A Rough Day Towing

Seems I'm towing more than soaring these days...

A couple of days ago, while rolling out on final at about 300' AGL, a strong
gust under the high wing upset the Pawnee. Fortunately (for me), I carry a
lot of energy around the final turn, and was able to recover and land
normally. I had to take a short break to allow my heart to slow down.

Later that day, an experienced pilot was flying his first flight in an
HP-14. At 2,400' AGL we were indicating 1,100 fpm climb and said, "This is
a nice thermal" on the radio. Seconds later the tow plane was jerked to the
left and I looked over my right shoulder to see the glider at my 4 o'clock
with a large loop of slack in the rope. I yelled, "Get off, get off, get
off!!!" and, to my surprise, the response was the glider banking sharply
into me and diving past my tail. Before I could grab the tow release, there
was another sharp jerk and the rope broke. The glider pilot then enjoyed
about 4 hours in the -14.

Next morning, when I arrived to tow (again...), I was told to go have a look
at the HP-14. There was a deep gash in the leading edge of the left wing
(top and bottom), right at the root, where the rope had sawed through the
skin before being cut by he sharp edge of the aluminum. There was also
damage along the leading edge and to the side of the fuselage.

I've got to become less tolerant of gliders getting out of position...

I'll be towing again this morning but, hopefully, will get my LAK out this
afternoon.