LOW ... LOWER .... | Final Day at Auckland Soaring Championship

Very exciting last competition day of the Auckland Soaring Championship back in January. A well organized competition, lots of flying at different locations and a great atmosphere!
Special thanks to Smeg NZ, Auckland Gliding Club and Simon Gault for making this happen!
Smeg: / smeg_nz
Auckland Gliding Club: / soaringauckland
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[@lowik1973]

Always enjoying you video. Why is there more chance of finding thermals flying headwind in general. Makes perfect sense if current is dying, but why in general? Hope you can share thoughts on this.

[@SteFly]

Good question! One reasoning is that thermals are often arranged in cloud streets which are usually parallel to the wind. So if you hit a weak thermal, there might be a better thermal in the same axis. And the second reasoning is that you are a little bit longer in the same airmass when flying headwind. So you have more time to react to turbulences and have a better feeling. I can not explain this phenomenon scientifically, perhaps it is also a little bit psychological. Perhaps the reason is that the thermals are not moving with the same speed as the wind or the wind speed is not constant in different levels. I´m sure someone can explain this better and there are explanations to find in gliding literature??

[@lowik1973]

@@SteFly Really appreciate your thoughts. Finding stronger lifts by searching "upstream" makes sense. Interesting point on thermals maybe having some friction on surrounding air....maybe related to the endless conversation on thermals stationary stationary or moving sources. If statuonary the likelihood of thermals being stronger upwind increase. Always leaning and thanks for sharing :)

[@tadeksmutek5840]

Congratulation, Stefan, and thank you a lot for this nice and informative video, where you explain some details during your flight! I know, for professional glider pilots there is no need to explain what and when you are doing in the air but for those less experienced pilots or beginners like me it helps a lot to understand this flight better.

[@darrylldodson6623]

BEST INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO YET...Great Editing and Format!!! Love the audio and your flight discussion.

[@SteFly]

Great, thank you!

[@jxnis7]

Sehr schönes Video Stefan, danke dafür, dass wir uns die Zeit damit vertreiben können, bis wir hoffentlich bald alle wieder in die Luft kommen! Bleibt gesund!

[@SteFly]

Danke, freut mich! Das hoffen wir alle...

[@Supersygma]

Ja, Hoffentlich

[@AngusSuter]

Its good to know even the best of the best have the same challenges I do :). Thanks for sharing buddy!

[@arlindocarvalho256]

Congratulations Stefan!!! Greetings from Brazil!!!

[@dinos8557]

Wonderful video and nice low save. Please post more videos as the soaring season here in Canada has been put on hold. I was hoping to meet you at the worlds in Stendal which I assume you would be competing but I believe this may be cancelled due to Covid 19. Be well, stay safe and healthy.

[@SteFly]

Thank you, I really appreciate it! Unfortunately our soaring season in Germany is also on hold because of Covid 19. I hope to be allowed to fly as soon as possible. I am not qualified for the worlds in Stendal, only for the worlds in club class in France. If it is not cancelled I will be in Stendal for the first competition week for producing videos for the organizer. So I hope the situation gets better soon and we will meet there. Cheers, Stefan

[@kingpiccolo1nzl]

That was a great video mate! Some really good flying by you! Man those gliders can move. 🍻❤️👌👌😊

[@pilot_Julius30]

Really great video👍🏽 Wanna fly again.🛩 It's so bad that no one can fly due to corona virus...😕

[@SteFly]

Thank you, I appreciate this! Fingers crossed that we are allowed to fly again after the easter holidays.

[@mumblecake251]

We are moving club operations to the internet during this pandemic, organising club flying sessions in Condor 2 and discord. Have a think if you could do something similar. It brings back at least some of the club social life. We'll even be offering some level of instruction again.

[@pilot_Julius30]

@@mumblecake251 but I cant get my licence with condor... But you're right practise for xc flying using condor is fun too

[@mumblecake251]

@@pilot_Julius30 You are absolutely right. All that type of stuff has to wait but it should help you not to get out of practice. For people like me who aren't solo yet you can do also a lot of the excercises (e.g. spinning) in Condor. You will still need to repeat them in a real world glider after though you should be able to just go through them at pace.

[@watchfordpilot]

Great video! I was flying along with you when you were scratching around willing the vario up :)

[@NoTengoIlusiones]

Great vid ! Danke. Don't forget the video showing all commands and their efects in the glider. Cheers, fly safe

[@SteFly]

Here in Germany we have also a lockdown due to Corona, especially in Bavaria. So at the moment I´m not allowed to fly. Hope to be back in the air as soon as possible and will make a video about that. ;)

[@dansshade5621]

Awesome and informative!

[@SteFly]

Thank you! I was trying to edit the video different to the previous ones.

[@eliareidy700]

Faszinierend!

[@calegarieliton]

Strong Like brother !

[@mumblecake251]

Congratulations for third place. Really amazing considering you had already resigned to landing out :D

[@hermanwooster8944]

It's a shame that this sport is having difficulties getting new recruits. I only discovered it now and I *love* it. The only criticism I have is the lack of propulsion directly dictates how long you get to enjoy the experience. If there was a way to see all thermals or a gentle propulsion that could keep you up indefinitely, I think that would not only revolutionize the sport but potentially revolutionize transportation itself.

