Effects of wind

[Boneman]

There's an abandoned driving range near my house, and I will frequently go there to practice my driving. Tonight was breezy, and I noticed my discs were flying farther when I was throwing against the wind than they were when I was throwing with the wind at my back. I was practicing primarily with a Comet, a Stingray, and a Buzz.

A good throw for me these days is about 200'. Tonight into the wind I was hitting about 230, and with the wind, about 175.

Shouldn't it be the other way around?

 

[jcarroll]

Typically, a headwind creates more lift/glide on a disc while a tailwind reduces the amount of glide on the disc. A headwind will make the disc behave as if it were thrown with more speed while a tailwind will make the disc behave as if it were thrown with less speed.

In other words, a disc thrown into a headwind will think it's traveling faster since the wind is rushing over it resulting in a flight more affected by high speed spin, or understable. A disc thrown into a tailwind will think it's traveling slower since the wind is moving at closer to the same speed as the disc resulting in a flight that reaches its low speed fade earlier, or overstable.

TL/DR?

Headwind = More glide, More turn
Tailwind = Less glide, More fade

 

[scarpfish]

The consummate article about playing in the wind. Was actually at a tournament with the author yesterday.

http://www.discraft.com/res_wind06_p1.html

I think its cool that Discraft keeps that up there even though Ron has moved on to Trilogy.

 

[Curtis_Valk]

What they said. In simple terms without help from a headwind you are not getting the disc up to speed and it is dumping off to the left early (assuming RHBH) and hurting your distance. The headwind just keeps it straight longer.

The Buzzz probably more so, but I am surprised that the Comet and Stingray are not more forgiving. Are they Z and Champ plastic by chance?

 

[Timeetyo]

The consummate article about playing in the wind. Was actually at a tournament with the author yesterday.

http://www.discraft.com/res_wind06_p1.html

I think its cool that Discraft keeps that up there even though Ron has moved on to Trilogy.

Read this as it has great info on the various effects of wind. The only thing it really doesn't explain is your result you are seeing of into the wind being farther. That is explained by this:

What they said. In simple terms without help from a headwind you are not getting the disc up to speed and it is dumping off to the left early (assuming RHBH) and hurting your distance. The headwind just keeps it straight longer.

The Buzzz probably more so, but I am surprised that the Comet and Stingray are not more forgiving. Are they Z and Champ plastic by chance?

 

[elmexdela]

The consummate article about playing in the wind. Was actually at a tournament with the author yesterday.

http://www.discraft.com/res_wind06_p1.html

I think its cool that Discraft keeps that up there even though Ron has moved on to Trilogy.

classic article. wish shops had this on a poster up that would be cool

 

[Aim For The Chains]

well, they should have printers

 

[Boneman]

What they said. In simple terms without help from a headwind you are not getting the disc up to speed and it is dumping off to the left early (assuming RHBH) and hurting your distance. The headwind just keeps it straight longer.

The Buzzz probably more so, but I am surprised that the Comet and Stingray are not more forgiving. Are they Z and Champ plastic by chance?

Sorry, I meant to say Stingray and Cyclone, not Comet. The Stingray is Star plastic, the Cyclone is Pro D.

 

[Dan Ensor]

My guess is that you're not getting the nose down. So the headwind will force the nose down and increase glide, while the tailwind just pushes on the top of the disc and makes it fall out of the sky.

 

[Curtis_Valk]

Sorry, I meant to say Stingray and Cyclone, not Comet. The Stingray is Star plastic, the Cyclone is Pro D.

I don't know the Cyclone but being a 7 speed driver in the middle of the stability spectrum I'd say it's too much disc for someone throwing your distances. My first driver was a JLS and I couldn't get it up to speed except with help from a headwind. Once I developed enough snap to throw it fast, I then started turning it over due to bad form (not power).

It is encouraging that you are not turning the stingray over when throwing into the wind. Beware that this inevitability will occur, and you may fall into the same trap I did where I thought I was overpowering the disc but instead the problem was really my release.