to me, this is not a matter of "better" or anything like that, just different, and having it's own sets of skills. i am a glider guy down deep ( of course all cl planes are gliders for a bit :}) but a buddy talked me into trying cl combat. what a hoot. far different than a quiet day of making lazy thermal turns. and there is nothing like 3 or 4 guys in a circle on a rat race, eh? after doing this for a while, i find that even tho my passion is still for soaring, there are a few unique areas where control line has helped me.

a) had to learn to not get dizzy (that is a skill, by the way)
b) i can come up with a plane design from scratch, and build and try it in a weekend easily with cl, (very theraputic in this day of canned arfs to scratch build your own designs)
c) i got over my fear of the ground. when flying gliders if i got within about 50 feet of the ground i got pretty tense, and was never good at turns low-n-slow. now i am ok with turning the planes as low as i want to and still have the wingtip miss the ground!
d) i got ok with fast planes. taught me better reactions
e) gave me a chance to give a lot of kids some time flying a model. it is alot easier to give a bunch of kids some time on a simple cl model than an rc- buddy box, and they do better with it right off the bat as well. nice for a kid's first try at something to go well! my 12 year old son was soloing in just a few sessions. nice confidence booster for him.
f) even tho i can use a stooge and solo fly, it is a good excuse to make some new friends and have a buddy go out with you, since hanging out with buds is more fun than solo anyway.

so we have seen a resurgence of CL here in northern new mexico. last year was kind of quiet, but the previous few years we have had good attendance, and our club (mostly rc people) hosts at least one and most years two events a year for CL.

shoot - now i wanna go fly, and the ground is covered in snow :{ hmmm. skiis on the combat planes? no, i know! maybe indoor control line is the next big thing!

r.