Eric Greenwell schrieb:

...
or the last
thermal was something like 4m/s

Yes, we have these also.

AND the runway is extremely short.

Our Regional contests are held at Ephrata (Washington State). Is 3000'
extremely short? It is very wide, and easy to land normally on, but not
when arriving at Vne.


No, here in central Europe 3000' considered long. Few airfields are
that long. Our Airfield actually does have a bit over 3000' of grass
rwy but is no more than 250' wide at the widest point, only about 190'
at the narrowest. Swiss Nationals 1996: I think it was 28 gliders
landing within just over three minutes. No problem, because evrybody
behaved and rolled out to the side. But I can see the problem with
paved runways from which you don't want to roll off without knowing
exactly you won't damage the glider.