[Bill Cummings]

This post is in need of input from other water tow pilots. Input that will fine tune the making of a Hawks training manual that hopefully will speed a pilot along a safe learning curve while pointing out procedures and situations to either avoid or strive for.

We can correct and refine this suggested method below, correct sentence structure, and find out where or if it might help out in the training manual.

Starting out hang gliding water towing is best done in smooth glassy conditions for a beginning student. As the student advances, gradually, more wind can be dealt with.

At some point the wind will upset the hang glider on a lake and unless you know how to right the hang glider in a wind it can seem like an impossible, frustrating situation that could possibly inspire thoughts of suicide to end your grief.

I single surface training glider once upset will only be showing the base tube floats and the tail float. The nose will be out of reach about five to six feet below the surface.

Keeping the boat motor’s propeller away from the sail cloth and wires is the first consideration. With this in mind one person should be doing the glider handling off of the bow of the boat.

The boat driver should position the bow of the boat at the tail float of the hang glider.

The person at the bow should hold onto the tail float while the boat driver in idle speed, reverse, pulls the tail of the submerged glider so that the tail of the keel is pointing into the wind.

The boat driver will then align the boat with the keel tube and idle speed the boat backing straight into the wind.

The person on the bow lifts the tail float up as the boat is backing up into the wind.

When the person on the bow can grab the wire between the keel’s tail and the kingpost work hand over hand to the kingpost.

With the kingpost in the hands of the bow person the boat driver puts the motor in neutral and allows the wind to assist in blowing the raised rear half of the glider downwind. (At this point the gliders tail is pointing straight up then moving downwind, moving toward an upright position.)

The bow person goes hand over hand from the kingpost to the nose plate.

As the bow person lifts the nose plate out of the water the boat driver must keep the front of the boat from touching the leading edge sail cloth on the wing tubes.
This is a critical part because the boat will tear the sailcloth if it come in contact with the glider. The glider will not move easily in the water until the floats are on the surface. It is unbelievably easy to tear the sail cloth with the boat coming in contact with the glider when the hang glider is partially submerged.

The floats will now help raise the hang glider to the surface. The driver should be in idle reverse so that the wind will help bring the floats to the surface.

With the help of the wind while the boat is backing into the wind the bow person should be holding the nose flying wires and fly the glider up onto the front of the boat.

Next pull the nose down to drain all of the tubes. All Caps should have drain holes drilled in them so that lowering the nose will drain all tubes.

I have never righted a kingpost-less hang glider in a lake. I would imagine a rope from nose to tail up over the top of the glider could lend a hand hold for righting a topless glider.

I would venture to say that this is the only way for two people to right an upset glider in a lake when a wind is present short of draining the lake.

So now that the glider is headed the wrong way on the boat with the wind blowing what do you do next?
That is another lesson that has several answers for later on.
Bill C.

[Nobody]

http://kitestrings.prophpbb.com/topic33-50.html

[Bill Cummings]

http://kitestrings.prophpbb.com/topic33-50.html

Nobody,
Tad’s procedures for Aero towing should become part of any training manual.
Tad must have put hour upon hour of gathering together his written procedure.
I come very close to total agreement with Tads procedure and we are not far apart on weaklink strength.
The page your link brought me to had much of the same prattle back and forth between Bob and Tad that fell short of anything I would call a productive learning experience for new pilots in search of information.
A direct link to the towing procedure alone would, in my opinion, have been a greater service to pilots.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Nobdy,

There's nothing in your post that contributes to our training manual. If you'd like to make a concrete suggestion, then please make a statement. Thanks.

With regard to your off-topic link, here's the line that reveals Tad's misperceptions about the universe:

Bob wanted a war - Bob got a war. (Just not the one he expected to win hands down in half an hour or so - one that's gonna last the rest of his life that he's never gonna win.)

Tad is wrong right there. I never wanted a war. I wanted a forum where everyone treated everyone else with some level of respect while working toward finding out the best way to build and organize a national hang gliding association to support the sport that we all cherish.

That's what I've been trying to do for the last year and a half with the US Hawks. Tad was welcomed into that organization with open arms. But step by step he shot himself in the foot while constantly attacking many of the people working to build this organization. "Nobody" seems to be following in his footsteps.

[Bob Kuczewski]

Bill,

With your experience, I'd really like to see you contributing to the Water Towing section of the manual. Would you like to start a topic titled "Water Towing" in the Training Manual forum and start putting down what you know?

Thanks in advance,
Bob Kuczewki

[Nobody]

So if anyone has anything they'd like to contribute without actually being a member of the authoring team, then this is a good place to put it.

Anyone ? You are insane Bob.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insanity

[Bob Kuczewski]

Oops, I wanted to add one more comment to Tad's quote (referenced by "Nobody"):

Bob wanted a war - Bob got a war. (Just not the one he expected to win hands down in half an hour or so - one that's gonna last the rest of his life that he's never gonna win.)

That's why Tad is a dangerous person. I reached out to him and he's now implying that he's going to be at war with me the rest of my life? That's bordering on a personal threat. After all, "war" usually means killing people and destroying their property. Is that the best analogy that Tad can come up with?

Now, I've had long and sometimes bitter disagreements with people. But I never threaten to be at "war" with them for the rest of their lives. In fact, I always try to be very specific about what I feel they're doing wrong and how they can change it. For example:

• David Jebb should provide written reasons for banning people from Torrey Pines.
• USHPA should publish the voting records of all Directors on their Board.
• Jack Axaopoulos should return the TorreyHawksForum.org site to our club.

Those are all clear and constructive statements regarding what I think needs to be done. Unfortunately, that's not what Tad does when he writes. He's not trying to correct a specific problem. Instead, he's out to trash or destroy people for his own personal reasons.

"Nobody", do you understand this difference?

[Bob Kuczewski]

So if anyone has anything they'd like to contribute without actually being a member of the authoring team, then this is a good place to put it.

Anyone ? You are insane Bob.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insanity

For the record Nobody, is this your best comment or contribution to an on-line training manual? I ask so everyone on this forum will come to know you just a tad bit better. Your comments (like "You are insane Bob") give ample justification for restricting the Training Manual forum to invited people only.

Finally, your comment above is a clear personal attack. I do allow personal attacks on this forum by people who are willing to give their real identities. So far, I haven't seen you post your actual identity. I am therefore asking you to post your true identity or you will be restricted to the "Free Speech Zone".

Thanks in advance.

[Nobody]

http://energykitesystems.net/Lift/hgh/T ... elines.pdf

Have you ever written anything like this Bob ?

[Bob Kuczewski]

Again "Nobody", since you've decided to make a personal attack, I am asking you to post your unambiguous identity so that you are personally responsible for your comments. Please comply or you will be limited to the "Free Speech Zone" in the morning.

Thanks again.