Bill,

You're absolutley right.
The land situation for locating a really "practical" winch is the key
issue.
In fact, there is a guy in our club that is on a fact-finding mission
on winch towing in the USA. I suspect he has gotten a lot of really
good info recently. My angle on this is: OK, I like the
winch................but it has to be practical to make it truly
successful. I.E. locate it where there is a likelyhood of lift and get
you there high enough to safely use it.

Got an interesting place close to where I live. Might make an
interesting study to see just what kind of hoops one must jump
through........not only with the club members, but also in dealing
with the local government and "landowners" to develop a chunk of arid
and dry ridgetop land into a local gliderjockey hangout. There's no
doubt about it........it would create attention!

Brad


On Dec 27, 6:52*pm, "Bill Daniels" bildan@comcast-dot-net wrote:
"Brad" wrote in message

...





While a winch may be a "win-win-win-win" scenario, as a
practical matter it is difficult to implement at many sites in the US.

Marc-

Some of the members in our club are looking at winch launching. I
suspect that they will come to the same conclusions. "Cheap" tows that
a winch offer is really a matter of perspective.

We did some double towing a few years ago and got quite good at it.
Typical double tows were for 15+ mile treks to the mountains to
connect with the lift. Our double tow fee structure made it
"economical" to do and we were rewarded with long flights and awesome
forays into the Cascade Mountains.

The winch.................well, it ain't gonna do it.

Brad

No one says winches will totally replace aero tows which will always have a
place in the situation you describe. *There are places where any soaring is
miles away from the airfield. *Only an aero tow will get you there.

But your situation won't save the sport, nor is it really typical. *Most
sites have local soaring - having been located there because of that. *It is
really not difficult to soar away from a winch launch. *When attempting to
soar, my lifetime average is better than 80%. *If you don't happen to
connect with lift, another launch is cheap and quick.

It can be difficult to implement winch launch at sites selected for aero tow
and that is a challenge. * But it's a challenge we have to meet and win.
Our sport may well depend on it.

Aero tow costs are increasing dramatically. *You have to ask if those "long
tow" site will be there much longer.

Bill Daniels- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -