{"id":1639,"date":"2010-12-30T11:29:55","date_gmt":"2010-12-30T16:29:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.orlandobuzzards.org\/?page_id=1639"},"modified":"2010-12-30T15:30:34","modified_gmt":"2010-12-30T20:30:34","slug":"thermals-part-thermals-part-3-thermalling-technique","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.orlandobuzzards.org\/?page_id=1639","title":{"rendered":"Thermals Part 3: Thermalling Technique."},"content":{"rendered":"

By Will Gadd
\nPart three of a three-part series on thermals written from a paraglider’s perspective.
\n<\/em><\/strong>My favorite part of flying is undoubtedly thermalling; in fact, thermalling may be my favorite thing to do in life. There\u2019s nothing like hooking a sharp-edged, positive ripper of a thermal and riding it upward for a couple of miles. My least favorite part of flying is also thermalling; those days when everyone else goes up flying straight and you hit the deck like a dropped park bench–repeatedly. On those days you\u2019re glad you landed alone so no one else can hear you scream. The following is my latest \u201cthermalling system.\u201d I hope it helps you develop yours.<\/p>\n

Thermal Theory
\n<\/strong>A little more thermal theory is useful to understand how to fly them. I believe thermals close to the ground are often quite small and relatively violent. As they rise they tend to smooth out and expand. Pressure also tends to influence thermal formation; high-pressure days tend to produce smaller, sharp-edged, \u201cpunchy\u201d thermals. Lower-pressure days can produce very strong thermals obviously, but they tend to have mellower edges and be larger in size.
\nThe day\u2019s lapse rate also influences thermal strength; a hot day with a very strong lapse rate will produce stronger thermals. Think of a very warm piece of air rising out of a collector on a day with a strong difference in air temperatures between the ground and say 5,000 feet above it. A thermal will rise quite quickly in this situation. An inversion is the opposite, and not surprisingly thermals usually stop or at least slow down at inversions.
\nThe above factors (and hundreds more but this is a start) give each day its thermal \u201cprofile.\u201d If you launch on a clear blue day (indicating high pressure) with a good lapse rate (you checked the day\u2019s soundings), then you might expect sharp-edged, strong thermals. If, however, the sky is filled with soft cumulus and looks somewhat hazy due to moisture, then you might expect softer thermals. The first thermal of the day provides some good clues about what\u2019s happening; if it rips you upward and all you have to do to stay in it all the way to base is turn a bit then you\u2019re off to a good start. If it\u2019s small and difficult to stay in then ends abruptly 1000 feet later and you can\u2019t take it any higher, then you know the day will be more difficult. I take a mental note of three important characteristics with each thermal I use during the day. What is my average climb rate? Not the spikes, but the true climb rate as expressed by a 20-second average? How high do I get before it totally falls apart, and are there any altitudes that seem tricky to keep climbing through? And finally, what are the size and drift of the circles I\u2019m making?
\nThe climb rate tells you what to expect as the day progresses; climb rates tend to improve until late in the day, and thermal size also tends to increase as the day wears on (sink too unfortunately). If you\u2019re getting solid 600fpm climbs, then it\u2019s probably not worth stopping in 100fpm on a glide unless you\u2019re low (anything going up when you\u2019re low is great). The peak thermal altitude is also useful; if you are getting to 6,000 feet AGL consistently but a strong thermal suddenly \u201cstops\u201d at 4,000 AGL then you\u2019ve probably lost it and should search for it. However, if the thermal stops at 5,800 feet then it\u2019s most likely done and time to go on glide. Remember that the peak altitude of the thermals should increase as the day progresses. On good days in Texas it\u2019s not uncommon to see thermals in the morning only reach 4000 AGL, then 6000 AGL at noon, 10,000 at 2:00 p.m. and 14,000 at 5:00 p.m. This progression is generally less in the mountains but still observable.
