Optimum thermalling speed display

Evan, it must be nice to have the time and opportunity to fly enough contest to stay on the peak of performance.

However, not everyone has the ability or time to do this. And a newcomer to the sport may be having enough trouble absorbing all that is going on without having to figure out how to determine in real time the optimum airspeed to thermal by trial an error!

For the 47 percent of us who are not yet retired or independently wealthy, every little bit helps - just saying "go out and buy the best nav display and practice a lot and go to a lot of contests and you will figure it out" isn't going to hack it.

There has to be a starting point for thermaling speed. Aerodynamically, that's probably best represented by min sink for the bank angle and wing loading. From then on, you are in the realm of technique and glider idiosyncrasies - where experience and flying time makes the difference. What I'm asking is is it possible to at least display the basics, to make learning the techniques easier.

I think it would be helpful. You hotshots who zen-thermal can continue to do so - having data available doesn't mean it has to be used slavishly!

And in regards to my LS6 comments - it is by far the easiest racing glider I have flown. When thermalling, you can slow down to the point you start to mush without any tendency to drop a wing or spin. But since there is so little pre-stall indications (no buffet, controls stay responsive, etc) it is not practicable (at least not for me - others are welcome to disagree) to just slow down then add a few knots. I like to have an airspeed target to shoot for - usually by setting what I know is the approximate AOA via nose position, then adjusting airspeed as necessary. All while trying to figure out where the center of the thermal went...and dodging the 2-33 blundering around in the middle.

CN looks nice. I've also found that SYM can be customized to display only the info I want, where I want it, when I want it. I like that. I agree that the tendency seems to be to generate and display a lot of data - interesting data sometimes, but mostly just eye-candy, that does nothing to make you go faster.

Keep up the good work with the CN!

Kirk
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