Rik Bouwmeester writes:

Several years ago I bought myself a payout winch . Although I
stored it for several years I had every intention of blowing the dust off of it
some day and getting it operational. I have been playing with it off and on for
the last couple of years, ever since Raven Sky Sports shut down. Since Raven
shut down I produced my own web site and got some other things in order as a
back up plan in case hang gliding would cease to exist in Wisconsin. The pay out
winch is now my mobile mountain. Although the local club here in Wisconsin is
still active, I had enough interest from people in the area that I decided to
aggressively get my system operational anyway.


Before I got active with my system I had been approached from time to time by
paraglider pilots about flying in the area. Not paying enough attention to the
paragliding industry, I did not realize that the payout winch was and acceptable
tow vehicle for paragliding.


Klaus Wagner moved into the area recently, and at the end of June I received a
call from him asking me about paragliding in the area. He mentioned payout winch
towing and I said "oh I got one of them" . He was as excited as a kid! Anyway,
Klaus passed on all the information that could to me about towing paragliders so
he could fly and fly he did. I offered my whole day up just to learn about
paraglider towing and am at the point where I feel I can keep them ALIVE :-) and
have fun. I know Brad Kushner used to offer paragliding but, I believe Klaus is
the first ever payout winch tow paraglider pilot in Wisconsin.





If you are a paraglider pilot and are in the area, resident or visitor, you are
welcome to join us. We fly out of two sites. We are a group of guys that fly
hang gliders, paragliders, powered hang glider harnesses, ultralights and
general aviation. www.wisconsinhanggliding.com and now also
www.wisconsinparagliding.com