\nFinally, the size and drift of your circles at various altitudes also tells you what to expect on the next climb and information on wind speeds aloft. This tells you what angle your thermal will be flowing from a collector so you can intersect that line I (note-very strong thermals will have no problem pushing the wind around them like a bridge abutment in the river).<\/p>\n

Coordinated Circles, not Swings
\n<\/strong>OK, so you\u2019re flying along and your vario starts beeping with the good noises. What to do? First, did your glider surge forward or fall back behind you just before the beeps? If it went behind you then you\u2019re probably dealing with a \u201cgust.\u201d Wait and see if the beeping continues or goes back to sink. If it\u2019s a thermal and the beeping increases, turn. I don\u2019t worry too much about which direction; if one side of the glider is noticeably more pressurized or higher above you, then lean meaningfully in that direction and pull on the brake smoothly. How much pull ? Higher pressures in your glider indicate a stronger thermal, meaning you can pull harder you can. However, the most common mistake in thermalling is to pull too aggressively on the inside brake. When you pull too hard on the inside brake your body tends to swing to the outside of your turn in a small wing-over. Then your body swings back under the glider, you lose the turn and fly straight out of the thermal. Many pilots then crank another wild-ass turn to try and get back into the thermal; I flew this way for about five years before getting it figured out. What you want to do is fly in a \u201ccoordinated\u201d banked turn. This is like riding a bicycle; you and the bike are at the correct bank angle for your speed and the sharpness of the turn. One of the most common problems pilots have is maintaining a consistent circle while thermalling; I expect you know what I mean\u2026 The correct technique is to start a turn with a smooth, controlled lean and simultaneous progressive inside brake application. The glider will bank up, your body will follow it, and due to centrifugal force you will continue to stay outside the glider\u2019s circle and smoothly ride the thermal up. Jerking the brake instead of applying smooth increasing pressure will just swing you to the outside of the glider–then you\u2019ll swing back under it, repeat. The glider will also remain over your head in a true coordinated turn; if it falls behind you, reduce brake. If it threatens to surge in front of you, apply a quick correction while maintaining your lean and turn.
\nIf you can\u2019t figure out what I mean, pull on one brake sharply and release it; you\u2019ll swing out from your glider then back under it, usually with an oscillation or two as a bonus. Then try leaning hard for a second or two then go back to neutral lean; you\u2019ll swing out to the side of your glider then back under it, but not as much. Now smoothly lean, pull gently and progressively on the brake and hold it; you\u2019ll enter a gentle spiral dive or circle, same thing. This is what you want.
\nAirspeed and bank angle are directly related; the higher the bank angle, the more airspeed you need to keep the turn coordinated (think of a spiral dive). The lower the bank angle, the less airspeed you\u2019ll feel on your face. Thermals are seldom perfectly consistent; this means you will have to continually adjust your brake and lean to maintain a coordinated turn. If your airspeed starts decreasing and the glider levels out, lean a little more, let up on the outside brake a little bit, and increase your airspeed and bank angle. If your air speed increases suddenly, lean a little less, pull a bit more on the outside brake, and maintain your bank angle. If you can learn how to thermal in a coordinated bank then you are well on your way to thermalling efficiently.<\/p>\n

Centering: The mental map
\n<\/strong>OK, so your vario is beeping like mad; how long do you wait before turning? If the day\u2019s thermals are small and you\u2019re low, start turning immediately after you\u2019re sure you\u2019ve hit something (not just a gust). Rules of thumb about waiting two seconds etc. are meaningless in my experience. You\u2019ve found lift, initiate a smooth banked turn and see what happens. If you climb really well for a quarter circle and then start sinking, open your circle up a little bit in the direction you found the best lift then tighten as the lift increases; notice the pressure in your wing and how your butt feels in the seat, not just the vario beeping, these are critical clues. Listen to the noise in your ears as well; with practice, you can actually hear the different air flows as you fly through lift or sink; if you can\u2019t hear the air then get a new helmet. At some point in your circle everything will add up to the best lift as defined by your vario, wing pressure and lift under your butt. If you\u2019re flying a coordinated 360 then it\u2019s relatively easy to develop a mental map of where the best lift is in each 360; don\u2019t worry about the ground, but where you encounter the best lift within each circle. Try to develop a \u201cmental map\u201d of what\u2019s happening in each 360.
