thermals on coast

[4900bruce]

hi, I have a thunder tiger soaring star and my backyard is a beach in Sydney.
I have in the past been driving to local recreational parks to fly my plane and am always looking for a thermal.I have not caught one as yet but have found some times I dont lose alt as quickly circling in one spot compared to other areas I fly through.
yesterday I was at a local football park , no lift but still having fun . I brought plane in for landing , ran out of field and crashed into goal posts .Unfortunately this is not the first time I have hit a goal post or light pole when coming in for landing.
In Sydney large open fields are hard to come by and local authorities have banned rc planes from flying on some football fields ($500.00 fine ).
Today for the first time I flew from the beach at the back of house ,beach about a mile long and miles of ocean so nothing to hit.
My question is will I ever catch a thermal from this spot or am I wasting my time.
In summer the sand gets to hot to walk on with out shoes so that air must be rising.
Thanks for your help Bruce

[LVsoaring]

Your backyard is a beach in Sydney??? Congratulations, you are my new best friend!!! Will my radios from the US work down under?

[4900bruce]

Yes the beach is the back yard . That does have its negative side .A new car will have rust in 3 years . positive side is what a great landing strip
might get a 4 metre scale sailplane now.
here we use 36 megz and I think you use 72 meg.

[oscillator]

Hi Bruce,

Do you ever see birds circling over you beach and not flapping? If you do, then they are ridding the thermals. Personally I can't recall seeing birds thermal over a beach, but I don't get to beaches that often.

A bigger issue might be wind. Most coastal spots (that I have visited) almost always have wind. Wind can fragment thermals, and at minimum will blow them down wind.

Now, if you had a slope near by.....

-Mark

[Dbox]

Bruce,Mark gave You a perfect advise,-follow the birds.
I am a costal flyer myself and there is plenty of thermalls even at the cold Pacific NW.
Thermalls come and go depend on tide and time of the day.Look at seagulls,if they are sitting on the sand ,they dont want to waste an energy -no thermalls.
Go to your left and try to fly over a trees,air is warmer over the trees more then over the ocean.
Place like yours is my dream place to live,there is all ways down side ,I know.
And who needs a car......
Yuri.

[wingsnapper]

Thermals occur anywhere the sun can heat the ground... or water. Yes you have the ability to utilize thermals. I think a lot of folks just starting out have difficulty hooking into lift unless it's of the brick lifter genera. I'd suggest you find some experienced thermal fliers so you can learn to work the lift you are sure to be flying though.
Jesse

[daveosoar]

Yesterday I flew of my local sea cliff (100ft) witha Filip 600 glider, 6Kt onshore breeze got me 150ft above start height, pushing out over the pebble beach in 20C temp got me much more rising air, specking out in a minute or two. The stones, after 6 hours of sun, were warmer than any other patch locally so creating weak but workable thermal lift. Sea temp13C - 7C difference is enough!

[4900bruce]

Thanks everyone for your replys ,have not noticed seagulls on beach probably because not many people on beach so no free food.
Yes it is usually windy on the beach but often first thing in morning (7am-10am) conditions are calm.
very close to here ( half km ) we have a large lake which is fed by the ocean .Pelicans live on the lake .Yesterday I was in front yard watching a pelican circling in a thermal.what a great sight ,such a big bird gaining alt with every circle . he left that thermal and went towards the lake .flapped wings several times and then found another thermal .
There was a large norfolk pine tree between him and I .as he was circling I could see him between branchs of tree . each circle he worked his way up tree untill tree was no longer in view.
So that proves there are thermals on the coast ,just got to get into them.
Dbox love your sailplane , am hoping to work upto 3m scale sailplanes.
regards Bruce

[mattJ]

It all depends on the air temp and the water temp. Sand is not a good thermal producer; it doesn't retain heat very well at all. If you have an onshore wind and the water is cooler than the air you'll be hard pressed to find any lift other than slope. If you have an offshore wind you may find good thermals or even convergence lift when the warmer land flow hits the cooler water and gets pushed up. I live on Lake Michigan and when there's an onshore flow the thermals are shut down for miles inland (often 20). But thats' when the water temps a much colder than inland so in the fall when the Lake is warmer than the air we get just the opposite conditions (ie lake effect snow and water spouts). I've found myself thermaling my hang glider 2000' over a 30' beach slope in Fall conditions.

[ploof]

Hey there, Bruce

I also live near the water, lift can easily occur in coastal settings.

I rarely find sink in my neighborhood as agressive as inland areas.

Freaquently during evening hours if the wind conditions blow from inland out over the water, there will actualy be very organized thermal lift well out over the water, with several birds indicating, I wouldn't have thought this to be the case, until I caught the birds doing this.

Also if you make the effort to hook up with other thermal pilots, just by simply watching the manner in which the fly you'll benifit. The first time I did this my ability to do the same improved biftime.

Ploof