Gliding is the ultimate free flying experience. It is a truly diverse sport that can be enjoyed at all levels: from the thriving club scene, to aerobatics, to the international racing competitions, currently dominated by British pilots (with five World Champions).

The gliders you can fly soar using the same air currents that birds use to fly, but have also been designed with the kind of aerodynamic efficiency that enables top speeds of up to 170 mph. Distances of over 600 miles have been covered in one day in the UK and heights of almost 40,000 feet have been achieved. Gliding gives you the freedom to explore the world from a unique birds eye view and discover the many moods of the sky.

Gliding is also a sport for all ages - from those who go solo on their 16th birthday through their club cadet schemes; there is no upper age limit.

Gliding is many different things to many different people. For some, it is just a casual hobby, and a way to meet new people. For others, it is an inexpensive way to get airborne. For many, it is the cutting edge sport of racing or aerobatics.

For all, though, it is a silent and graceful way of flying without an engine. Of course, without an engine, you may wonder how you get airborne, and how you stay up. Read on!

Gliders come in many shapes and sizes. They can also be cheap or expensive! Fortunately, you don't need to buy your own glider as the Fenland Gliding Club has two-seaters for instructional purposes, and also we have single-seaters which you move onto once you are sent solo.

In order to launch, you do need a little assistance. There are several ways of doing this. The aerotow launch is very docile, and involves being pulled up by a light aircraft with a strong rope in between. When the glider gets to the required height, the glider releases the cable, and the glider is free! Winch launching is probably the most common and cheapest. This involves being attached to a winch with a long reel of wire. When the wire gets pulled in, the glider gets the speed to fly into the air like a kite. When you are almost overhead the winch, again you can release the cable.

Once you are airborne, how do you stay up? Well, this depends on finding air that is rising. There are three forms of this 'lift' that help us stay up - thermals, ridge (or hill) lift and wave.

Now you know you can stay up (given the right conditions!), you can use this to go places or go 'cross-country'. Normally, this involves using one, or even all three forms of lift to get height, and then using this height to go forward to the next point on our task (or to the next area of lift). A typical task may be a 300-kilometre triangle, with the aim to get back to where you started. It is in this way that you can race - very simply, a task is set and the fastest person round it is the winner!

We've all seen powered aircraft do aerobatics, but how does a glider do them? Well, very simply, in very much the same way. Gliders are just as strong and just as manoeuvrable as most powered aircraft, but with one difference - no engine! This means that an aerobatic flight normally involves taking a high aerotow and then using the height energy to perform the moves. To get the speed to perform these aerial feats, rather than using power, you turn your height into speed. Gliders may be slightly limited in what they can perform without an engine, but the gap is small, and they are silent and graceful in the execution.

Of course, if you take up gliding, you don't have to become a racing or an aerobatic pilot. Many people just enjoy seeing the world from a different viewpoint, or even enjoy the thrill of trying to perfect their basic flying skills. A large number of glider pilots also carry on to become instructors (most instructors are unpaid, but professional nonetheless!) so that they can pass on the skills they have learned.