Would you rather fly a Sailplane?

On Jun 5, 2:51*pm, toad wrote:
As for the "greying" of the SSA,...

The funny thing is that the hang glider folks have the same issues
with greying of the membership. So do the sailboat racers.

The paraglider's seem to be a bit more youth oriented, not sure why.

You can convert most paraglider pilots to sailplanes by giving them a
winch launch.

If you want to attract large numbers of young people, winch launch is
the key. It's so much more fun and so much less expensive than aero
tow, they can see themselves becoming glider pilots.

On Jun 5, 11:35*pm, Bill D wrote:
If you want to attract large numbers of young people, winch launch is
the key. *It's so much more fun and so much less expensive than aero
tow, they can see themselves becoming glider pilots.

That was quite explicitly true for my daughter (aerotow was OK, but
winch later the same day hooked her), and it appears to have been
true
for other youngsters at my club.

There is a certain demographic in American soaring clubs that will
keep winches from prospering. The towing for fun crowd. I know it is
a thankless job, and many do it just because there is a need, but
there are some where towing is what they do for fun and they won't
willingly be replaced by a kite string winding machine. Have we moved
from gliding dying to gliding going extinct yet?
On Jun 5, 7:01*pm, Tom Gardner wrote:
On Jun 5, 11:35*pm, Bill D wrote:

If you want to attract large numbers of young people, winch launch is
the key. *It's so much more fun and so much less expensive than aero
tow, they can see themselves becoming glider pilots.

That was quite explicitly true for my daughter (aerotow was OK, but
winch later the same day hooked her), and it appears to have been
true
for other youngsters at my club.

there are some where towing is what they do for fun and they won't
willingly be replaced by a kite string winding machine.

It's truer than many want to believe. The key to growing the sport
with young people is right in front of us but we have to change the
way we do things.

On Jun 5, 10:52*pm, Bill D wrote:
there are some where towing is what they do for fun and they won't
willingly be replaced by a kite string winding machine.

It's truer than many want to believe. *The key to growing the sport
with young people is right in front of us but we have to change the
way we do things.

Yep, a vast left/right wing conspiracy.

roll eyes

How's that winch working out at Tanner, Gregg? How come everyone lost
interest? I think I know the reasons, but it's your club, you tell
me.

Sure I'd rather fly the L-19 than run a winch, but I'd be all over $5
launches and more activity. Sadly, we do not have the runway for it
at Post Mills.

-T8

They sent the winch glider to you guystinfoil hat Highspeed xc guys
like you wouldn't mind a winch, it is just a certain population...
I'm not up on the details but it looks like we are on our second
airplane motor purchase in as many years. I can't see how small clubs
can afford catastrophic engine failures. Lot of clubs running tow
planes on luck.

On Jun 5, 11:15*pm, Evan Ludeman wrote:
On Jun 5, 10:52*pm, Bill D wrote:

there are some where towing is what they do for fun and they won't
willingly be replaced by a kite string winding machine.

It's truer than many want to believe. *The key to growing the sport
with young people is right in front of us but we have to change the
way we do things.

Yep, a vast left/right wing conspiracy.

roll eyes

How's that winch working out at Tanner, Gregg? *How come everyone lost
interest? *I think I know the reasons, but it's your club, you tell
me.

Sure I'd rather fly the L-19 than run a winch, but I'd be all over $5
launches and more activity. *Sadly, we do not have the runway for it
at Post Mills.

-T8

On 6/06/2012 06:51, toad wrote:
As for the "greying" of the SSA,...

The funny thing is that the hang glider folks have the same issues
with greying of the membership. So do the sailboat racers.

The paraglider's seem to be a bit more youth oriented, not sure why.

It's very simple. There were no old men there who already 'owned' it.

The late middle-aged men who own hang gliding (and put young ones off
joining) are the young men who began it.

Soaring is even older and is just about ripe for a new generation to
snatch it from our feeble fingers and re-vitalise it. They'll break
away from the SSA, start new comps and new clubs and make it their own.

That's how life is.

GC

How's that winch working out at Tanner, Gregg? How come everyone lost
interest? I think I know the reasons, but it's your club, you tell
me.

It's a bit complicated. Everybody (except one) agrees that Tanner-Hiller
(8B5) is a pain to get to. Now, Post Mills has the L23 we were using to
fling. It's tough for the club (based at 3B3) to spare a suitable glider
2 place for a day, etc.

The winch runs great and we've made a bunch of improvements like
replacing the rollers, mounting 5000 ft of Spectra.... I've logged 41
launches off of it. It's a blast.

Tony "6N"

On Jun 6, 8:15*pm, Tony V wrote:
How's that winch working out at Tanner, Gregg? *How come everyone lost
interest? *I think I know the reasons, but it's your club, you tell
me.

It's a bit complicated. Everybody (except one) agrees that Tanner-Hiller
(8B5) is a pain to get to. Now, Post Mills has the L23 we were using to
fling. It's tough for the club (based at 3B3) to spare a suitable glider
2 place for a day, etc.

The winch runs great and we've made a bunch of improvements like
replacing the rollers, mounting 5000 ft of Spectra.... I've logged 41
launches off of it. It's a blast.

Tony "6N"

So let's put it someplace else. VSF would be an excellent candidate,
huge airport, no traffic, existing glider ops... and yeah I know, it's
even further from Boston than Tanner-Hiller. But at VSF a) you'd get
more help, b) you'd be able to winch high enough to go soaring.

-Evan Ludeman / T8