This thread was started by someone asking fairly basic
questions about ground launching, and from the responses
doesn't seem to have much (any?) experience of it.

It's been said several times before, but ground launching
is a potentially dangerous business, and before trying
it one should go to an operation which is experienced
in it. You would learn about how the equipment is put
together, how the car or winch is operated and how
the glider should be flown. Also how to cope with potential
problems when things go wrong - low level cable breaks,
wing dropping, use of weak links, just for example.
Life is too short to learn all these things by making
your own mistakes - and it could become even shorter.

In any case, I haven't looked at the rules for my US
glider pilot's licence for a while, but I have a feeling
that it only allows me to use the launch methods which
I am qualified for (which does include winch and autotow.)
If you haven't got a ground launch qualification don't
you need at least an instructor's sign-off, which would
need at least some training in how to do it properly?

Neil