Back in the swing of things

Winter has broken and we've started flying again at Harris Hill!

I took my safety check ride about two weeks ago and have been up a few times with mixed success. I've managed to find and stay up a bit in some thermals but I realize that this season is about really practicing the art of soaring.

I need to get better - much better, at finding, centering, and circling in lift. I've already found out what one of my problems has been. I'm not banking steeply enough when circling.

The other day, I was circling in a thermal ranging between 2 and 4 knot lift when two of our club's experts arrived in the same thermal below me. As I struggled to find and stay in the core of the lift, within two turns they had outclimbed me and popped out the top of the thermal.

I was unable to successfully climb in the same thermal and eventually headed off to find more lift. I landed not too long after that.

When I saw them later, they told me that I was circling too widely. I needed to bank over and stay in the core. I think I've been too timid to try that. I know you descend quicker if you bank over because you add a little airspeed to keep from stalling and I know that increases your descent rate. But when you think about it, the tradeoff is you stay in the bigger lift longer in a tighter circle.

So, I've been concentrating on finding lift, circling tightly (30-45 degrees which is tight but not SUPER tight) and flying my circles in a coordinated and stable fashion while adjusting to stay in the lift.

It works. Yesterday I posted a personal best of 2 hours and 6 minutes aloft. Not only that, but I made a max altitude of 6200 feet, which was also a personal best. This was in the 'low' performance Schweizer 2-33 trainer.

Now, you kind of had to be a total bonehead not to stay aloft yesterday. It was a GOOD soaring day, but I did force myself to get out of the lift when I was at the top and go search for another thermal, including looking where other sailplanes were NOT. Fortunately, I found a number of good thermals all across the local flying area. In fact, the only reason I came down was because I really needed to go to the bathroom!

Good thing, too. When I landed, my back hurt and my knees were killing me. It was really time to come back, even though I hated to. I got off tow at 3700 feet and never got below that altitude until I descended for landing! Good flying.