Strategy
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March 23, 2023
I’m currently competing at the Australian pre-worlds for a place on the world gliding team, so while I’m relaxed and focused on it all, there’s still an element of tension, anticipation, and pressure to perform. I’m starting every day the same, routine for me is important, from breakfast time to getting the glider ready the same way every day, to preparing for the flight
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March 09, 2023
Again, I find myself with a shot at winning the national title, this time the 20m nationals held out of Corowa, NSW with my good friend Keith in his syndicates Arcus M. We’ve flown a great comp together, playing the percentage game. We were just 160 points from the lead on a tricky last day, third place was 500 points behind us. We knew that if we put in a good day, it
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October 01, 2020
Picking up the Pieces
As the well known Gerrad Dale of the UK says, "Gliding is a game of skill & chance". You can do many things to improve your skills, many things you can do to improve your chances, but sometimes, the ducks just don't line up. In this article, I aim to talk about my thought
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July 23, 2020
When we are flying cross-country, the picture as we look ahead is packed with potentially useful information to help us decide where to point the glider.
While a fat cumulus cloud lying bang on track might seem the obvious place to go, that will not always be the best decision. If a hard right avoids that beautiful well developed cloud, but takes you to a cloud street that runs for 100km and -
January 23, 2020
I've just gotten back from the STD Class, Lithuanian World Gliding Championships, 2016. It was my worst result ever, I can't remember a time that I was in so many fields. A strange feeling occurred, I'd never doubted my abilities so much, yet when I got back to Australia, I felt the expectation, I should be faster now than I was before...
I outlanded on my first task, on the 2nd glide actually! -
May 10, 2018
This is one of the topics that George Lee would remind me of. This also goes along with the thinking of Jay Rebbeck where you should plan all the way to the ground.
Jay's thinking was you would plan under the clouds, then trying towards the town, trying for the factory, then landing in that field. Keeping that plan going all the time. That way when the lift is being elusive, it was the plan
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May 03, 2018
What is worse is getting to the downwind turnpoint too low and drifting beyond the turnpoint. However, that generally doesn't happen from a planned tactical decision.
You might have heard of the theory to get into the upwind turnpoint low and the downwind turnpoint high.
Let's discuss doing this correctly before I admit how I did this incorrectly. As you are looking ahead for thermals
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April 12, 2018
Based on the ancient Roman game plumbata, lawn darts were banned in 1988 in the US. Whoops, wrong Wikipedia page... What I actually want to discuss is a term we use in racing, lawn darting.
You start and go straight into a field. Maybe you found a thermal. Maybe you didn't. We will not get picky about the duration of your short flight before lawn darting.
What caused it? It's doubtful
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March 29, 2018
Dick Johnson got this to work for him much better than I did. Charlie Spratt told me that this was a tactic he saw work time and time again in Hobbs and Uvalde when there was a big storm in the forecast. The idea behind this is a large storm is going to shut down a turnpoint at some point during the day. It could even develop at the home airport. Leaving early could get you in and out of the turnpoint
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January 18, 2018
It is easiest to think about starting on the upwind side of the line or cylinder. But unless it is really windy my biggest concern is getting the best energy line or strongest thermal. If you are starting a race and your first climb is good you are better off mentally. Even if someone took a slightly better start upwind, you mentally are better off with a strong climb. Imagine the pilot just upwind