Sounds like you have never circle towed for 15 minutes in a crowd then run a half mile only to get right back in line to do it again maybe 6 times an event. Compare that to what we do between flights huddled under a shade tent. If you are talking difficulty of achieving perfection you may be right. A 645 is akin to an 18 in golf. Neither one is ever going to happen. There was a day when CL and FF were joined at the hip. Everybody did both and had a blast doing it. Stunt was what you did to relax between FF Event rounds.
On the thread subject, I thought there was some activity on the LSF forum. I was wrong, quite dead.
Ken
Only 15 minutes on tow? At the '81 Sierra Cup, I circle towed (1st round on Day 2) for 50 minutes (1 hr. rounds), marked the only thermal that round, and dropped 4 seconds (my crappy glider towed ok but wouldn't transition well at all). The contest was 10 rounds, 5 each day. My total was 1796 seconds out of 1800 and of course that put me out of the flyoff round but in 3rd place. Jim Parker was 1st, Lee Hines 2nd. I did win the Champagne Flyoff on Saturday evening with something like 8 1/2 minutes...and I didn't CT at all, just towed into THE thermal and banged it off before anybody else launched. I then caught it, just before it got strained through the barbwire fence.
There is a pretty good amount of activity on FB FF groups, with "Vintage FAI FF group" being the most active, followed by Free Flight Group (NFFS, I think). The reason is that FB is a LOT cheaper than paying to have your site hosted on somebody's server. If you refuse to join FB, it's your loss. I even post political posts without getting put in FB prison. To be honest, the ACFC Group (Alberta Controline Flying Club) is the original reason I joined FB. Yes, there are some annoying things about FB, but those can get deleted with a quick click of the mouse!
Steve
PS: I've seen lawn chairs at least 50' up in thermals at Taft, CA. It's impressive!