On Tue, 24 Mar 2020 08:13:15 -0600, Bob Whelan wrote:

Much good, basic feedback/advice from others already. Two - somewhat
redundant - points for consideration: 1) XC *can* be safely (and
satisfyingly and 'funly') self-taught with a modicum of common sense
(don't hit things you don't want to hit; don't put yourself in the
position of 'being *forced*' to hit things you don't want to hit; fly
within your existing skills, and *not* within some imagined
'XC-necessary' skills; etc.), and 2) high L/D (whatever that may mean to
any individual) is *NOT* fundamentally necessary to going XC.

Agreed. From personal experience, I think flying mini-triangles is very
useful for a flegling XC pilot. It gives yoyu experience in navigating to
the next point in a self-declared task while remaining close to your home
airfields and its as good a way as any to discover that you don't need to
take *every* thermal you come to while you're learning to efficiently
find, center and climb in the better thermals.

Something that worked for me, anyway, was to not worry about XC speed
until you have taught yourself to get high and stay high rather than
periodically having to stop and dig yourself out of a hole or even land
out. So, don't worry too much about XC speed until you have learned the
trick of staying high - learning that dramatically reduced my landout
rate.


--
Martin | martin at
Gregorie | gregorie dot org