Hang Gliding and Paragliding Volume 44 / Issue 2: February 2014 | Page 53

cruised over to the point, the secondsave house thermal after the bowl.
There were 10 pilots flying that day
and several had already dabbled in
teasing bubbles at the point.
I wallowed around looking for leaf
disturbance (lesson 2) and leaked off
about 450 feet of precious altitude.
Call it lu ck, call it paying for performance or just perseverance, but I hit
a hint of lift. With nothing to lose, I
cranked up that little wing. I knew the
lift would be small—we were under a
high-pressure system clocking around
westerly winds, so I was ready (lesson
3). I was below the point, which in
some ways was an advantage because
the slope channeled the thermal up
along it—it was easier to stay in it.
Also, I could judge my progress without looking at my altimeter in such a
50-50 thermal—fifty feet per minute,
50% of the time. Normally, only your
altimeter or a slope alongside can
reveal if you are making progress in
such a weak thermal (those are lessons
4 and 5, I believe). Using the slope to
judge climb allowed me to focus with

mind, body and soul on the anemic
lift. Focus in scratching conditions is
of utmost importance (lesson 6).
After a while of working, I rose
above the point and the thermal
began to coalesce and gather in
strength, but drift a bit more. I
redoubled my resolve to focus, but did
notice with satisfaction that the eagle
joined me, although he was still above
me. The lift was only about 100 feet
per minute. The drift was from the
west-northwest and I imagined the
feed from below breaking off from
the point. I tried to keep the trajectory in mind and was careful not to
drift in front or behind the thermal.
Thermals often accelerate downwind
once they clear the terrain, so the
tendency is to drift out the front. But
with tilted thermals, the tendency
is to drift out the back (lesson 7).
Since this was my first thermal, it was
anyone’s guess what the day’s characteristics were, so I concentrated on
each 360 to keep the climb as steady
as possible. A couple of times the lift
weakened, but I could get it back by

adjusting to center on the area I just
left (lesson 8 or more) Some instruments can help you track where the
thermal core was, but after exploring
and exploiting ten million thermals
I can fairly well re-find a wandering
core.
After minutes of struggle, all of
it fun, I was a little above the top.
Another pilot launched and flew
directly to the point. He had been
waiting on launch—too long in my
opinion. On an iffy day, if someone
is climbing, it is imperative to get off
the hill and join her, coming in above
like the eagle, if possible (lesson 9). In
fact, on a scratchy day, the best policy
is to have two good pilots as ready as
possible so they can get into the air at
nearly the same time and really up the
odds of someone finding whatever is
out there (lesson 10). Of course, it is
our nature to wait for a sure (or surer)
thing, but sometimes we over-wait;
sometimes we miss the boat.
Now I began to watch two things:
the other pilot working about 200 feet
below me and the wind indicators at
launch (several streamers and a flag at
the peak). I still wasn’t home free—far
from it. On these high-pressure days,
thermals are often short-lived and
inversion layers can plug up the cores.
I was using my fellow pilot as an
indicator of any hot spots or shots of
lift surging up. He was making larger
circles than I did when I was at his
level. I felt this was a mistake, because
although tighter circles give you an
increase in pure sink rate, every time
you exit the best core area the losses
are greater (lesson 11). From my perspective, it looked like he was climbing slowly, although I was gradually
pulling away. After the flight he said
he only gained about 100 feet above

HANG GLIDING & PARAGLIDING MAGAZINE

53