another way for gliders to stay up longer?

i always have been fascinated with soaring. staying up without motor. like the birds!
at the beginning, and for many years, i flew free flight, as there was nothing else available. and learned about thermals. with hand launched gliders, then towline gliders, rubber powered planes. engine powered planes.
many years later, when radio became affordable, i got into thermal at will. that is, when i learned to find them.
now with vario is easier, as it tells me the height or if the plane is climbing or sinking. but always a pleasure to me.
recently began to experience some situations where i could make my plane stay longer without a thermal, and explored the slope and dynamic soaring. i found data at a forum, that was enlightening: https://www.rcgroups.com/forums/show...ynamic-soaring
still, what i found by chance does not match what these guys say. what happened was that once i found my plane flying a little bit faster than the wind and decided to do lazy 8s facing it so it didnt go beyond the area where i wanted it to be, and noticed that it didnt sink for a few seconds (i have a vario that tells me the height every few seconds) and became intrigued. i have reached the conclusion that it is sort of dynamic/slope effect. except that this happens in midair-no hills/cliff.
the way i see it is this: when my plane is flying at a speed slighty higher than the wind, i do lazy 8s facing it. that is: fly across the wind, then turn facing it. when the plane raises its nose it climbs momentarily and gains height. maybe a few feet only. if i do nothing it will stall. but if i then turn it sharply it will not. just will go across the wind, as i wanted it to do. then i keep it flying across for a short distance and repeat. as if i were doing slope. the difference is that in slope you dont wait for the plane to raise its nose and gain some height. in slope you just turn 180 degrees.
but it happens only when finding a wind speed slightly higher than the planes speed (without motor running, just gliding). so it can be achieved on limited situations. still, i have a great time when it can be done.
if you watch the videos of albatross in the link i provided, is the closest to what i do.
with matters of the air, you never can say that you have learned all about it. you dont know when it will bring another surprise