Is it typical very tight turns (~45degree bank) when thermalling?

Because I am a lonely flyer... I have not seen another Rc gliders, so I decided to buy the Old Buzzard goes to fly Video and it was a little surprise the way this guy was flying the Gentle Lady. All I have heard is to fly with smooth turns... but this guy was making so tighten turns with more than 45 degrees of wing bank. It also seems to be flying so fast for a Gentle Lady...Is that the way a Gentle lady flies?

Oscar, depending on the circumstances, that is how most, if not all, R/C sailplanes fly if the lift conditions demand it. There is no conflict between what you saw on the video and the "fly with smooth turns" advice. Just because a turn uses a small radius and a steep bank angle does NOT mean that it isn't smooth. In fact, often those extremenly tight radius turns require the smoothest flying of all! "Smooth" means precise, economical and deliberate motions, it does not mean timid.

In general, when someone advises you to "fly smoothly", what they mean is to fly your model with only the minimum control inputs required by the maneuver, without a lot of extraneous bobbling and sashaying around. If you really know your model, then for a given roll rate into a bank, you know instinctivly just how much rudder (or aileron) to apply for precisely the right amount of time. You move the stick that far, for that amount of time, and in still air the model rolls into the turn exactly the way you expected. Once at the desired bank angle, you know instinctivly how much rudder and elevator is needed, in whatever direction, to hold that bank angle. You instinctivly move the stick to that position, and the model holds the desired turn, smooth and round. You don't have to keep experimenting with different stick positions, trying to find the "right spot", while your model stalls and sqiggles and squirms across the sky in lumpy shaped circles.

All of this is true regardless of whether you're making a 2-wingspan diameter circle with a 40-60 degree bank to stay inside the tiny core of a small diameter thermal at low altitude, or flying a wider, flatter, more gentle circle as the thermal widens out at higher altitude. The shape and size of the thermal might require fast roll rates to get into it, and steep banks to stay in it, but even in those situations you MUST fly smoothly and deliberately.

There are several reasons for doing all of this smoothly and precisely.

First of all, safety: if you're squggling around all over the place as you try to establish your turn at low altitude, you increase the chances of stalling inadvertently (perhaps without enough altitude to recover), or running into something (trees, buildings, other people, etc.). Flying at minimum sink speed in a 50 degree bank less than 2 meters off the ground in a turbulent "boomer" thermal is no time to be flying erratically!

Secondly, the least drag is the natural result of making the least control movements. Every time you make a bigger than necessary control input, you are making more than the minimum amount of control surface drag. You're also wasting more than the minimum necessary amount of power from the battery, which could be a factor on long flights or on small models with very small batteries (such as HLG'S).

Last but not least:
When you apply the expected amount of control to your model, and it doesn't respond the way you expected, that means it's trying to tell you something. It usually means theat the air around your glider is doing something, and your glider is trying to tell you about it. When you're flying in a straight line, holding the controls for a straight flight path, and the left wing suddenly starts to rise all by itself, that could mean there's an updraft to the left, lifting the left wingtip. It could also mean there's a patch of sink on the right. In either case, the model is trying to tell you, "Hey, pal, I think it would be best for both of us if you turn me to the left!" If the nose rises momentarily, then immediately the tail rises and the model starts to accelerate, your model is telling you "Look! I just flew straight into an updraft!" If you are holding the controls in the position for a smooth, round, constant sink rate, constant radius thermal turn, but your model is rising more on one side of the circle than the other, it's trying to tell you that the core of the thermal is "over that way!"

You talk to your model with your control stick movements. It talks to you with subtle changes in attitude and flight path. If you are not "smooth" on the controls (i.e.: you make more frequent and larger stick motions than absolutely necessary), then you are, in effect, yelling and jabbering at it, but NOT doing very much listening. Your squiggly, wobbly flight path commands will obscure the subtle little whispers that your model is trying to say to you. Only when you learn to fly smoothly, with a minimum of control movements, will you begin to "hear" what your model is trying to say. The secret of better flying is to do less "talking" and more "listening". That's really what we mean by "flying smoothly".

Take another look at the video. Yes, he makes some steep banks. In some cases he might make some exaggerated movements just to make it easier for you to see the behavior of the model he is trying to explain, but for the most part he and the model are simply responding appropriately to the motions of the air around them. That's really what soaring is all about!

Don Stackhouse @ DJ Aerotech