On Oct 18, 10:23*am, Dave Nadler wrote:
On Wednesday, October 17, 2012 9:35:12 PM UTC-4, Craig R. wrote:
Time to state the obvious.

It sure is.

If you aren't very close to other gliders, you're
not going to be able to leech.

How long does a thermal last ?
Not very long, and likely weak or gone when you arrive.

Will they be at your altitude when you arrive ?
Nope.

Keeping track of where other gliders went ?
Maybe, but only at short range.

Leeching ?
Not particularly helpful.

Try following a good pilot sometime, from an even position.
See how many minutes it takes for him to loose you.
Won't take long, even if you start dead even.
Especially if your head is in the cockpit playing video games.

Consequently, in Europe, "stealth mode" has proven an
irrelevant annoyance and is largely abandoned in practice.
At WGC, nobody bothered with this.

As ever, look out the cockpit for the best clues !

Hope that's helpful,
See ya, Dave

Dave,

Well said. The thought of PF as a "leeching" tool never entered my
brain.............I'm surprised some are terrified it might erode
whatever lead they may feel they have over their fellow pilots.

Brad