On Friday, May 1, 2020 at 1:15:18 PM UTC-5, john firth wrote:
On Saturday, April 4, 2020 at 2:40:32 PM UTC-4, wrote:
Maybe this is a good opportunity for some of us to share some stories of our experiences.
I'll go first.-

During the regional at Harris Hill in 2013 I was flying K21 with grandson Calvin Mampe, Rachel Conklin, and her sister Michelle. All 3 had flown multiple contests with me before, 2 having done so before they were old enough to solo.
Half way through the contest, my wife Dianne had a terrible fall and ended up hospitalized with some very serious injuries. All 3 of the juniors had good flights with me earlier in the contest so I told them to just keep on flying.
On Friday, Calvin and Rachel flew but decided to abandon the task part way around the course due to rain. They did not want to land out and take the ship apart in the rain. Smart!
The next day Rachel and Michelle flew together. About 4:00 I was in the ICU with Dianne when Calvin called. When I answered, he simply said “K21 four miles”. Our 2 young ladies had flown the course for a reasonable score. To my knowledge, this is the first time two young sisters had ever flown in competition. We had a seriously great group hug that night. This may be my best ever moment as a supporter of youth soaring.
Following up- Michelle is now an A&P working for Textron and just finished her first restoration, a 1-26E. Rachel is instructing at Flight Safety and soon will have all the requirements for her ATP.

UH

This is often called "thermal wave" as it seems to need thermals to
get it going; it used to be a fairly frequent occurence in Eastern Canada
in the '70s and 80s.
In 1977 on a day with cloud streets at 7000 ft, I transitioned into
weak wave at cloudbase. It got better high up and I was still climbing 2kts
at 16K; the Cu had become lennies stretching as far as one could see.
I published a paper with the met. details at the 1978 Ostiv conf..

Despite regular flying in the last 20 years, I have not encountered
any thermal wave since! Climate change?

John Firth

My first flight instructor, Ed Gaddy, frequently described thermal wave. Since Ed told me about it, I have always looked for it. It is there more often than we think. I have encountered usable wave-like lift that goes above cloudbase most years and have seen it nearly every place that I have soared in the U.S. Best case was in Eastern North Carolina in 1987. I was flying an SGS-123D. Wind out of the East on the ground, brisk, maybe 15 knots. Gorgeous cloud streets forming. Textbook lenticular clouds on top of each cu. Climbed up to cloudbase at 5000'. Explored out away from the upwind edge of the cloud, about 90 degrees to the wind direction below cloudbase, and found weak, smooth lift, flew back and forth climbing slowly, lift gradually increased to a whole 2 knots. Eventually made it to 8000' several hundred feet below the leading edge of the lennies. Was able to fly along the top of the streets for miles. A couple seasons ago, at a GTA event, I was able to climb my H301 about 1000' above cloudbase. Two towering cu's merged at their bottoms and tops to form one big cloud with a tunnel through it. Flew through that mile long tunnel in zero sink. That was fun, but exceedingly weird.. Kinda like a surfer in the tube.