Hello:
You guys might want to have a look at a new Yahoo Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/pulleylaunch/ there is a wealth of info
on ground launching.
Have Fun
Rusty

Wallace Berry wrote:
In article ,
Vic7 wrote:

Wallace Berry Wrote:
Hi,

Any chance you bought the winch from the Memphis club?

The Memphis club installed a "Plasma" line (like Spectra) on one drum.
Surprisingly, it didn't really increase launch height, but it did have
one very major advantage over cable.

Wallace

Hiya Wallace,

A few of us here at Memphis Soaring really enjoyed your winch.
Unfortunately, it was only a few of us so the club decided to part with
it. I hope the Philly club will get good use out of it.

Another advantage of the synthetic line is that we never once had a
rope break during a launch (although we broke a ton of weak links in
the early days.) The only time I'm aware of breaking the line was when
it piled straight down on top of the winch and got wrapped around the
works before we could stop the drum spining.

Hope to see you at a GTA event this spring,

To answer one of the original questions: the line was never a factor
in any of my low releases. It falls cleanly away while you are still
pushing the nose over. I've had to get off for various reasons several
times below four or five hundred feet and never had a problem getting
down safely. If you are too high to land straight ahead, you should
have enough altitude to turn back, of course I know nothing about your
home field, so YMMV.

Steve

I was sorry to see the winch go. Sorry you guys had to sell it as well.
You have a great field for winching. I hope the new owners will get good
use of it.

Glen Klingshirn and I really enjoyed visiting your field and doing the
winch training. Until recently I was still wearing the Memphis Soaring
Society hat that you guys gave me. Unfortunately, a branch knocked it
off my head while I was bush hogging the other day and the brush cutter
got it. I still have a T-shirt though!

I think your experience with the Plasma rope is valuable for all of us,
both for winching and auto launching. You should write up a short
article on it and post it here.

Hope you guys are off to a great soaring season. We're in a drought here
in Alabama, so we are looking forward to some good soaring after last
year's soggy spring and summer.