On Saturday, September 1, 2018 at 3:44:39 AM UTC-7, Martin Gregorie wrote:
On Fri, 31 Aug 2018 18:15:06 -0700, Dave Nadler wrote:

On Friday, August 31, 2018 at 7:11:23 PM UTC-4, Martin Gregorie wrote:
...or join the winch queue....
Admittedly that needs a dedicated team (winch driver, cable truck
driver,
launch marshal and one or two guys on golf buggies...

And a site where this is practical, plus enough pilots to support the
operation... All not available in many locales.

Sure, but from what I see on r.a.s, winching seems to be making some
headway in America.

The minimum launch requirement is three people: winch driver, launch
marshal/wing runner and the glider pilot who, if needed, can tow out the
cable he launches from. IOW, not much different from aero towing except
that nobody in their right mind or half out of it would ever start a
winch launch with a wingtip on the ground.

I expressed that opinion at one club recently and was told, no we do it regularly.

It might not be too dangerous if the winch technique was adjusted to give an initial acceleration to 20 or 30 knots for a couple of seconds before giving it full noise, possibly in response to an "all out" radio call.

But I got the impression they didn't bother with anything like that.