Re: [RCSE] zip launch HLGs

[Tim Bennett]

I am the CD for hand-launch for the SLNT.  We have a contest every month, even in the winter thanks to our usually good weather.  We haven't used the zip starts that Bruce describes for a couple of years due to the emergence of disk launch and the difficulty of achieving reasonable equivalence between a zip start and disk launch. To match a good disk launch, you almost need an upstart which is so long and time consuming to shag and stretch that you are hard pressed to get more than three launches in a ten minute time slot. Other models getting snagged in the line or flyers getting tangled in it on the ground are also problems we have seen. As a result, the zip starts have fallen into disuse.   ----- Original Message ----- From: Bruce Hobbs To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Wednesday, November 03, 2004 3:22 PM Subject: [RCSE] zip launch HLGs Soaring League of North Texas (SLNT) puts a length of string or monofilament inside the surgical tube that limits how far you can stretch the hi-start thus making the energy and resultant launch height fairly close to what the DLGs boys can get. Yep, the zip start guys are anchored in place and cannot move around the field like the DLG throwers….but….nothings perfect….and it gets a lot of guys out to the field flying their older ships and having fun.   BCNU Bruce Hobbs