All, I'm enjoying the discussion about contest participation, it must be that time of year again. I took a year off of glider competition to get into pattern flying (yeah I know). I'm also a member of a pattern discussion list like this soaring list.
This very same discussion occured on the pattern list not two weeks ago. There are a great deal of simularities between glider and pattern competition, and I have found that there are many cross over pilots like myself (I see alot of familiar names on the pattern list...guys, your secret is safe with me). I like competition, each contest I go to in whatever discipline I learn alot more about flying and aircraft set-up in a day than a month of weekends fun flying. If you want to learn something new, all you have to do is ask and you will usually get more than you ask for. The bottom line is competition is something you have to really, really want to do. Some people are into it, and some are not. If you do not like flying in a specific format, with rules, having people who are better pilots beat you, and a contest director telling you when to fly, please do not go. You will not have fun. Go to a fun fly, and enjoy yourself. I agree that some of the glider formats are boring, but I'm beginning to see MOM format which is cool and I would love to try a multitask contest. BTW if you do not like people sitting right behind you, and judging your flying do not take up pattern! Greg Morris RCSE-List facilities provided by Model Airplane News. Send "subscribe" and "unsubscribe" requests to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Please note that subscribe and unsubscribe messages must be sent in text only format with MIME turned off.
