Choosing the right glider is very important for you to fully enjoy your career in flying.

There are 3 basic catagories to consider when choosing a glider.
1, Choosing the right weight range.
2, choosing the right rcovery characteristics for your skill level. I.e. DHV, AFNOR, ACPUL or EN rating and finaly
3, choosing the right amount of agility or response from your glider.

1, Choosing the correct weight range.
In its most basic form this is quite easy. As the weight ranges on the gliders are 'All Up Flying Weights', simply take your naked weight and add 15-20 kilos. This is to include your clothes, the weight of the harness, wing and all your electronic equipment that you would fly with.

However, if your total weight lands close to 2 different size ranges i.e. you could be heavy on a medium or light on a large then the decision becomes a ttle more difficult.

If you are heavy on a glider then the glider will fly faster and be more responsive. Quicker in the turns and more risistant to collapses but it won't go up as well and won't be able to fly as slowly.

If you are light on a glider then it will go up really easily and fly slower so that catching every little bit og lift will be easier. But on the other hand deflations will be essier to get and be slower in correcting themselves. So either way it's not all good.

So for instance, if you are a beginner cross country pilot being light on a glider might be good, this will let you use gentle thermals and practice your thermaling easier. But if you are a serious cross country pilot then you might want to be heavy on a glider so that when flying in more powerful thermals then the glider will be more resistant to collapses. The fact that is doesn't go up as well doesn't really matter as you will be able to get on more powerful thermals taking you up faster anyway.

If you're trying to get into acro then you should aim to be heavy or even very heavy on a glider as you want all the tuck resistance you can muster.

If you just want a glider for general flying then half way to the top end of the weight range will be better.

2, Choosing the right recovery characteristics.
It is important to fully understand what all these ratings really mean. In the past pilots thought that to go for a better performing glider that you had to go up to a higher rating. The thought that ratings are just the only link to performance, and that really depends on what kind of performance you're talking about, isn't quite the truth.
So here is a little background on the different rating systems.

DHV.
This is basically a German system and they test the gliders by flying off a high mountain and then putting the glider through its paces. The pilot will stall, spin, and collapse the glider any way they can and then simply just let go and wait for the glider to see what it does.
If the glider recovers within 4 seconds and turns less than 90 degrees in all the tests then it is given a DHV 1 rating.
If the glider recovers within 8 seconds and turns less that 180 degrees in the tests then it is given a DHV 1 rating.
If on the other hand it recovers, by itself in more than any of these or even doesn't recover at all then it is given a DHV 3 rating.
Of course this is with the glider recovering on its own but if the pilot were to imput the right controls at the right time then the glider would recover quicker or even not collapse at all. Remember thses tests are with no imput from the pilot what so ever.

ACPUL.
Not really used anymore the ACPUL rating is a French system made up of 11 tests and depending on how the glider reacted in each of these tests would determins the rating it got. So you would end up with a glider that had "All 'A's" or "11A's and 1B". The more B's and C's that the glider got would make it more dangerous to fly. But you would be able to see which test the glider got a B or a C rating in. i.e. it might have a C for spins meaning that the glider would be a generally safe glider but would be difficult to handle if you got it into a spin.

AFNOR.
The AFNOR replaced the ACPUL rating and generalised the system to 3 levels. Standard, Performance and Competition. Through a series of 17 tests the pilots would then simplify the tests to Standard, good for beginner and low airtime pilots, Performance, good for cross country pilots and medium to high airtime pilots and finaly Competition, for full on international competition or very high airtime pilots only. i.e. the wing would probably need expert pilot input to recover or in fact might not recover at all.

EN Rating.
This rating is a new European rating designed to put all the best parts of all the other tests together and simplify to A,B,C or D. And in extreme circumstances a Load Tested rating a EN 926-1. This is primarily done when the models are for aerobatics or have extreme recovery characteristics and are made in too small a number to warrant paying the fees to get them rated properly. Below is a brief description of the classes.

Below is a table of the ways that all the different systems intergrate with each other.
The table is our explination of the differences and our thoughts on the levels of pilots for each rating. You will see that they overlap in all sorts of different places and that is because of the different things or ways that they test the gliders.
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3, Choosing the right amount of agility or response.
This is a classification that most people don't talk about. In the past if you wanted a more resposive glider it usually meant that you had to get a higher rated glider. A lot of work has been done to make the lower rated glider perform and respond better. What has then since happened is that designers and test pilots for different companies have designed gliders to suit their flying styles.

So what you will get are gliders that have a particular flying characteristic throughout the Glider manufacturer. Just like Land Rover make a particular type of car and Ford make general all rounders while Alfa Romeo are always that little bit more sporty with better road holding no matter what size of car they make.

A highly responsive glider will need subtle control techniques even if its a DHV 1 or EN A glider. Therefor if you would be a nervous pilot or a pilot who is heavy handed then this glider would be too much to handle and probably scare the living daylights out of you in turbulent conditions.

A very stable glider however would seem very boring to some one who wants something more lively and so the boredom might eventually switch you off the sport.
Certain manufacturers are known for their responsiveness such as Niviuk, Ozone, Gradient, Sky or windtech. Other middle of the road gliders, good for all types of flying, are Airways, Sol or Advance.

Of course if you choose a glider higher up the DHV or EN rating within a manufacturer then the given characteristics will get even more pronounced and probably more dangerous.