When to use the speedbar and how much
Posted by Martin Havel on
You should be on the bar all the time, the only exception is when you are going up. If you are not going up use 10-20% even downwind. In to the wind not going up but not sinking like a rock 20-30%, 3 m/s sink 50%, 20km/h headwind 50%, 3 m/s in 20 km/h headwind full bar. If the thermal is 2-3 m/s up fly at 30-50% bar between them, if they are 4m/s up or more you can fly at 80-100% bar in between them. Once you start flying with bar start playing with pitch control using rear risers but also practice controlling the pitch with the speedbar, eventually you will use a combination of both to get the most out of your flying on the bar. Once you get a hang of it, you will never look back and you will find it hard to justify not being on the bar.
Silver Bullet 1
The silver bullet in deciding how much bars to use is the glide ratio on your flying instrument. If the glide ratio is increasing as you are pushing the barkeep going with pushing more bar until the value starts deterioration again. This will take a good season of practising to get a good feel for it, you don't have to go nuts with it keep it at a comfortable level make it fun and enjoyable.
Silver Bullet 2
Another silver bullet for how much speedbar to use is to maintain the same top speed. To make this work for your wing the top speed will be slightly different for each wing. These values are not 100% perfect but close enough. It's better to be close enough than not using the bar at all.
EN B 32-34 km/h if going downwind add the speed of wind on the top of it
EN C 34-36 km/h if going downwind add the speed of wind on the top of it EN D EN D 40-42 km/h if going downwind add the speed of wind on the top of it
Get the right tool for the job.
If your speedbar is not working for you get the right speedbar.
https://fly2base.com/products/bullet-speed-bar