Ridge Racing

When I think ridge racing I think Mifflin PA. The first two times I flew there it was with local pilot Mike Robison in his Nimbus 3DM. We were dry but lugging an Austrian beauty behind the cockpit. As we cruised on the ridge we were generally the fastest.

What I did learn from this is that no matter how much faster we were the time was lost in the transitions. We had a few times where we pushed too fast and hard to the end of the ridge and did not get centered quickly enough and all we did was mark the thermal for the gliders behind. I feel that this is like going to the last cloud. It could work but it may be beneficial to slow down a litter earlier when you are needing to take a thermal to climb to the next ridge.

Sometimes it is faster to thermal then ridge soar. On a good thermal day and a weak ridge day, it can be less stressful to bop around at 4000ft and go in the direction you want. Some CDs will task to maximize transitions and the use of a good thermal day and allow a few legs on the ridge for the fun of blasting along at 30ft.

A weak ridge day while thermalling is great. It will help organize the thermals. It also allows for a save on the ridge. This allows you to push much lower while thermalling because you can always hang out on the ridge and either continue going or wait for a thermal to kick off.

I have found that a ridge task requires the most amount of pre-flight planning. I remember my first ridge day and we watched a local ridge pilot go blasting off down the wrong ridge to the turnpoint. I would mark my map before launching with the transitions that I would make and the ridges I would take. You may have to change your plan because of weather changes but it gives you a good place to start.

 Garret Willat holds a flight instructor rating with over 8000 hours in sailplanes. His parents have owned Sky Sailing Inc. since 1979. He started instructing the day after his 18th birthday. Since then, Garret has represented the US Junior team in 2003 and 2005. He graduated from Embry-Riddle with a bachelor's degree in Professional Aeronautics. Garret represented the US Open Class team in 2008 and 2010 and the Club Class team in 2014. Garret has won 3 US National Championships.