How do they do that?

Ok, I've just about read enough 'across the pond' flak!
So here's a serious question:

I had a look at http://gliding.hoppenrath.com/index_en.htm
the Dune Running mpeg and found it fantastic. But.

Here in NZ 30ft dunes with 18knots breeze produce a cruise of
around 100knots from gliders with LD of 40, that is
enough to pull up onto small headlands or seacliffs at the
end of a beach.Where I soar there is a lot of exploring of
this lift source to enable a 1000km distance.Once we
have practised on each section and how to transition from
one terrain type/area to another in the various parts of the
coastline our time estimate for the 1000kms is approx 7 hrs
Thats the serious bit ,the fun bit is with all that available energy
you can drop down off the dunes and fly past other beach and
cliff users and watch there eyes pop out at your sudden appearance.
This kind of soaring is for advanced pilots only as your margins
are tight and your flying over unlandable terrain at times and
you have to plan carefully ,this is why we are building time up
on the various "hard" sections learning the various "moods"of the
area from different launch points along the route.
The appearance of a half dozen high performance gliders and
a towplane at a country airfield which have not seen them before
for launching certainly makes for a good evening BBQ from the local
power pilots after return to the field.
gary

"David Pye" wrote in message
...
Ok, I've just about read enough 'across the pond' flak!
So here's a serious question:

I had a look at http://gliding.hoppenrath.com/index_en.htm
the Dune Running mpeg and found it fantastic. But.
.

How do they do that? Could someone explain the sources
of lift available please bearing in mind that I'm a
newbie solo pilot and haven't broken the apron strings
to the airfield yet!

I thought about ridge but the dunes are so small! I
also thought about sea breeze and the junction with
a land covering airmass but just don't know how there
is enough lift to allow aircraft to soar along the
beach! I could understand enough of a breeze to keep
the toy in the air (hang glider) hmmmm ducks quickly!

Any sensible explanations, based on experience would
be even better, appreciated.
Thanks

David Pye
Kent Gliding Club
Charing

Mob: 07946-302975
Home: 01732-873088
East Malling, Kent, UK

When you have a nice unobstructed flow off a large body of water, you
can get useable lift off of amazingly small ridges. Soaring textbooks
usually tell you the lift band of a ridge goes up to 1.5 times the
height of the ridge, but in practice at coastal sites it can go to 5
times the height of the ridge or even higher if conditions are right.

check out the "Torrey Pines" link on the 1-26Assoc web page or the RESCO web
page.. doing the same thing with 200ft high cliffs, winch launching off the
top

BT

"David Pye" wrote in message
...
Ok, I've just about read enough 'across the pond' flak!
So here's a serious question:

I had a look at http://gliding.hoppenrath.com/index_en.htm
the Dune Running mpeg and found it fantastic. But.
.

How do they do that? Could someone explain the sources
of lift available please bearing in mind that I'm a
newbie solo pilot and haven't broken the apron strings
to the airfield yet!

I thought about ridge but the dunes are so small! I
also thought about sea breeze and the junction with
a land covering airmass but just don't know how there
is enough lift to allow aircraft to soar along the
beach! I could understand enough of a breeze to keep
the toy in the air (hang glider) hmmmm ducks quickly!

Any sensible explanations, based on experience would
be even better, appreciated.
Thanks

David Pye
Kent Gliding Club
Charing

Mob: 07946-302975
Home: 01732-873088
East Malling, Kent, UK

Does anybody have any idea how high the dunes on the German Baltic
coast are? I ask because I know that the likes of Grunau Babys were
soaring them during the 30s and war years.


On 9 Feb 2004 16:24:24 GMT, David Pye
wrote:

Ok, I've just about read enough 'across the pond' flak!
So here's a serious question:

I had a look at http://gliding.hoppenrath.com/index_en.htm
the Dune Running mpeg and found it fantastic. But.
.

How do they do that? Could someone explain the sources
of lift available please bearing in mind that I'm a
newbie solo pilot and haven't broken the apron strings
to the airfield yet!

I thought about ridge but the dunes are so small! I
also thought about sea breeze and the junction with
a land covering airmass but just don't know how there
is enough lift to allow aircraft to soar along the
beach! I could understand enough of a breeze to keep
the toy in the air (hang glider) hmmmm ducks quickly!

