Hi Chris

Thanks for surviving, and many more thanks for sharing your experiences
with us. Your reports will form the basis of our future decision making
while wave flying as well as providing a valuable information for
teaching wave flying skills to new pilots.

On 05/11/2015 03:16, Christopher Giacomo wrote:

While I have zero time under the hood, i have no doubt that an ARHS would have significantly changed my plan for the flight

I believe that your primary mistake was failing to establish the hight
of the cloud base above the terrain before making the decision to
descend. You had the suitable tools available - the Oudie flight
computer and VHF radio. After that, bailing out, or crashing with the
glider, were the only other probable outcomes.

With a "glider cloud flying" rating and a gyro instrument, one would
expect to be able to thermal into the base of a cumulus cloud, climb and
then exit out the side (hopefully on course to the next turnpoint}. This
rating implies that you have the opportunity to practice thermaling into
clouds on a regular basis to keep current. There are not many glider
pilots who can claim that on social media.

With a gyro instrument but no current "glider cloud flying" rating the
best one can hope for is to descend to cloud base without pulling the
wings off. Your glider's speed limiting drag flaps rendered the gyro
instrument redundant.