I went back to the gliderport on Sunday and got the ride of my life 🙂 I took the 2-33 up solo again, fully expecting a sled ride back down to the field because I am such a newbie and would not be able to find any lift or capture a thermal. I released from tow at 3,000 AGL. (I have learned that all of the important altitudes when soaring are “above ground level” versus MSL or “mean sea level” that we use when flying powered planes.)
After releasing from the tow plane, I noodled around looking for lift under clouds until I was down to 2,400 feet. That had me kind of depressed because, although I expected the sled ride, I had hoped for better. Then bump went the glider and I circled around and managed to actually stay near enough to the center of a thermal that I got back up to 3,000 feet.
With new confidence, I headed northeast a bit more, toward the town of New Douglas and a larger, grey-er cumulus cloud. Son of a gun, it had lots of lift! I circled under that one until I saw another club glider higher than me at the next cloud south. Not being as dumb as I look, I headed for his thermal (thanks, Gene!). Between those two thermals, I was able to climb up to 5,000 AGL!
After an hour in the air, I flew back to the gliderport so someone else could have a chance with the plane. And ever since, I’ve been grinning like a fool.
