TOWING; How I n winter 2019 I finally decided to take the plunge and ordered a paragliding winch out of Europe for the main purpose of enabling SIV/ progression training to be viable options again in NZ.
There had been less and less SIV courses being run in NZ mainly due to site access and the availability of sites. After having several meetings with DOC to gain access to Mt Dick in Kingston which were going nowhere, the helicopters putting roadblocks up when it came to accessing Mt Coromandel (Wanaka), and reports that Ohau could be a difficult place to try and fly from with any consistency. At the same time, there was an increase in major accidents locally and nationally. Accidents happen due to many factors but improving our pilotage through courses and practicing manoeuvres high over water must prevent some. Towing seemed to be the next option. Getting the winch was just the start. We had to get it mounted to a vehicle, find some places to tow on land and water, get everyone trained to use it, find a boat to use then a boat to buy. Oh, and work out the compliance. It was clear that this game was not going to be cheap! But
Left; Anthony Saupin high over Lake Dunstan Below; Pete Helliwell on tandem
10 A i r b o r n
By Blake Round
without taking the eyes off the goal to enable training with the safety of having height over water, I was left with not an ‘if’ but a ‘how’. To date we have completed over 1300 tows with nearly all our boat tows leaving the pilot at 3000ft over the lake!! This summer we got through our first SIV/progression courses and provided all the towing for Acrofest 2021 in conjunction with the Southern Club. Acrofest was a competition which had been mothballed for several years due to site access and airspace changes in Queenstown. In previous years it had been built up to be quite the event drawing huge crowds in Queenstown and Kingston with epic displays by top level paraglider pilots.
Acrofest 2021 was an amazing event held over Lake Dunstan in Cromwell. We had the perfect weekend with light winds and clear skies. 18 pilots in total, 15 male and 3 female, competed over 3 days with Ben French claiming 1st place, Leo Chelle 2nd, Georges Millet 3rd and Andres Contreras 4th. All 18 pilots flew 3 scoring flights with the pilots scoring highest going through to the finals and competing for the Acrofest Trophy. Scoring was based on the execution of manoeuvres, choreography and landing accuracy. Points were deducted for poor manoeuvre placement and low manoeuvres. The highlight for me was three of the finalists spiral landing with pinpoint accuracy onto the raft we had anchored in the lake one after the other!!! The competition was open to all interested with novice and fun categories including prizes for pilots across all categories. A big thanks to all of those who made the event happen: organisers, pilots, judges,
