Scott,Scott wrote:...
If any experienced pilots have a bombproof method for doing this, I'd love to hear it. I'm guessing, though, that it just takes a lot of time and practice.
Scott
As with most everything else, there is no silver bullet. As many have said before, you need a mixed bag of tricks.
I use a variety of techniques to lose altitude.
The technique I use most involves altering one of the 4 legs of an UDBF (Upwind/Downwindd/Base/Final) approach.
For HR in NW winds, I make a left-hand approach and I alter the D leg. I start at the upwind end of the field and I make my downwind run on the W side of the treeline over Mong's field. If I am too high, I go a bit wide (westward). If I am most of the way there and I am still too high, I may turn west and then do a 180 (picture S turns on the downwind leg). I do whatever I need to in order to arrive at the correct altitude to initiate my base and final.
You can vary any leg of the DBF - it doesn't have to have right angles in it and each leg doesn't have to be straight. You can vary the Upwind leg and/or 'initiate' the DBF, and/or vary the D and initiate the BF, and/or vary the B and initiate the F. What to do depends on how much room At Woodstock, I vary my upwind leg and enter the DBF at a predetermined altitude. At Fisher, I vary the downwind leg. At Bills or Jacks, I don't worry about it too much
I'll add a couple of other, more controversial techniques:
Fly slower than min sink, just above stall (aka mush). In general, not a I don't recommend this to inexperienced pilots. In the past, I have occasionally chosen to slow some types of gliders down and mush them (to lose altitude without moving forward). Note that I would only do this in calm conditions. It works, but can be risky.
And then there is the slipping turn (as mentioned previously, an advanced manuever) I wouldn't do it in an all-mylar topless (already tried it once too many times , but it works really well for a Falcon or some of the intermediate-class non-curvetipped wings.
On occasion, if there is someone else in the pattern at my altitude, I may choose to spiral (360) down to a half-downwind, base, final to avoid a conflict.
I wouldn't go so far as to say any particular technique is dangerous or stupid in general. Some techniques will be more dangerous than others based on factors such as the glider, the weather conditions, the number of other pilots/aircraft in the pattern and the pilot's skill level.