At Shenington this week....a small gliding club....
Monday and Tuesday provided good soaring weather. Alan L. did 360 k, Steve T. managed 500 k, and GP flew 660 k. Visitors from the Oxford Club also achieved great distances, David managed 365.7 on Monday and 302.4 on Tuesday.
No doubt the larger clubs, eg. Dunstable (London), Lasham, Husbands Bosworth did even better.
In the United States, alas, the gliding scene is pretty much as described by some of the disgruntled posters above. Americans find it much more difficult to cooperate in a club environment.
I am no longer young enough or fit enough to fly solo, instruct, tug, or even to attach a winch cable to the belly hook of a glider, but I spent this morning helping out at the launchpoint, there were no thermals, but a good training day, and a lad of 15 did three solos, after a series of practice launch failures.
And on my flight, for the first time I didn't bother to wear a parachute! alas, it didn't make it any easier to struggle out of the seat after landing.