\nTo fly toward better lift, maintain a coordinated turn, just reduce the bank slightly as you come back around the 360 and move the center of your circle over a little bit toward where you got the best lift. NEVER STOP CIRCLING. Once in the best lift, tighten the circle up slightly while maintaining a coordinated turn. Perhaps you get solid lift for half the turn, general sink for half the turn. Move the circle in the direction of the best lift again. Now you get solid lift for three quarters of the turn and less lift for one quarter. Move it again. Now you\u2019re climbing solidly for the full revolution of your turn at +400 fpm average, but one portion of your circle is going up at +600 and another at only +200. If you weren\u2019t in a coordinated turn, and most pilots aren\u2019t, this would probably be due to the oscillations inherent in thermalling in an uncoordinated turn and you would not have a clue what\u2019s actually going on. But you know to thermal in a coordinated manner, so you move your circle toward the +600 and eventually lock in a perfect 1000fpm climb all the way to base. Irregular thermals may give irregular \u201cinstantaneous\u201d readings on your vario, so focus on getting the best average climb rate that you can. Hang gliders and sailplanes can use all kinds of funky ovals and figure-eights to get better average climbs, but I have found paragliders climb best flying coordinated, continuously adjusted circles (or straight if the thermal is big enough!).<\/p>\n

Circle Size and Bank Angle
\n<\/strong>I find I thermal with 30-45 or more degrees of bank on days with small, strong thermals, 15 to 30 on lower pressure days and almost flat on days with light, wide thermals. The extremes of bank angles come in dust devils (almost vertical) versus flying straight and flat while climbing like mad under a big cloud; somewhere between these two extremes is the correct angle for your thermal on that day. Every glider responds differently to brake force and the amount of lean; what works for one pilot on his glider usually has little to nothing to do with yours. However, every glider will circle in a coordinated manner, and the feeling is unmistakable once you get it.
\nHere are a few scenarios to help pick bank angles for thermalling. Say you\u2019re flying along in -600 fpm and suddenly you\u2019re screaming up at +800. You turn, then go down at -400,so you move your circle toward the +800 but can\u2019t lock it in despite continually re-centering your circle. You probably need a higher bank angle and smaller circle. If you\u2019re very low in a small thermal, you may only be able to get half a turn in. Do your best to just improve how much of each circle you spend in lift, you\u2019ll lock it eventually as you climb. Another scenario: you\u2019re flying along in -600 when your sink rate starts to decrease smoothly to zero sink, then +200, then +300. I would keep flying straight until the lift starts to decrease, then initiate a relatively gentle bank and center on the best average climb rate. A relatively gradual, consistent rise in your climb rate is a sign of a large thermal. Often you can find very strong cores in large thermals that will offer much higher rates of climb, but in general the larger the thermal, the less bank angle the better to maximize your climb rate. Some bank angle is usually good; a glider won\u2019t turn in a coordinated circle without it, but you can fly in a coordinated turn with equal brake using lean; watch a good pilot fly and you can tell he or she is often controlling the glider primarily with lean and modest adjustments to the outside brake.
\nThere is no correct number of pounds to pull on your brakes while thermalling or distance to pull them down (1\/4 brake is meaningless across a range of gliders), but there is a correct amount of brake to pull and lean to maintain a coordinated turn. It\u2019s like riding a bike; no one can tell you how to do it, but you stay upright when it works. I generally thermal with roughly twice the amount of brake pressure on the inside brake than the outside, and adjust my turn primarily with lean and the outside brake. You will probably do it differently, but know a good coordinated turn when you hit one.
