For all the KRs with laminar flow airfoil sections,this might be interesting.During a World Gliding Competition,the American champion dumped water ballast onto the German champion below,who was gaining on him in climb.Naturally this dirty trick infuriated the German champ,and at the official enquiry,the American champion stated that he left the thermal to dump his water ballast for the time specified by his glider manufacturer and returned to the thermal.I cant remember the outcome but I wondered why the dump valve was not closed as a precaution before re entering the thermal.One has to go to great lengths to keep a laminar flow airfoil clean.My KR 2 S has the standard airfoil,and I wont worry too much about bugs,water .dust etc picked up while flying.Strangely enough my first homebuilt,a Duster glider had a midnight blue leading edge which I painted on from mainspar to leading edge.This portion got very hot in the sun while the rest stayed cool.Other pilots complained they couldnt see me clearly while ridge running etc. so I painted it all white and the performance dropped.I then re did it in red and the performance improved ,it "felt better".Probably just a figment of my imagination - no scientific proof whatsoever. Cheers, Eric Evezard, South Africa.
