Michael,

You were taught WRONG. Not all gliders will do a benign spiral. Some
models will not do this at all and will gather speed and get you into
trouble.

The benign spiral is performed by trimming for best L/D, pulling full
spoilers and taking hands and feet off of the controls while holding the
spoilers on.

The Schweizer 1-26, and the Blanik L-23 are a couple of models that will in
general perform a benign spiral well.

This is NOT a maneuver that you want to test when you suddenly get trapped
in cloud at wave camp. This is something that you want to practice in the
blue with the ship that you fly. Different models of the same ship will
behave differently. Our club 1-26 performed about a 20 - 30 degree bank and
would settle on a airspeed of 60 after a couple of oscillations. My present
bird will only very slightly bank, but settles on the same airspeed.

Harry Senn saved my bacon by teaching me about the benign spiral when I was
flying our club 1-26 at my first competition. I went on to purchase my
first bird a 1-26B from him and have taken it to wave camp 3 years. Last
year I put myself into a stupid position running about 9 miles up the face
of long wave cloud at Petersburg WV. I slowly gained altitude and found
myself on top. I was constantly watching the blue hole, but you would be
amazed at how quick they close. I dove to get through the hole as it was
closing just in time to go into the cloud. I had practiced the manuver in
the blue and was comfortable with it. The only thing that bothered me was
just how thick the cloud ended up being. I was quite fortunate in two ways.
One because Harry had taught me about the benign spiral, and two because the
cloud did not go all the way to the ground.

Practice this manuver in the ships you fly. It is very useful if it works
in the ship that you are flying, and is even more useful if you get stupid
like I did one day and put yourself into the position where you have to use
it.

Kevin



MHende6388 wrote in message
...
I was taught during wave training that all sailplanes, properly trimmed,
when
you let go of the controls, will seek a gentle banked circle to one
direction
and maintain that attitude, even in light turbulence.

There must be great variation from one a/c to the next with varied CG and
trim
settings.

What experiences have others had and with which makes and models?

Thanks,

Michael