On the same topic, I entered an unintentional stall spin for the first
time last year. I have about 1,000 hours in gliders and 450 hours in
my ASW 20. I was flying fully ballasted in a cross-country contest
task on a typical Arizona summer day with strong, turbulent thermals.
Entering a thermal, I eased into a left bank, slowing down and applying
flaps as I've done thousands of times. However, I overshot my normal
fully-ballasted zero flap setting and went to plus 1 instead.

Suddenly, I was aware that something was wrong. The air went quiet,
the controls went sloppy and suddenly the yaw string pointed left and
slightly away from me. For a moment or two, I didn't have a clue as to
what was happening. The glider then fell sideways out of the thermal.

Following the clue of the yawstring, I centered the stick, applied full
right rudder and full negative flap. The glider recovered immediately,
but lost a few hundred feet in the ensuing dive out as I recovered
airspeed. I never got any sense of rotation.

From my log file, it looks as if I overshot the center of the thermal
and entered severe outflow windshear. With the airspeed gone, aided by
a tad too much positive flap, the glider momentarily quit flying and
dropped sideways.

The yaw string was my only clue as to what was happening.

I agree with others that the experience was totally different from spin
training, in which the spin entry is expected. The problem is
recognizing what is happening and you don't have time to scan
instruments. The yaw string is the most responsive and most effective
inidicator of unusual airflow.

Mike

ASW 20 WA