CLIMBING INTO WAVE

One of the greatest and most satisfying challenges in soaring is working rotor turbulence and eventually climbing into smooth wave without the benefit of thermals or a convenient hill.   The kind of maneuvering required to climb in rotor is very different from ordinary thermaling technique.   Only the windward side of a rotor offers lift.   Fly any full circles relatively slow and wide while facing into the wind, but then much tighter on the lee side, to hurry you back around into the wind.When circling you will eventually drift downwind to the rotor’s lee side and into sink, so expect to fly very few circles – perhaps only one – before leveling out and penetrating into the wind.   You'll often need to employ hard, diving direction changes, short, steep pull-ups, and exaggerated S-turns into the wind.   Be constantly alert for increases in lift, and turn quickly toward any upward or lateral impulse you feel within the airflow.Here, as in wave, your mantra must be: INTO THE WIND!