything special. All you need is a
flight recorder and an internet connection.

.... and a home airfield in one of the better weather regions.
It also helps significantly to have an 18m-class motorglider.

OLC is nice - but a competition it is not.


Cheers
Andreas

On May 20, 5:48*am, Andreas Maurer wrote:
On Wed, 19 May 2010 23:46:39 -0500, Mike Schumann

wrote:
You can compete with everyone in the world, every day you fly. *Clubs
can compete against each other for total points, etc.......

You don't have to go anywhere or do anything special. *All you need is a
flight recorder and an internet connection.

... and a home airfield in one of the better weather regions.
It also helps significantly to have an 18m-class motorglider.

OLC is nice - but a competition it is not.

Cheers
Andreas

some days you have good weather and some days you dont. usually i
mainly compare my flights with other guys in my club and region. but
sometimes the wind isnt blowing on the ridges and in the mountains or
there is a national holiday or lousy weather something in europe and i
manage to actually do fairly respectably. ok that has only happened
once.

i treat it as a contest against myself. challenging myself to fly as
far as I can in the given weather and performance of my ship.

On May 20, 10:11*am, Tony wrote:
On May 20, 5:48*am, Andreas Maurer wrote:



On Wed, 19 May 2010 23:46:39 -0500, Mike Schumann

wrote:
You can compete with everyone in the world, every day you fly. *Clubs
can compete against each other for total points, etc.......

You don't have to go anywhere or do anything special. *All you need is a
flight recorder and an internet connection.

... and a home airfield in one of the better weather regions.
It also helps significantly to have an 18m-class motorglider.

OLC is nice - but a competition it is not.

Cheers
Andreas

some days you have good weather and some days you dont. *usually i
mainly compare my flights with other guys in my club and region. *but
sometimes the wind isnt blowing on the ridges and in the mountains or
there is a national holiday or lousy weather something in europe and i
manage to actually do fairly respectably. ok that has only happened
once.

i treat it as a contest against myself. challenging myself to fly as
far as I can in the given weather and performance of my ship.

And of course don't forget our friend Pez...
http://www.soaravenal.com/pez.htm

Our club's chief flight instructor recently gave a safety talk where
he reminded us that learning to fly was an educational process that
should not stop at a Private pilot rating. The more you learn, the
harder you work at it, the better (and safer) you are going to be...so
go for your commercial rating... go for the instructors rating...work
on your cross country skills. If you follow this progression, flying
contests is the next logical step after learning to fly cross
country. A regional contest is like summer camp for adults with
gliders. It's fun. It's also challenging. If you didn't like
challenging yourself you wouldn't be flying around in an airplane
without an engine. You will see pilots fly tasks on days when you
wouldn't even come to the airport at home, and they make it around the
course. You will see pilots make things work for them in a glider
that you wouldn't think possible unless you saw it happen. There are
a few contest pilots out there to win, but most of us are there to
have fun, learn, and get better. So work on your cross country
skills, and go fly a regional contest. Then you can decide if you
want to do it again.

I've never flown in a contest other than as a passenger. I have to
tell you that if I had the time and money, I'd give it a shot. That
said, the overwhelming majority of glider pilots do not fly contests.
The high volume of contest related posts (and I really don't think
they dominate the group) are due to the enthusiasm of these pilots.
They love the sport and enjoy pushing their personal limits in a
competitive environment. There are pleny of pilots that enjoy floating
around the home airport simply enjoying the view. Or flying OLC. Or
taking people for rides. That's the great thing about soaring. You
find what you like and do it. Don't be intimidated by hot-shot racing
pilots looking down their noses at you. In my experience, there just
aren't that many of that type around.