First Winch Test 2009

Jason and I went out on Sunday the 19. I found a prospect for a driver and brought him and his girlfriend out too. The day looked explosive so I took the first tow. It was fairly rough on tow, I didn't dress for it nor did I take my gps. All indicators it would be an awesome flight.

I skied out till everyone was specks on the ground and struggled to get down after I couldn't feel my fingers.

The first tow was just a test for the winch and the day but I must admit that if I was prepared I would have headed out. The winch performed beautiful. The new pulleys worked great. The new 8 sq ft flow form flying kite works great but might still be a touch small. I'm going to speed up the rewind sometime soon to counteract that.

Jason discovered something wrong with his mark 4 and decided it was time to fly the predator. He wanted smooth conditions as it was his first flight of the year, the first flight in a while on that wing, and the first time towing it. (3 wrongs is usually a no no) I took another tow when the sky filled with high cloud and it was smooth, no lift/turbulence. Jason got on the rig and had little trouble towing/flying the high performance wing. Landing however, discouraged him from trying again. Wind was dead calm till he set up final and then it went tail. With a weak flare, there was a dust cloud and a wing upside down. To me it looked like a nasty whack but he should have faired well. I resisted the urge to yell WHACK!!! Glad I did, he was pretty beat up. Looked like he was on the loosing side of a bar fight. Probably made for a good story at work the next day. Bleeding from various places on his face and a mouth full of dirt, I enthusiastically asked when he wanted to go again. I'm an asshole...... We packed up and went home. I'll probably never see my drivers again either. Was a little longer than the hour or two I think they were expecting, but I'm glad they got these videos.