Fred wrote:
Terry: That's the way I explained it too, (& BTW, the phenomenon is
noticeable in the east too). There should be a more elegant (or
simplistic) explanation, don't you think? One that doesn't require
diagrams of lift vectors? Fred

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Fred,

I mis-spoke (-typed) and should have said years ago, when I did not
know what I did not know. The phenomenon is just more noticable in the
big liftie out here-and that is where I first noticed it. I thought
you wanted an explanation, not an analogy and thought I did pretty good
without the diagrams and in only 30 words or so.

For talking to someone's hat while in the thermal I use:

Lift is like hitting the gas in the car. This works OK since even 14
year olds have at least a rudimentary idea of what happens in the car.
-or-
For power pilots, lift is an increase in throttle/thrust. So to climb,
we need to hold our speed by pitching up and letting the glider climb.
-or-
For someone who has sailed, I use a tacking analogy. "Take the lift"
with a pitch (or pinch) up--this utilizes another definition for the
same word that may ring the bell for the student.

In every one of these, I will be at the white board at the conclusion
of the flight, or drawing the diagram in the sand between flights if we
are waiting for another tow.

Terry Claussen