The Glide - A Sporting Philosophy

Earlier i mentioned that there are two main components during competition flight: the climb and the glide.

Climb rate is probably the most significant factor influencing your cross country speed, but at the highest level most pilots will have very similiar climbing skills and it is very hard to outclimb people. So getting good glides is what would make the difference.

So what is the Glide. Well, let's say you found stonking 800 feet per minute thermal and you are now sitting nicely at the top near cloudbase at 5000 feet and start your glide to the next good looking cumuls. At this point, you do what many pilots do...you relax, you have a drink, a bite to eat, maybe have a pee, take a picutre, check your emails on your new iphone...before you know it you lost 2500 feet and are now panicking for another climb.

Then you look left and your mate who left the climb at the same height, flying at the same speed as you is 2000 feet above you. "What's going on with my glider?" you think, "it's a flying brick..".

Actually, the problem is nearly always with the pilot rather then the glider. Whilst you take a straight line from cloud to cloud, your mate was weaving her way in and out between "energy lines" in the sky. While thermals are normally marked by cumulus clouds, the air between them is very rarely still, it normally rises and sinks in places and the good pilots will choose their route between climbs such that it will take them via the rising air rather then the sinking air. In gliding the straight line is very rarely the quickest.

So how do you pick a good line? First of all you have to be working very hard throughout the glide to maximize your glide and picking the best lines, no more relaxing and admiring the view. You need to focus on the sky and pick any tiny bit of information that will give you a clue where the air is rising. This can be a tiny wisp of a cloud, a haze-cap, other gliders movements, birds, ground features. You have to be completly focused and tune in to the sky outside and the physical sensations you are getting inside.

The Glide is a sporting philosophy. To stop in a climb is to go backwards, so by finding these energy lines you minimize the amount of time you need to spend in a climb.