Jim Vincent wrote:
And the ones I researched that were closest were in Arizona or
Washington, and aren't getting anywhere even remotely close to
50 launches a day.


Well, a friend and I got about 25 launches in four hours. Take off, fly the
pattern, land on the cross wind, rotate the glider 90 degrees, and then off
again.

Of course, then you also have the esteemed contingent at my club who take off,
do a complete pattern landing back into the wind, and then have to push back to
the take off spot again. About half the efficiciency.

Best line ever after dropping off the 'chute and driving back to the winch for
the next go. "We're still figuring out who is going to fly next."

All depends on the efficiency of the operation. Slow cycle time is zero fun.

Jim Vincent
N483SZ
illspam
You don't need any magic number of launches a day to make a winch viable. You
need to have enough to cover the overheads, but that is a very modest number.

Our vintage (30years +) winch is a good example of how a winch can make a
gliding club viable with few members and resources.

Built originally for a small club, we have stayed in business with less than 10
active members. Our average is around 30 launches per day. Worst case 12 minute
cycle time with 2km of cable - shorter retrieve is quicker turn around.

There is no substitute for experience if you want it slick, when we have a bunch
of experienced guys doing the winch driving and retrieving and radio control it
can come down to 8 minutes per launch. This is typical of a weak day when we
have 3 to 5 gliders on the line and folk are managing to stay up long enough to
allow us to launch before they land. Record day this way was 46 launches. Launch
marshal makes sure someone is ready to go when the wire comes back. If you
appear lees than keen to get in the air you might get sent to drive the winch
for a bit. Tends to focus minds.

Works well for a club that does proportionally high amount of training. Early
and late part of the day focus is on teaching flights, the private guys and more
experienced club pilots get to use the better part of the day for longer
flights. Everyone gets to fly, as long as everyone contributes. It is cheap and
sociable. Club membership getting back over 30 again.

We charge ~$4 per launch, and keep the maintenance on the winch at an acceptable
level. Means we have some guys flying at our club who could not afford it
anywhere else. ALso means that in the depths of winter there are queues waiting
for the trainer, with students banging out cheap instruction circuits. SOmetimes
they get lucky and come back an hour later...