FW: Tuesday Tip - On the Bar

[Dan Wells]

Some of you may already be getting these but I thought this one was very good.

Dan Wells

503 804-1077

danb...@comcast.net

 

 

 

From: Cross Country [mailto:Cross_...@mail.vresp.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 11, 2012 2:37 AM
To: danb...@comcast.net
Subject: Tuesday Tip - On the Bar

 

 

This week's Tuesday Tip comes from a 'speedbar masterclass' in the latest issue of Cross Country magazine. It's from Adrian Thomas, who is currently competing at the European Paragliding Championships in St Andre, France.
There isn’t a hard and fast rule for when to use the speedbar, but you will find that the more experienced pilots rarely glide without using the bar. If you are aiming at maximising your average cross country speed, then as a rule of thumb if the thermals are giving you an average climb rate of 3m/s (ie any reasonable day), and there is any sink or headwind around then the correct theoretical speed-to-fly is likely to be full speed, even on an EN B. There are some outstanding pilots around who use the speedbar like that – flying with two modes – full-bar or thermalling. Personally, I generally go to quarter-bar as I leave the thermal and then move up from there, rarely gliding below half-bar, often going full speed. But for me speedbar isn’t an on-off thing, I use it very actively to control pitch, pushing hard as the glider pitches back, and coming off the bar completely when the glider dives forwards through rough air. One tip: the load on the legs is very much less if you push the bar with the ball of your foot rather than having it sit in the notch of the heel. You can do fine pitch-control with the calf muscles, which are fast, strong and have great endurance. A preview of what else is in issue 143 is here See you in the air! Cross Country Magazine Team
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[David]

I have a better interpretation of when to use bar to share tonight. It was discussed by multiple national champs during the Sun Valley OD Nationals. Which by the way was limited to the spot landing nationals, because every task was cancelled.

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