[@SCQT]

Am I going insane? Feel like I keep hearing the steam message noise in the background...(not the vario, I dont think...) Oh yeah, good flight

[@Atimonster]

Those low saves are the best 👍

[@lautoka63]

Nice record of a good evening prize-giving (as well as coming back over the quarry lower than I ever have).

[@SteFly]

Thank you! Before the quarry I wasted my energy with speed, so that I´m low there. Had some more safety margin in this final glide as it looks like ;)

[@miroslavhavlasek119]

Good video including nice speech at the end 😎👍

[@skybaton]

Lovely place! And great saving! Haha =)

[@MiljanBojovic]

Stefan, you make me want to go learn how to fly :D damn it :P

[@valeriooddone]

Did I understand your Tip of the Day correctly? "Chances are higher to find a thermal if you fly towards the wind" - Do you mean against the wind? I had very good experience searching with cross wind, since both thermals and sink fields are rather aligned in streets. Or at least with the wind in order to check the largest amount of terrain. However, indeed I find it easier to follow a cloud street against the wind.

[@SteFly]

Yes, I mean against the wind. The situation was that I had only a little bit of lift or some turbulences, not enough to circle. Then I turned against the wind in the hope of some thermal streets. It does not make sense to fly in sink fields against or with the wind, then you need to fly with cross wind to the next area with rising air. But for me it is easier to feel the thermal (left or right, turn or not) when flying against the wind.

[@timmusic7674]

Stefan it would be great to see your height throughout the flight but excellent video mate

[@starwarsraredroidauctions7356]

Hey sorry, just really confused on gliders. I’ve been researching and getting two different answers. Do all gliders need a tow, or do some have motors like the asg 29, being fully self operational?

[@Rob-nk4jr]

You can think of gliders as coming in three types: - pure gliders (no motor) which require a tow/winch to get airborne - turbo/sustainers, which have a motor that can’t be used for self-launching but is good enough to get you home if you run out of lift - self-launchers, which have a larger motor and are called able of taking off without any assistance. Hope that makes sense!

[@SteFly]

@@Rob-nk4jr Thank you! All gliders which I flew in the last years were pure gliders or gliders with sustainer. Only in Namibia I flew a selflaunch glider (Ventus 2cxM)

[@SteFly]

And my ASG29 is a pure glider

[@starwarsraredroidauctions7356]

Stefan Langer thank you. So did you have a pull in all your videos?

[@starwarsraredroidauctions7356]

Rob M thank you

[@vasiliyperevozchikov8441]

Thanx for the video! How this vario (in right corner) is called? I see it is quite common on different cockpits

[@stephaniekent8483]

good old Auckland gliding club :)

[@kfler1983]

Wo Fliegst du denn die ganze Zeit? Bei uns ist Alles Dicht. Flugplatz geschlossen. Normalerweise wäre Morgen Saison beginn gewesen.😪

[@SteFly]

Das war am 11. Januar. Aktuell bin ich in Bayern mit Ausgangsbeschränkung, da kann ich nur alte Videos anschauen, bearbeiten und hochladen ;)

[@kfler1983]

@@SteFly Dann Wünsch ich dir alles Gute. Bin ebenfalls in Bayern. Bleib Gesund👍

[@nicklindsley7866]

Your English is very easily comprehended. One thing, height is not pronounced hate but hi (te).

[@Supersygma]

Wie ist das eigentlich mit der Toilette an Bord. Funktioniert das Gut?

[@SteFly]

Es gibt Plastiktüten ;)

[@ashishshrestha4386]

How much that plane cost?

[@charan4198]

Hi

[@moefly14]

Hi, do you use something like a Lx nano, with your smartphone (xc soar)..

[@SteFly]

Hi! Yes I use a LX Nano 1st generation tracker and my smartphone with XCSoar. The Nano is a great device for flying different gliders but I was not really happy about my smartphone and mounting position.

[@nob0dy27_]

in his own glider, he uses his OpenVario, but since the glider he flew in auckland was sponsored, he probably used xcsoar on his phone, or something similar

[@moefly14]

@@SteFly Have you tried without the nano, is it good enough without it... Because the glider i fly allready has a logger.

[@XrayMike]

@@moefly14 A Nano is great by itself. XCSoar is too: it can function perfectly fine on an android device with the internal GNSS module (lockouts are rare, but the module isn't as good). For badge and competition it makes sense to use the Nano for position data to make sure you've entered the turnpoint.

[@moefly14]

@@XrayMike Or maybe just fly 50 meters futher into the turnpoint, just to be safe. Because a nano is pretty expensive

[@므찐스퇄]

와우 경치 쥑이네요~~~~~+__+

[@meditationmusic6688]

Great stuff but man that beeping sound is sure annoying. I wouldn't be able to handle that.

[@phoeteus]

Welche Einheit hat denn das Vario?

[@SteFly]

Das mechanische Vario hat Knoten, das digitale hatte ich auf m/s eingestellt. Die steigerte waren zum Ende hin sehr gut mit über 3 m/s ✌🏼

[@hiyoo3125]

what is that thing you hold with your left hand😅😅😄

[@SteFly]

You mean the airbrakes at the landing?

[@hiyoo3125]

@@SteFly ohh yes thanks ... btw i love yoourr. videoos😍😍😍