Hi! By chance, I found an excellent place to practice ridge soaring, and it works very well in AFS4. This was the first time I was able to gain altitude using a technique other than thermals, so it was a great experience for me.
Ridge soaring is actually quite simple to understand: when the wind blows against a mountain, it tends to be deflected upward, creating a zone of rising air directly above the slope.
To try it out, start your glider at Münster (LSPU), runway 23, facing southwest. As you can see in the picture, you’ll have a long, straight corridor with mountains on both sides:
Then you need to set the wind direction and strength to southeast (150°), and choose a high strength value so you can experience ridge soaring more easily (in this case, thermal activity is not important, just focus in Strength and Direction parameters).
After taking off in your glider, head toward the mountains on your right and fly close to them—you’ll start to feel the effect of the wind and begin gaining altitude.
One helpful tip: try to keep your glider just on the windward side of the ridge, flying parallel to the slope. The lift is strongest close to the ridge face, but be careful not to get too close—you need to stay in control and always leave yourself an escape route.
I had a very long and comfortable glider flight, and now that I understand how it works, I’ll start using more realistic wind parameters.
