On Dec 16, 9:09*pm, ContestID67 wrote:
It is winter here and the only soaring we are doing in Chicago is in
the hangar . During an energetic discussion on the pros and cons of
various soaring programs, I mentioned I fly "Direction-Up", rather
than "North-Up".

WHOA! You would have thought that I had said I was going to give up
soaring to fly helicopters by the dirty looks that I received.

Now, to be fair, with every GPS device I use (car, boat, GA), I
*ALWAYS* orient the map as north-up, and prefer it overall...except,
that is, when soaring. * I started using north-up at first, but soon
found that a direction-up display was much better in letting me
anticipate the timing of rolling out of a thermal and heading towards
the next turn point. *Attempting to coordinate the rotating glider
icon on a stationary north-up map, with the view outside and/or
compass, all while centering a thermal, is a bit like patting my head
and rubbing my stomach at the same time. *Maybe this is unique to a
thermal-only soaring climate. * *NOTE: I am not directionally
challanged.

Anyway, I wondered what others use relative to the type of soaring
they do.

Thanks, John

Actually, the question is a bit more complicated then you've
posed, as there are more options:
- track up
- North up
- nose up

Nose up is not what precedes a stall ;-)
It's when the map is rotated to match what you
see over the nose, adjusting your track to take
account of the wind. Also used in ILEC SN10
to rotate the wind arrow so it matches the view
outside. The advantage is substantial when
you're flying with a crosswind.

ILEC SN10 pilots can choose North or Nose Up
for the map (wind arrow is always rotated Nose
Up).

Hope that helps,
Best Regards, Dave "YO electric"