Originally Posted by
BackPacker
To add, an important reason for sharing the ownership, but also the operation of a glider between (at least) two persons is to have somebody on the ground to come and fetch you with the trailer if you land "out".
With single ownership you always have to make arrangements before every flight just in case this happens.
It's a nice idea but unless people live in convenient places or are retired doesn't necessarily work in practise. If you are going to go XC then it's not your couple of hours, it's your day with the glider. Is your partner going to hang around all day waiting for you to get back or find a field? Probably not - they will go and do something with their family.
If I happen to be around I usually happily go and get anyone who has landed out although I don't own any of their glider as that's what I'd like to happen when I land out. Currently I've helped retrieve more gliders than I've had landouts.
Whilst there are probably more syndicated gliders at my club than singly-owned, the ones with a single owner generally do more hours per year. They are the gliders more likely to be taken on expeditions and flown XC.