On Wednesday, October 28, 2015 at 5:53:08 PM UTC+3, Sean Fidler wrote:
Shaking my head. You are missing the point entirely.

First, we are in the USA, not Europe. There are endless options for auto-towing in the USA. See earlier post describing a great day in Cadillac, MI.

This "winch, winch, winch" obsession demonstrated on this thread is a big part of the problem for auto-towing I imagine. Ridiculous, but a sad reality. Soaring would be more popular and less expensive if auto-towing was more prevalent. Think colleges for example. Every college could have a soaring program with auto-towing. If it was encouraged as a low cost, minimalist means of soaring, almost anyone could afford it.

Imagine how many more "clubs" could exist on a simple auto-tow strategy. Or, small groups could form without the full club organization required to afford, maintain and manage expensive winches, towplanes, etc. Or, if you want to justify a winch expenditure in your club for the future, why not try auto-towing at first to prove the concept, then go for a winch? Or, why not have both auto-towing and winching in your clubs "arsenal" simply to have the ability to teach/train/utilize all launching methods? We have wave camps, wouldn't an auto-tow camp be fun once in awhile? No, no, no...blasphemy? Maybe near some airport along a ridge or on a beach as the Brits posted earlier.

What a depressing lack of vision and freedom displayed on this thread. Why the "kill auto-towing" press here boys. It makes no sense. There can be both, can there not?

And, if winches are so great, why are they not "gloriously" hard at work at every US club "in mass?" If I took you all at your word, winches should be roaring away everywhere, should they not? The truth is that winches are actually quite rare in the USA. Are they not? Why is this? Why is Europe apparently succeeding with winches when the USA is clearly not?

I have my answer boys. I really do. It is: Few understand the benefits of auto-towing and this is why it is dead in the USA. Everything is boiled down to a club mentality. Nothing left to discuss here. Got it. Thank you!

Perhaps go start a "Winches are great (wait, we're is ours again)" thread? Good luck with this. I'll certainly look forward to commenting, "in kind." A fact base discussion I'll look forward too.

Sean
7T

"why not try auto-towing at first to prove the concept, then go for a winch?"

Because most people DON'T HAVE A VERY LONG SMOOTH SPACE in which to do it. Simple as that.