Best places for a soaring pilot to retire?

On Sunday, February 15, 2015 at 11:56:46 PM UTC-8, Ramy wrote:

As for Mimden/Truckee area and other Great Basin soaring sites, they are great but only for 3-4 month during the summer. The rest of the year is wave or nothing, so unless you are a die hard wave pilot, your soaring season will be short. All my soaring buddies who moved from the Bay Area to retire in Minden area fly much less than I do...

Ramy

Ramy,

Not to be argumentative, I flew my Stemme S10-VT out of Napa for 5 years. Soaring there is very interesting and challenging, lots of variety, ridge, convergence, thermal, limited wave, and pretty much all of that in typically weak conditions below 5K agl.

I moved to Minden 12 years ago. If you are suggesting the thermal season at Minden is but 3 or 4 months, I disagree, unless you are referring to that portion of the season where you risk twisting your vario needle off and for romping cross country flying. Add a few of months on each side of that to account for more moderate conditions, and still able to head down to the Whites etc, and you have a thermal season that stretches from March (thermals to 16K) to November (thermals to 15K). Yesterday's report said 4 knots to 9.9K - but I wasn't flying so can't confirm what it really was.

Ridge, when the wind is out of the NE to E, provides great opportunity for scenic flying the eastern flank of the Carson range, though seldom much higher than 1.5K over ridge. Lots of fun!

Throw in wave and only in the dead of winter are there sometimes periods of a week or so with zip for soaring.

The above accounts for almost 300 days of the year.

On Sunday, February 15, 2015 at 11:56:46 PM UTC-8, Ramy wrote:
No one mentioned SoCal so far.
I always thought this is the ultimate spot for soaring year around. Somewhere near San Diego should be an hour from Warner Springs with its great year around soaring conditions, and couple of hours from Crystal and maybe 3 hours from Inyokern. So with 1-3 hours drive you'll have access to fantastic XC soaring and wave year around. Weather is great as well. Didn't check the cost of living yet.
East Bay Area (where I live) is also a good choice with access to year around XC soaring with 1-3 hours drive (Truckee, Hollister, Byron, Williams).
As for Mimden/Truckee area and other Great Basin soaring sites, they are great but only for 3-4 month during the summer. The rest of the year is wave or nothing, so unless you are a die hard wave pilot, your soaring season will be short. All my soaring buddies who moved from the Bay Area to retire in Minden area fly much less than I do...

Ramy

Um...everyone flys much less than you do :-)

Not sure there is one perfect place for year round. Many in Utah, Arizona and Nevada look at migrating like the birds. We have snowbirds and sunbirds depending on where is their primary home and secondary.

Southern Utah (St. George area) and Mesquite to Las Vegas and Arizona are nice for the winter months and Northern Utah is nice for summer with some of the best soaring in the world.

Logan has a group of Sunbirds that arrive each May through August from Arizona, Nevada and southern Utah. The summer rents are cheap and the university has a summer citizen program of courses. With live theater and a college town selection of restaurants it is a great way to spend the summer.

You get nearly two seasons of soaring and a great mix of flying.

On Monday, February 16, 2015 at 10:41:00 AM UTC+13, 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.

There are multiple places here in New Zealand that have pretty decent soaring. *Everything* is near the ocean.

My club, at Paraparaumu. Airfield is next to the ocean, hills start 3 km inland, rising to a long 5000 ft mountain chain 25 km inland. Sea cliffs to the south. Wellington city 40 min by car or an hour by commuter train. Flyable year round and some good soaring in winter.

http://hoult.org/bruce/carol.jpg
http://hoult.org/bruce/hector10.jpg

Unfortunately, we're likely to be moving sites soon to a site 20 minutes further from Wellington by car, 15 km from the mountains, and ocean 40 km to the east or 45 km south.


You should also look at Whangarei, Tauranga, Matamata ... all with good flying and within 2 1/2 hours drive of downtown Auckland. All have summer temperatures in the high 70s or low 80s, and winter temperatures that seldom get below the 60s.

I hear the fly in the South Island too. It's lovely in the summer.

Tucson, Arizona.

Great Soaring all around the state. We have an enthusiastic soaring club in Tucson. The club is open year round.

Relatively low cost of living. Plenty of room to buy land if you want to build a home. Tons of homes available in this "Buyers Market". Cool getaways such as Mt. Lemon and Flagstaff. Lakes all over (With water) which are good for fishing, boating, and relaxing.

The three key words: No Shoveling Snow!!!

Do as I did: move to France! The French Alps is THE most popular soaring site in the world (fact, not opinion), and the French Riviera is one of the most sought after addresses. Yes, the cost of living is generally higher, but you get what you pay for. And, assuming you're a USA citizen, not paying any state income taxes helps, as does any tax write-offs going from the euro to the dollar.

A bientôt sur la piste!
Chris

Le lundi 16 février 2015 14:26:56 UTC+1, Fox Two a écrit*:
Do as I did: move to France! The French Alps is THE most popular soaring site in the world (fact, not opinion), and the French Riviera is one of the most sought after addresses. Yes, the cost of living is generally higher, but you get what you pay for. And, assuming you're a USA citizen, not paying any state income taxes helps, as does any tax write-offs going from the euro to the dollar.

A bientôt sur la piste!
Chris

Southern France is indeed one of the best playgrounds in the world. Nothing beats taking off with the Mediterreanian Sea in view, stretching the flight into Central Switzerland and coming back to the sea in the evening :-)

Another place I'd consider is the Cape Town area. Nice people, not far from the ocean, living is relatively cheap, food is good and Worcester is one hour north, with fantastic gliding activity.

Bert
TW

Hey Fox Two, I'd like to hear more about your experience moving to France. How do I contact you? I usually spend four weeks in the alps each summer.

You can reach me at:
c dot j dot fleming at hotmail dot com

FYI, I fly from Fayence, about an hour west of Nice. We have a few Duo Discus available if you're interested!

Chris

HI Chris. I was wondering if you could write a bit about the soaring in France (how how long the season is, how strong the thermals, many glider ports and variety of terrain, is there good wave, ridge, good xc options... etc..) What is it like living France... I know none of the above but somehow I find myself jealous