center thermal

Thermals are certainly strange creatures.  One day they can be big, round, and smooth, the next they’ll be tight with multiple cores, the next day, there will be sink in the area that was constantly lifting the day before!  This can bring frustration, but also lots of satisfaction when we start to build up our experience and start to be able to harness mother natures energy to our advantage.

Big and high cumulus days are super fun, especially when all the ducks line up.  That’s the trick, to figure out the day's pattern so that they (ducks) do, as it is on every day and flight.  However, when we fly under large cumulus clouds, it requires a different tact at the day.  Instead of looking down, we must look up, this is to get all available cues from the clouds ahead.  The

So you've found your cloud – but what's the best way to use it? 

Centering thermals efficiently, and climbing quickly, are probably the most fundamental skills you need to soar successfully. Even a small improvement in your technique could easily mean a few hundred feet in every thermal – or thousands of feet in a typical cross-country flight. Come to the end of the day, this might even

Everyone wants to get the most out of climbing in a thermal.  Maximizing thermal climb rate is easier said than done.  Climbing well requires precise airspeed control with an optimal turn radius.  Airspeed control is only one factor in your turn radius.  Shallowing and steepening up your turn is necessary to find and stay in the core.  Shallowing up too much will put you outside