On Feb 7, 6:50 pm, Frank wrote:
I'm curious what others are using for inter-thermal cruise speeds for
modern 15m (and 18m I guess) gliders like the Ventus 2bx, Ventus 2cx,
ASW-27, ASG-29, Diana 2, etc (add models as necessary).

Here in the U.S. we have been moving toward cruise speeds much lower
than would normally be dictated by using straight McReady settings,
but how low is too low?

I've also been flying a V2bx & V2cxt in Condor a lot, and cruise
speeds there are all over the map, from 90kt to 125kt (fully
ballasted) in the same race/weather conditions, with varying results.

Any thoughts?

TIA,

Frank (TA)

As someone who changed from an LS4 to an ASW27 last year I did wonder
about this quite a bit and how best to learn to fly in a different
speed range. I like the idea of 3 speeds as mentioned by some other
writers, tip-toeing (best glide), normal (75-80 kts) and flat-out
(90+kts), because it's easy to do. I like setting Macready and just
using it as guidance, because it's easy to do. I like paying attention
to other gliders around me and seeing how they're getting on, because
it's easy to do.

All that leaves you with plenty of capacity for the important jobs -
picking the right pieces of sky, making an excellent job of climbing
if you choose to stop, and changing to Plan B if you get the first 2
jobs wrong. After several beery evenings analysing flight traces, it
seems I perform best late in the afternoon when you either correctly
find, reach and use the few large thermals that are left or you don't
get home before the bar closes. If only I could apply that selection
process at other times of the day I'd be getting somewhere.

And I think I go faster on Condor because if you get it wrong you can
just hit restart.

For those of you who enjoy other's mistakes, see if you can spot an
example of Plan B taking it's time to kick in ...
http://www.bgaladder.co.uk/dnload.asp?DSN=77TC3IR1.igc

Martin (UK)