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Moffat Cruise Climb

George Moffat offers this advice in his "Winning"  books. His idea is that everyone climbs about the same, but the masters make up time in cruise. I think this refers more to old-fashioned AST gaggle racing, and to the top pilots in the fast gaggle.  He's also talking about climbing technique rather than the vital decision of whether to stop and thermal or keep going.  I still think that choosing when to stop and thermal and when to leave the thermal are the most important decisions. Still, picking your line, exploiting "energy lines" and cruising efficiently is vitally important if a bit mysterious and we all need to work hard on it. For training, comparing your see-you achieved LD in cruise vs. that of the experts is a useful is humbling training tool.  

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GEORGE    [ Jul 18, 2007 ]
Why cruise is more important than climb: Normally, we spend 18-35% of our racing time climbing--lower numbers in places like Uvalde or Mifflin, higher numbers on weak days--the rest in cruise. The real masters--DB and Reichman come to mind--are remarkably good at recognising energy lines and optimising them. Avoidance of sink is just as important as finding lift. George Moffat 7/18/07