Take careful not..." /> Thermalling from Small Hills on a Paraglider - Tips and Tactics

Climbing Out and Going XC from Small Hills on a Paraglider

On the hill

Heading

  • Take careful note of meteo wind for drift and heading. You can see a big difference between a 40 deg difference in wind direction here. Be sure you know your heading – worth setting a goal direction. Here is a flight in a N at Carn Brea – not heading anywhere close to Stithians.

Conditions

  • See if there is an inversion towards horizon and be prepared for trying to climb through it in rougher air. 
  • Try to establish if a sea breeze (shallow cooler, moister wind that blows onshore from sea to land) has set up – often in late morning, early afternoon. The sea breeze front acts as an advancing cold front. The wind will pick up and thermal activity will be suppressed if the sea breeze front has come from the same direction as the synoptic wind. See this article on flying breeze fronts.

  • Birds indicate instability, thermal strength/drift and maybe inversions. Best sign is when birds are climbing out front quickly and up high (above a few hundred feet). See this and it’s time to be excited! If they reach a few hundred feet and then glide off it might be inverted.
  • Note changes in wind on the hill as they can be clues to thermal location. Wind socks can help here. Air goes calm at thermal leading edge. Wind speeds up at trailing edge. Thermal passing to right will pull wind to right, etc.

In the air

  • If it is a good buoyant day with strong thermals (e.g. post-cold front, no sea breeze, no low inversion) then search out front along lifty upwind lines as you climb. A thermal that released earlier out in these more sheltered areas (e.g. in front of buildings/trees) has not yet been influenced by the venturi over the ridge, and it has established a better vertical trajectory.

thermalling paragliding

  • But if it’s a scrappy, disorganized day (as it usually is!), or if you’re trying to climb in the sea breeze front, then turn in everything and if you lose lift, fly back to the hill quick – the main thing being not to take risks pushing out front. Try to be in contact with lift the whole time.
  • Climb out in zig-zags – drifting over the back of the hill then pushing forward.

  • Sometimes it is worth doing this from a long way back. Here is an example from a flight at Carn Brea.

  • The good thermals are often found over the ridge, particularly if running from a more northerly or westerly direction, since they will rise up and pop off the ridges. (eg. if it’s slightly E of N, better to find thermals above the monument at Carn Brea than over by the castle.)

Leaning thermals

  • Thermals around small hills in soaring conditions will be leaning at a steep angle.
  • If you’re going back quickly while climbing it means you’ll have to blank out the ground and focus on the core and the shape as with sea thermals. The ground might make you think you’re going back too quickly.

  • The strongest lift is on the windward side of the thermal with billowing trailing edge where lift is weaker. If you lost it because it became scrappy and gradually weaker, the thermal is likely to be upwind of you – because you got drifted out the back.

  • If you lose the thermal out the back it may not be possible to glide back into it due to the steep angle of the thermal compared to your glide angle. Always make sure you use the best speed-to-fly to get the best glide angle!  You’ll need to be on bar if you are flying into wind and/or there is sink.
  • If your ground speed increases while going upwind, there’s probably a thermal ahead of you. All thermals block the wind to some degree.
  • If you lost the thermal with a feeling of dropping sharply out of the lift, it’s probably downwind of you as you’ve fallen out of the front. This often happens at the hill itself.

Keep flying more into wind in shallow leaning thermals

  • You are always sinking in the parcel of air you are in at around 1 m/sec (min) and more if turns have high bank. So if you are thermalling for 1 minute, you will have sunk through 60m of the thermal; if you are thermalling for 5 minutes, you will have sunk through 300m of the thermal. In this example below even though you may be climbing at 4 m/sec, you will still be sinking the whole time in that parcel of air, and will drop out of the thermal in 30-40 seconds.

sink in a thermal

  • If you are in a vertical column of air that may not be a problem – thermals are often hundreds of meters tall. but for small hills lower down, thermals are often leaning steeply (see diagram). In this case if you do non-adjusted circles you will quickly drop out of the bottom of the thermal due to it’s cross-sectional area. 

vertical vs leaning thermals

  • For this reason, to stay in a sloping / leaning thermal, you must keep adjusting your circles to push further upwind. Essentially you must continually fly forward while thermalling – i.e. you do not want perfect circles, but elongated circles.
  • Focus on strongest lift on leading edge. Feel out the upwind edge, use brakes for min sink there, turning the instant you feel the surge of the leading edge. If you keep turning upwind in each circle and keep track of the leading edge where there should be a surge in lift, you can keep tracking the thermal and not fall through it.

