RE: New to Gliders - Where do I look for info?
Seamus, are these bits and pieces from other websites? If so and to ensure we give the site owners their due credit we should really have the links to the original web sites to included in with your cut and paste bits. Otherwise it can often be too easy to take some of the material out of context.
I also would not turn your back too completely on competition. By all means take it with a grain of salt but you can get a lot of good out of competing against a stop watch once you've got the basics under your belt. The key is to focus on your own abilities and how they sharpen up under pressure instead of worrying about what anyone else is doing. There can be a lot of personal satisfaction in making the task time and getting a good controlled landing when you have to really scratch to do it.