3DSAVAGE

i'm a noob to soaring. i only do thermaling in g3. i seem to hit downddrafts randomly and i cant get out of them. what are some tips to staying in/ using thermals. i need to learn how to keep in them. i use a bird of time for thermaling. can you experts give me some tips on how to soar better?

OzMo

My Feedback: (3)

on the sim be sure you have dialed the thermal activity up.

VERY unlike a simulator YOU must trim your glider for straight and level flight. On a windless or mild day trim your bird with hand tosses for MAXIMUM glide distance by adjusting the CG rearward until it gets hard to handle then move it forward until it will just handle. balance is everything INCLUDING lateral( wing tip to wing tip).
A well balanced and trimmed bird will "signal" lift by turning or rolling, then turn slowly with the turn to come back around to look for what made it turn using rudder only to keep speed up. It is a chalenge to learn to stay off the elevator. remember the pionts where the air caused deviation and look for your thermal there. A couple of passes may be needed to "core " or center the thermal. A lot odf practice doing circles helps to lear n not to turn to fast and loose altitude. once in a thermal circle to stay in it and up you go! Have fun!

da Rock

Depending on your glider, if it turns quickly enough, turn into the bump. Temper this with how good the day is or how hard the bump was. Around every thermal there is usually down air. Turning into the bump insures you don't wander around in the down and wind up (pun intended) flying around (another yet) in the down air too long. Hard bumps indicate there is a strong difference between the up and the down air. You want the up, right?

Don't try for too simple a visual image of a thermal. There are many, many kinds. Depends on the topography that's generating the heat, and what's cooking it, and whether or not there is steady wind that's sweeping those hot spots and other stuff going on. Sloping ground around? Slope face the sun? Look for the lift over the high side. etc etc

How do you stay in a thermal once you've got an idea where it is? Go with it downwind. It will head downwind and if you don't pay attention to the wind and wind direction, it'll walk off an leave you in the air that ain't thermal air. Depending on the day, 2/3 to 3/4 of the air is heading down. That is, if 1/3 to 1/4 is actually going up.

Don't try for too simple a picture of them puppies.