Hang Gliding and Paragliding Volume 44 / Issue 12:December 2014 | Page 56

towards the outside of the turn. Pretty
soon you’ll get a feel for your glider’s
behavior and reaction to your control
inputs. Eventually learn to perform the
technique in a variety of thermals at
different banks. Note, however, I find
that my glider has a “sweet range” bank
angle that works best (about 30 to 40
degrees). After time you should find
yours. When you are in the groove it
feels like you are pushing your glider
inward into the thermal. Some have
described it as “poking the wing into
the core.” Any way you visualize it, it
sure feels good once you have mastered
the trick and especially after you have
used it to save your butt from premature grounding.

THE PREMIER THERMAL
By the repetitive discussion of maximizing performance in weak conditions,
perhaps you can guess what I have been
flying in lately. Here I want to focus on
what you do when you are squatting
on launch on a doodah day waiting for
your magic cycle. Maybe the wind is so
light that you are sure to need to launch
into a thermal in order to get up. What
should we do to maximize safety and
performance?
My first step in such a situation is to
try to observe how fat the lift is. Birds,
other pilots in the air (or who have
attempted to stay up) and possibly the
extent of disturbance of ground cover
or trees can give you an idea of how far
out the lift extends. If it looks narrow,
I plan to launch into the strongest cycle
I can find and scrape back and forth
with figure eights (for a short ridge or
peak) or close passes (for a longer hill
or ridge). Once above and clear of the
terrain, I begin turning in thermals
when they present their warm bodies. If
the thermals are simply too small or the
lift band too narrow, you cannot expect
to launch and turn in a thermal right
away. In fact, with very weak thermals,

56

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

sometimes it is only the added upslope
breeze or general wind component that
makes your flight sustainable.
On the other hand, if the lift seems
to extend out a bit further, I plan to
ride it straight away from the launch
point (or towards a turning glider, bird
or obvious ground disturbance) in order
to gain clearance to begin turning. It is
this case that is of most interest, mainly
because it requires the most judgment
and skill. You have probably heard the
old rule when you began to thermal
of counting to three (three seconds)
in lift before you begin to turn. Well,
that amount of time i ́