Too fast vs too slow

Originally Posted by Ramy

On Wednesday, May 8, 2013 9:22:02 AM UTC-7, JS wrote:
That's funny!

I was asking the same question as Ramy on Saturday, and in fact almost landed at the same cropduster strip (Westlake Farms) a few hours earlier in the day, while making pretty much the same transition from around Mineral King in the Sierra Nevada towards Avenal on the west side of the San Joaquin valley. Same model glider, too.

Eighty kilometers with no lift. And how can the wind be on the nose when the shear line is in front of me?

At the time the answer was probably "not the speed you're flying".

If it was easy it wouldn't be fun.

Jim

Ha! Indeed I am beating myself for flying too slow on my final glide. It was one hour to sunset, no more than few bumps left, but increasing head wind (15 to 20 knots later). The air was still active with 0 to 2 knots down so I tried to milk the bumps resulting in flying too slow on average. Morgan flew at least 10 knots faster but also started 500 feet or so higher. He managed to clear the hills before Avenal I didnt. So the answer to Darryl is don't follow Ramy, follow Morgan.
Thanks for all the answers. I expected the answer will be that it is better to err on the fast side, but find it hard to resist the urge to slow down too much in bumps in attempt to climb and feel the air better, than keep a faster constant speed, which will likely provide better glide overall.

Ramy

I tend to fly a little faster as it helps eliminate the flying into sink at lower speed and having to accelerate while in said sink, a double hit