Fabiano Nahoum <<marusco>>
writes:

This picture was sent to me by former Rio de Janeiro hang glider pilot Philipp Penn (aka Filipen), who was active in the 80´s and early 90´s.

Filipen told me that Patrick Bredel, a pilot who was a Wills Wing rep at the
time, imported a towing setup to Brazil, attached it to a battered Chevy S-10
and invited some friends to try it out in Grumari beach, Rio de Janeiro, circa
1989.

In this picture Paulo Coelho, famed Brazilian pilot in the 80's who won the pre-worlds in 1990, gets airborne, while Bredel can be seen acting as spotter on
the back of the truck. Bredel's girlfriend, lacking any previous experience, was
the designated driver. A Hall style wind meter is attached to the front glider
stand. I don't know what model of WW glider this is. I found it really odd that
the towing reel was attached to the front of the truck. The truck release was
operated by Bredel, the pilot would only have command over the towing cable
release.

Filipen describes the whole experience as terrifying! According to him, the
pressure exerted by the towing bridle on both sides of his harness and body was
very uncomfortable. He tried it a couple times then called it quits.

The whole thing never went anywhere. As a matter of fact, towing hang-gliders,
be it aero or car tow, never caught on in Brazil, maybe for the abundance of
mountain launches, maybe for the complications of the procedure, we still rely
100% on mountain launches.

Still a relatively remote beach in Rio, such an act would be unthinkable in
Grumari these days, because of all the traffic in the road and obstructions all
around.