Any sensible explanations, based on experience would
be even better, appreciated.
Thanks

David Pye
Kent Gliding Club
Charing

Mob: 07946-302975
Home: 01732-873088
East Malling, Kent, UK


--
martin@ : Martin Gregorie
gregorie : Harlow, UK
demon :
co : Zappa fan & glider pilot
uk :

I met the Dutch guys who were flying the thing when
they came to the long mynd, (if it is the same video
i saw)
Sounded like it was just ridge lift off the dunes,
but apparently when they tried to land, a large crowd
of spectators had gathered in thier marked off landing
area on the beach...

Well, but that's quite some difference - in Torrey Pines they do it off the
cliff, the Dutch guys are using the lift of the dunes.

Btw.: Links to the Torrey Pines videos can also be found on my web site
http://gliding.hoppenrath.com.

Detlev

"BTIZ" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:W7WVb.12414$IF1.3208@fed1read01...
check out the "Torrey Pines" link on the 1-26Assoc web page or the RESCO
web
page.. doing the same thing with 200ft high cliffs, winch launching off
the
top

BT

"David Pye" wrote in message
...
Ok, I've just about read enough 'across the pond' flak!
So here's a serious question:

I had a look at http://gliding.hoppenrath.com/index_en.htm
the Dune Running mpeg and found it fantastic. But.
.

How do they do that? Could someone explain the sources
of lift available please bearing in mind that I'm a
newbie solo pilot and haven't broken the apron strings
to the airfield yet!

I thought about ridge but the dunes are so small! I
also thought about sea breeze and the junction with
a land covering airmass but just don't know how there
is enough lift to allow aircraft to soar along the
beach! I could understand enough of a breeze to keep
the toy in the air (hang glider) hmmmm ducks quickly!

Any sensible explanations, based on experience would
be even better, appreciated.
Thanks

David Pye
Kent Gliding Club
Charing

Mob: 07946-302975
Home: 01732-873088
East Malling, Kent, UK

I've flown a ridge at the Alvord Desert in southeastern Oregon that slowly
disappears into the desert floor. If you're right down on the ridge, the
lift continues all the way down to where it finally disappears! Even where
it's only 5 feet high, with a 20 knot wind there's good lift if you're close
enough to the ridge.

--
Gary Boggs
3650 Airport Dr.
Hood River, Oregon, USA
97031-9613

"sdf" wrote in message
...
Well, but that's quite some difference - in Torrey Pines they do it off the
cliff, the Dutch guys are using the lift of the dunes.

Btw.: Links to the Torrey Pines videos can also be found on my web site
http://gliding.hoppenrath.com.

Detlev

"BTIZ" schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:W7WVb.12414$IF1.3208@fed1read01...
check out the "Torrey Pines" link on the 1-26Assoc web page or the RESCO
web
page.. doing the same thing with 200ft high cliffs, winch launching off
the
top

BT

"David Pye" wrote in message
...
Ok, I've just about read enough 'across the pond' flak!
So here's a serious question:

I had a look at http://gliding.hoppenrath.com/index_en.htm
the Dune Running mpeg and found it fantastic. But.
.

How do they do that? Could someone explain the sources
of lift available please bearing in mind that I'm a
newbie solo pilot and haven't broken the apron strings
to the airfield yet!

I thought about ridge but the dunes are so small! I
also thought about sea breeze and the junction with
a land covering airmass but just don't know how there
is enough lift to allow aircraft to soar along the
beach! I could understand enough of a breeze to keep
the toy in the air (hang glider) hmmmm ducks quickly!

Any sensible explanations, based on experience would
be even better, appreciated.
Thanks

David Pye
Kent Gliding Club
Charing

Mob: 07946-302975
Home: 01732-873088
East Malling, Kent, UK

On Tue, 10 Feb 2004 11:36:37 +0000, Martin Gregorie
wrote:

Does anybody have any idea how high the dunes on the German Baltic
coast are? I ask because I know that the likes of Grunau Babys were
soaring them during the 30s and war years.

As high as the ones of this movie - less than 100 ft.
Bye
Andreas

Since I had quite some traffic on my web site after this contribution in
rec.aviation.soaring (everybody was looking for that dune running video), I
have added a large number of new videos including some ridge soaring flics
to my site.

Have a look at http://gliding.hoppenrath.com/index_en.htm.

You can find even more videos on my main page (in German) at
http://gliding.hoppenrath.com/index.htm#videos.

Happy landings
Detlev