On Monday, August 27, 2018 at 6:41:48 PM UTC-7, wrote:
On Monday, August 27, 2018 at 8:15:15 PM UTC-5, Bruce Hoult wrote:
Back in 2001 I was visiting the USA and dropped in at a club near Joliet IL and took a flight with an instructor in a Duo Discus (which I hadn't previously flown, although I had a fair bit of experience in a Janus).

I surprised the heck out of the instructor by releasing in lift at 700 ft AGL!

The thermal turned out to be a bit weaker than I'd expected and it took maybe 10 minutes to get up to 1000 ft, but then it got better and pretty soon we were at 5000 ft and went for a nice cruise around the area.

An instructor on a check ride in a Grob at Omarama in 1994 criticised me for towing straight through a booming thermal at 1500 ft.

Ever since then if I see the vario get pegged on tow [1] I start counting and if I get past ten then as soon as the tug flies out of the lift and drops away below me I pull the pin and turn hard back once I see the rope gone. It saves money, but the only downside is you don't get to practice your slack rope recovery technique :-) :-)

[1] except in a PW5. The vario is always pegged on tow in a PW5 behind a Pawnee.

Bruce, you must have flown at Chicago Glider Club in our Duo. Nobody here would today be surprised if you released low, I do it all the time (except for some tows to 2,000' when ballasted). I take pride in releasing low and thermaling away from anything above 1,000'. Once a year I may need a relight. My buddies still take high tows, though.

Yes. I'd just moved to Chicago on an H-1B visa and was looking around for a place to fly. Unfortunately the dotcom crash happened right then and the job disappeared and I had to return to NZ. Looked like a nice setup and I liked how there were members' houses nestled in trees on the field boundary. I'd love to see something similar happen at the field Wellington Gliding Club is developing now, but although they plan to put some small chalets and a bunkhouse on the field they are for unknown reasons against permanent residents.