On 1 Nov., 18:39, "Neil" wrote:
Ok, I could probably arrange with the winch driver to experiment, but is
there any definitive guidance on getting the greatest height off a winch
launch? (eg. Skylaunch).

i.e. if I'm "driven" at the higher end of the speed range acceptable to my
gliders placarding, will I get higher or lower than a lower speed launch?
I used to consider faster meant higher, but last weekend a most experienced
colleague said you'd end less high, as you spend less time gaining height.
I'm sure there's a set of graphs that would show a polar curve type
trade-off, but is there a simple way of looking at this?

Neil

I have done about 350 winch launches this year and have experienced
that higher launch speeds tend to get more height. In particular I was
surprised by a few launches which were far to fast (beyond the allowed
launch speed) which resulted in a noticeable increase in launch
altitude. I always believed in the "you'd end less high, as you spend
less time gaining height" approach but I might have to rethink this.
I guess it also depends on the glider as a heavy glass ship kann
effectively convert excess speed into height after releasing.

I also believe that you can often trade off a few feet of height gain
for a safer launch;-)