Our friend Kyle from Spokane received his new winch last week! We were so pumped to be able to deliver it to him and finally do some towing in the flats of eastern Washington. Kyle picked up the controls and seemed to be a natural after running 3 tows. Yeah buddy! Thanks for the tows.
I don’t think you could dream of a better place for towing paragliders and hang gliders. The miles and miles of road without any power lines or obstructions conjure up limitless thoughts stress free XC flying. For those who aren’t familiar, Chelan Washington is a mecca for free flight. The flat lands outside of Chelan are world renowned for long distance cross country flights. Typically, people launch from a site across the river and glide over to the flats and go on long flights from that point. Another way to fly there is to go towing in the flats and catch thermals for a flight from there on. We tried both.
Right off tow…from one of those roads…I lost track of which one tho….
The difference between our launch point on the tow road (upper photo)….vs….Chelan Butte (lower photo):
Big thank you to Super Fly Paragliding for letting me ride new Advance Omega 8 paraglider for the week! What an awesome wing. So stable, fast, and what a glide!
Curt Warren of Warren Windsports received his brand new CSW and put it to the test right away. While holding a ground towing clinic for hang gliders, they reportedly did 70 tows in a weekend! Strong work Curt! He also wrote a nice little piece about his thoughts on his new hydraulic payout winch. We are stoked to have two units in the land down under now and boast about another very stoked customer. Thanks for the support Curt!
Check out his website for more photos and video here
Despite some pretty wet weather over the weekend, the Wings Over Bear Lake acro competition was a success! We saw towing on Friday, and Sunday with a short scooter tow or two in a down pour on saturday. Those that attended were rewarded by being able to witness the first acro pilot in the US perform the Infinity Tumble! Congrats to Nova Dasalla on a 15.5 turn tumble. Rough cut video can be seen here or click on the photo of the winners below. Nova took first, Max Marion second, and Tommey Suell third. Becky Brim took first in Womens division. A few willing spectators got some tandems as well. Thanks to Blue Water Resort, Red Bull, and Chris Santacroce for putting this event on! CSW is proud to be able to provide tow equipment to make such events happen! Until next year……
Towing in Mexico is awesome…
You never know unless you go out and see for your self sometimes…thats how the morning started out. A little cloudy, but showing signs of breaking up. After getting the text that some people were going out to go towing, I dragged my willing friend from out of town out to chase the weather with me. A little background on my buddy: he is my best friend, he trusts me quite a bit…maybe a bit too much as several years ago he volunteered to be my first paraglider tandem passenger…on MY very first tandem flight…so fitting then, that he come take a flight with me on this questionable morning, now that I know what I am doing!
We left the house and drove through light rain under light grey skies for a short bit, and as we pushed west, the weather began to break up quite nicely and got sunny. By the time we arrived at the designated tow spot, we were rewarded with blue skies and early morning cumulus clouds setting up right along the tow road! As it came time for us to tow up our tandem paraglider, a thin layer of clouds had moved in overhead. Still very sunny just east of us, we decided to go ahead and give it a whirl…It turned out to be one of the coolest paraglider towing experiences I have ever had. I am really happy to be able to have shared this with my best friend.
Although it might sound a lot like those sketchy operations on the beaches in Mexico where they hook you up to an old parachute and drag you around aimlessly over the ocean, towing a paraglider or hang glider is much different. Not only are our aircraft fully controllable, we are towed using highly reliable equipment to heights of over 2500 feet above the ground. The equipment we use to gain altitude is generally referred to as a paraglider or hang glider tow winch. Once we arrive at the desired altitude, the towline is released and we are free to fly anywhere we may choose. 
Once up high, some people like to do aerobatics, some like to look for thermals and fly long distances, while others just enjoy the scenery and flight down casually. Towing aspiring pilots is also an excellent way to provide training that isn’t so dependent on the wind being perfect at the training hill.
There are many different types of tow methods that people use to gain altitude. The most common of the methods are static, pay in, and payout towing. Static towing could be assimilated to the sketchy parasailing operations on tourist beaches. Static refers to the towline length being fixed. Pay in towing is where the towline is laid out and then reeled in toward a fixed point. The last, and unarguably the safest method of all three, is the payout method. Payout means that the towline is gradually let out as the aircraft climbs away from the ground. The tension is precisely regulated during the payout to ensure a steady controlled climb. The highest altitudes are generally also achieved using the payout method.
The Design That Works
The Cloud Street tow winch is designed to be a robust work horse of a winch capable of towing people aloft, without fail, until everyone is too tired or has had their fill for the day. It provides very smooth payout combined with a steady controlled tension regardless of payout speed. This winch is also fitted with the fastest rewind available for quick turn around and very tight line stacking which contributes greatly to the smooth payout behavior. The Cloud Street tow winch is designed to handle both solo towing as well as tandem towing and can provide tensions in the neighborhood of 220 lbs (~98 DaN) continuously, which incidentally will likely be more than you will ever need in terms of towing paragliders and hang gliders. To top it off, this unit has been designed to adapt to a standard 2” trailer hitch and can be easily transfered between vehicles and is also compact enough to fit in most recreational boats without extensive modification.
The Design Process
The design philosophy was to keep the system as simple to use and operate, and as robust as possible. The design is a result of several iterations using 3D CAD software and finite element analysis to find the most efficient frame geometry and lightest configuration possible. Justin Brim provided the the engineering, design, and fabrication work while Chris Santacroce, the towing expert, provided the practical experience and knowledge of towing to give input and testing feedback. With a strong passion for flight and a healthy dose of determination and hard testing, they have made sure that the Cloud Street Winch is built for the long haul.