\nDon\u2019t change directions when thermalling, especially when low. There are three good reasons for this; First, changing directions messes your coordinated turn up and you have to fly straight for some time between turns which usually takes you away from the lift (all directions but one lead away from the lift\u2026). Second, you lose your mental \u201cmap\u201d of where the best part of your circle was. Third, the direction change will cause your vario to beep in all kinds of interesting but non-helpful ways. It is almost always better to simply move your circle over toward the better lift than try to switch directions and fly toward it.
\nIf you\u2019re having a hard time maintaining a coordinated turn, try flying a bit faster; use more lean and less inside and outside brake. Many pilots try to fly a perfectly flat circle; in truly massive lift this works well, and your glider may have its best sink rate with a fair amount of brake on. However, I find flying a bit faster with a mild bank often enables me to lock in the thermal\u2019s best lift. Don\u2019t confuse what works well while ridge soaring with what works best thermalling, it\u2019s a very different game.<\/p>\n

What do to do when you lose the lift
\n<\/strong>First, know if you\u2019re at the top of the thermal or not. If every thermal so far has ended at 6,000 AGL and you\u2019re at 5,700 then forget about it and go on glide. But if you\u2019re climbing well at 3,000 AGL and lose the thermal then it\u2019s time to go into search mode. If there\u2019s any wind at all, the thermal is probably either directly down or upwind of you. The first thing to do is expand the size of your circle and pay attention to your mental map. If you were climbing at +200 fpm and then start sinking at -600 on the upwind portion of the 360, open the circle up back downwind. If the sink improves to -400 and then -200, move it even more downwind. If nothing good happens, try moving upwind; again, an improvement in sink is as as relevant as finding more lift, work toward the area of lesser sink. Also pay attention to your groundspeed; it will generally increase as you follow the air flowing into a thermal, but decrease if you\u2019re bucking the wind flowing into a thermal by flying away from it (remember that thermals, especially when low, pull or entrain air into them). If I\u2019m low on windy days I tend to fall out the upwind edge of the thermal. If I\u2019m high on a windy day I tend to fall out the downwind edge of the thermal. I have no idea why, but that\u2019s how it works.
\nI\u2019ve seldom encountered thermals that are smooth cylinders from the ground to base; the trick is to follow your vario, wing and seat pressure up in the best lift with continual gentle adjustments to your coordinated circle.<\/p>\n

More Clues for Better Thermalling
\n<\/strong>If the outside of your wing loses pressure suddenly and ruffles or takes a mild collapse, you\u2019ve just found a relative difference in lift. Perhaps you\u2019re in +600 and your outside wing just hit some +50; you want to move your circle away from the area you just took the turbulence in and toward the better lift. If you\u2019re thermalling in a gaggle and see someone take an outside wing deflation ahead of you in the circle, then it\u2019s probably worth tightening your circle away from that area and then opening it slightly to fly toward the better lift, tightening the circle as you encounter better lift. Most pilots tend to fly the \u201cpattern\u201d in a thermal rather than really watching the climb rates of the other gliders; if everyone climbs better in one half of their circle than the other, move your circle toward the better lift; you\u2019ll climb above the other gliders quite quickly using this tactic. If someone is out-climbing you off to one side then move your circle to them; there\u2019s no heroism in climbing slowly by yourself.
\nIf you see the glider in front of you in a gaggle start climbing like mad, you may want to start tightening your circle immediately so you are in a higher bank angle as you hit the rising air and can \u201cgrab\u201d more of it; again, fly the thermal, not the other pilots.
\nLook for pollen, plastic bags, bugs and other debris in your thermal. Birds in general and Swifts in particular will almost always be in the best part of a thermal; follow them immediately. Swifts and other small birds seem to eat the bugs that are drawn into thermals; if you see a group of them swarming upward, jump in with them even if doing so requires a short glide. Because thermals are pulling air into them, trash often automatically centers itself in a thermal; I\u2019ve climbed thousands of feet in the company of newspapers or other debris.
