Bill, are you seeing the effect of "dolphin" flying, or just following
the lines of energy (or, avoiding sink). I try real hard to avoid the
classic "pull hard in lif" type of dolphin flying, since in my
experience it slows me down (from comparison flying); OTOH, I try real
hard to look for and exploit lift lines, and gently vary speeds to
match the trend of the airmass. Doing this, I consistently better my
polar's L/D for the speed being flown.

Of course, this is semantics - whatever technique being used, it is a
skill that takes knowledge, practice, and good instruments.

And the fast pilots usually have all three!

Kirk
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