On 29 Apr 2004 18:31:43 -0700, (Martin Hellman)
wrote:

John Jones wrote in message ...
Anybody have information on the Themi thermal locator?
Check news at www.eglider.org

I have one and find it very helpful. There is some prejudice of the
type "Maybe a beginner could benefit but me?"

Tom Knauff, who sells it, told me that was his initial reaction, and
when he was first given one for evaluation he determined how good it
was merely by seeing how often it agreed with his actions. Pretty good
he decided. But then, he related, he decided he ought to give it a
better chance than that and followed it even when it disagreed with
his long years of experience. And damned if it didn't out guess him
more often than not.

I too have found that the Themi agrees with me most of the time, and
when it disagrees with me, it is right more often than not. Still,
sometimes when it disagrees I will still follow my instincts. I think
you learn when that makes sense and when it doesn't as you use it. I
tend to agree with Tom when he told me that, low down, where the
thermals are not well organized, he finds it extremely helpful.

If the money isn't a problem and the pride issue isn't either, I'd get
one. A friend who has one too and is also a pretty good thermaller
agrees.

Martin


What it won't do of course is get you to notice the nearby hawk or
eagle going up in a core or the other glider likewise.

I'm very skeptical that the software can do anything better than a
well trained pilot can for the simple reason that nobody seems to
consistently outclimb anyone else in contests once a thermal is found.

There is a fair bit of information processing in where the best lift
is and much of it hasn't got to do with the current or recent past
flight path/vertical velocity of the glider.

One day we'll even get varios that reliably tell us the current
vertical velocity of the air while still being total energy. That
doesn't happen now.

Mike Borgelt