\nSome days produce thermals that seem to want to spit you out; most of the time I\u2019ve found that this is due to flying with too large a circle. Think of a spout of water shooting upward; if you stick your wing into the center and keep your circle within the column, you\u2019ll go up. But find the edge and you\u2019ll lose pressure on the outside of your wing. This creates drag, you lose your bank angle and tend to get \u201cpulled\u201d out to the side.
\nTry flying with your vario turned off; Chris Mueller and many other top pilots often fly long distances without their varios ! I don\u2019t want to get too esoteric here, but how your glider feels in lift becomes clear if you focus on the clues. Turning your vario off forces you to pay attention to what\u2019s really happening with your glider in different currents of air. I\u2019ve learned a lot in the last year by playing this game, especially in gaggles where I can watch other gliders.
\nThe smoothest air is often right in the core of a strong thermal, and your glider will be more pressurized and stable if you are flying a higher bank angle; if I\u2019m climbing quite fast, I know that the edge of the thermal is likely to be quite turbulent. I\u2019ve never flown away from a very strong thermal as I know I\u2019ll hit turbulence doing so; the best thing you can do is lock into the core and take it to base.
\nThe most extreme variations between sink and lift tend to be below five hundred feet off the deck; you\u2019re flying along in 600 down and suddenly you\u2019re ripping at 1000 up, then falling out of the sky again. However, the best true average climb rates tend to be higher in the thermal until it cools to the point where it won\u2019t give you any more lift. I often will see spikes of over 1500 fpm low to the ground on days where I can\u2019t get more than 600fpm climbs on the 20-second averager. A thermal\u2019s real climb rate is what you can get out of it on the averager, not the \u201cspikes.\u201d I often hear pilots say, \u201cDude, I got 2000 fpm today!\u201d They are almost invariably referring to the lift spikes and not their true rate of climb. The only place in the world I\u2019ve seen true 2000fpm climbs is the Owens Valley in July, but crank a hard uncoordinated turn and you can easily create your own 1000+fpm \u201cthermal\u201d as your vario swings up and beeps happily; this is a lie, but many pilots will believe it and keep creating their own thermals with wild turns where there is nothing.
\nFinally, all of the above writing is just my own theory based off sailplane books, conversations with other pilots and personal experience. What really matters is your own theory; question it and refine it continuously for best results. If someone out-climbs you in a thermal it may be due to their glider, but it\u2019s much more likely that they did something you didn\u2019t. Don\u2019t curse yourself as they ascend faster. Instead, try to figure out why. Are they using larger circles or smaller? Did they move their circle into better lift and you didn\u2019t follow? I don\u2019t believe anybody is born a better pilot than someone else, but some pilots do think about what they are doing and try to do better. I look forward to trying to do better this season, and wish everyone the best of luck! And, in the end, the best pilot is the one having the most fun.<\/p>\n

Will Gadd will be running XC clinics across the United States and Canada this summer; check gravsports.com for a schedule or contact him at gadd@gravsports.com if you\u2019re interested! <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Will Gadd Part three of a three-part series on thermals written from a paraglider’s perspective. My favorite part of flying is undoubtedly thermalling; in fact, thermalling may be my favorite thing to do in life. There\u2019s nothing like hooking a sharp-edged, positive ripper of a thermal and riding it \u2026 Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":1657,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1639","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.orlandobuzzards.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1639","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.orlandobuzzards.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.orlandobuzzards.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.orlandobuzzards.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.orlandobuzzards.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1639"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.orlandobuzzards.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1639\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1710,"href":"http:\/\/www.orlandobuzzards.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1639\/revisions\/1710"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.orlandobuzzards.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.orlandobuzzards.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1639"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}