Michael Imolz and Allistair Dickie have been hard at work to knock up this rather clever little web page. A picture tells a thousand words - so click on either of the images below and you will wet yourself I promise. (Offer only available to sea breeze chasers and the like)
The On-o-meter is currently geared towards paragliders but I’m sure a HG version is on it’s way hey Al!
Nice work gents.
Phew… Will this wind ever stop!?!
After a blown out long weekend filled with non-flying activities it’s about time someone turned that bloody fan off.
In the mean time check out the new functionality added to the BOM radar images. The most useful of which is the visual representation automatic weather station observations. Put a check in the “Weather Observations” box down the bottom of these pages and look what appears on the map.
This has turned into a great resource for tracking those sea breezes.
Click the image for a larger version. Links to the radar pages are located below.
This a question that I’m sure most of us have found ourselves asking when watching a fellow pilot attempting to locate a solid climb. Over the weekend, Jim - a local paraglider, and I found ourselves in this situation while we watched another punter scratch on a spine below launch. While the wing was not experiencing any obvious lift in either direction and proximity to terrain was not issue, we both though that the lift was in certain direction relative to the position of the glider. This may be dismissed as us doing too much thinking and not enough flying but I have a feeling it may fit quite nicely with something I am working on with my own technique.
When low, with a thermal in the vicinity, I am becoming increasingly aware of the variations in lateral winds aloft. In effect I am finding that I am being pulled into the strongest lift. Quite often this does not mean making variations to your track based on the vario beeping, rather I let the glider go in the direction which achieves the highest ground speed after excluding any prevailing wind. This can mean leaving a slow climb to fly through an area of less lift or even sink to a stronger climb on the other side.
This effect would be caused by the air rushing in down low to replace the air that is being displaced vertically. This is something that we all know but I have only recently realised how handy it is for locating a solid core.
I have discussed this situation with more experienced pilots in the past but until now I have never really known why I thought there was a stronger climb in a certain direction. It seems that until recently my subconscious has been working this out for me to some extent. I am now trying to train myself to be more sensitive to this sensation.
So, back to the original question. Why did they turn that way? I am unsure if an observer from the ground would be able to see the slight variations in track involved in this model. Maybe we can… Maybe from the ground we have a better vantage point to observe this lateral than the pilot themselves… Or maybe not and I’m just imagining it all.
These sensations can be quite subtle. With practice, airtime in thermic nil/light wind conditions and some thinking about what is going on this could prove to be a useful feather in your cap.
The sky looked great to the north, west and east. Expecting big potential from yesterday Dave, Karl, Ryan and I make our way to Lake George nth launch only to discover the down side of the lake now having water in it - it’s now a thermal shadow 
This photo, taken from the north launch bombout, gives you a pretty good idea of what’s going on.
As air moves across the lake it is cooled so the chances of finding lift in this area is minimal. If on a XC flight I would avoid this area like the plague unless I had enough height to get to the other side. This is not really an option though when you try and launch from underneath it.
So, resigned to this fact, I launched first to set up the spot landing contest. There was a couple of bumps on the way down but nothing big enough to gain more the 5 meters or so. I set up the spot and Ryan had a dig. He over shot the mark but pulled of a nice landing given it was his first flight in three months. A nice launch and landing.
By this time Karl and Dave were faced with nil winders (launches and landings).
Given that dropping the basebar is instant disqualification from the spot landing comp - Ryan won!
Here in Canberra, during winter, we tend to fall into a bit of a hole flying wise. We look at the stereotypical Canberra winter as a no flying period. We either don’t fly, travel away or chase the odd ridge soar at Spring to meet the minimum currency requirements until summer comes back into view.
Why do we collectively write off nearly half the year?
Granted, the weather is the major factor but is total abstinence really necessary?
After heading up to Newcastle last weekend, the cogs in my head started to tick over. The shear enthusiasm of the guys up there overcomes the relatively poor met conditions. The weather up there was not that great with wind on both days and substantial cloud cover on the Sunday. I would have pulled the pin half way out to the site but the locals power on leading to two great days of flying.
It was not going to be an epic XC day, nor would we get to ten grand but the lessons you can learn on days like that are invaluable. The convergence lift lines formed by two valleys meeting were straight out of a textbook with wind lines on the lake to show exactly what was going on. There was also some great lift in regular cycles. I had never seen these conditions so far outside the regular flying season – Then again, had I really been looking?
So, back to work last week. I let these experiences bounce around in my mind… Average temps over winter are a little higher up there but not that different. They seemingly have fewer sites that take the prevailing westerlies at this time of year. They have to travel further to those sites. Still, the Newcastle guys fly all year.
They have the critical mass up there with so many experienced pilots to fly with any time you want to. That helps. Seeing Scott, Cam, Ricky, Adam, Ebbs, Kiero or any of the other great pilots climb out in front of you is a very inspiring sight. Even if I don’t manage to climb as well, I can see that it can be done and I know that with more practice and perseverance one day I will be able to do the same.
Back to Canberra, things are a little scaled down. Though the ACT flying scene is growing at a healthy rate we don’t have the numbers or the mass of experience. So, how can we try and close this gap?
… This is starting to get a bit long so I’m going to post a few ideas over the next few weeks as to what I feel is going to help my flying and hopefully any else in the same boat.