Next thermals

Look for sources/collectors (particularly sheltered), triggers and markers. Brown fields, trees/buildings, lake edges – clouds and birds marking thermals.

Look for good source > trigger combinations if you can’t find markers.

Sources/collectors

  • Sunshine: areas on the sunshine will be warmer than on the shade so warmer air will collect
  • Shelter:  air that is sheltered from the wind will more likely be a good thermal collector
  • Dark ground: check the type of terrain and figure out if it is warm or cold; rocky areas, dry ploughed fields, villages,… all of these are warmer than green wet fields and warm air will collect there.
  • Dry wheat fields: These can act as collectors late in the season.

Triggers

  • Wind: meteo wind can create dynamic lift or can bring thermals up the slopes.
  • Hills/ridges: hills and rising ground will trigger thermals at the top.
  • Tree lines/buildings: these can help trigger thermals, if downwind of thermal sources
  • Lakes: the cold air over water can trigger thermals as they drift over it.
  • Tractors. Vehicles in fields can trigger thermals.

Markers

  • Clouds: cumulus clouds are formed by moisture in the air reaching dew point. Try to keep track of the clouds that are growing, or that look stronger at their bases.
  • Birds: if you can see birds soaring / climbing – then there is a thermal there.

Streets / Energy Lines

  • Lifting air will typically be organized in streets that line up with the wind – so you should fly cross wind if you are in generally sinky air to find a more lifting line. Make sure you’re using bar for speed to fly!

Cloud flying

  • Low hills often means low cloud base. Since base is often really low here in Cornwall where we fly, it may be worth flying in cloud. So ensure that you have clear direction information using your flight instruments when in cloud, and fly through them on bar – in one direction. If you don’t want to fly in clouds, there is the option of flying low. Here is a flight all below 2000 ft ASL to Falmouth from Carn Brea.

Instruments & goal setting

  • Good idea to have all of these flight instruments while you’re flying XC – and goal setting can help with declared flights. The first screen is on glide, the second is while thermalling. This is the excellent iOS FlySkyHy app. You’ll need a power pack/case with your phone if you use a phone.

paragliding flight instruments

Airspace

Really important to have airspace awareness and an airspace flying strategy. Important to have a map view on your instruments to visualize your location in relation to airspace. Here is a flight plan for Carn Brea > Lizard Point airspace – not easy!

Team work

  • When lift is broken and thermals are difficult to track, it’s easier to work with others as lift markers and work small difficult thermals together.  Great idea in this case to be on radio together.

General rule: Don’t make mistakes!

  • In small hill, low base, sea-breezy flying environments – a golden rule is don’t make mistakes. Don’t take risks, exploit rather than explore. Fly conservatively. Hold onto all lift that you have. Drift in zeros. Don’t use bar unless you are in sink or have a clear thermal ahead. Use the most reliable signs you can. 

Record the flight

  • Record that flight and share track with others so you and others can learn from it.
  • Film the flight so you can share the experience! (The views round Cornwall are incredible.) Here’s local pilot Wyn flying XC from Carn Brea. (Note the conservative flying style – not dashing off on downwind).

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About the Author

What’s national standard for paragliding in Cornwall - among the best you can find in the country? (1) the coastline 🧗🏼‍♀️ - the most beautiful in the country. We can enjoy it, explore it, and get good at coastal soaring 🏆 (2) the views 👀from up high - all coastlines of the peninsula that everyone comes to visit all in one panorama - absolutely stunning 🏆 (3) technical tor & small hill, inverted, broken-up, and low base flying 💥- really sharpens XC skills - none of this lobbing into house thermals and climbing to 6-7 grand off the bat. If you lose concentration you’re on the ground. If you can learn to fly XC well in gnarly Cornwall you can fly well anywhere in the UK. 🏆(4) the convergence 🌥🌥🌥 - it’s the best in the UK and if we can fly it, it opens up 150km plus flights and even learning to soar sea breezes gets us in league with that lot around Brighton. 🏆 (5) We got instant access to lots of ace coastal sites/beaches to train at within a short drive which gives us more air time, ground handling skills, and wagga skills (call out to Dunc)🏆,and (6) our sites aren’t busy!! You’ll be lucky to find more than 2 people flying at Carn Brea on a perfect day. In Bodmin moor you’ll be with your mate and that’s it. No crowds. 🏆👌Happy to be in one of the best flying areas in the country - just important not to get pulled into the league numbers games which suits other areas but not ours. Gavin McClurg made the same point. Distance is great but there’s loads of other ways to have top flights. Focus on what’s the very best in your home turf! 🏴‍☠️



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