On Monday, March 30, 2020 at 5:05:17 PM UTC-6, wrote:

Good. If snowflakes stay away so much the better for soaring.

A story about the bad old days: when I started gliding in the 60s, in the UK, I had to arrive early to get my name on the list for a winch launch. Little hope of a second winch launch, and I could not afford aerotows. It was explained to me that 'this was the way gliding was, and if I really wanted to fly, I'd persevere'.

And you learned much by remaining there all day, listening in on the instructor/student interactions, watching (and rating) student patterns and landings, and running wings and marshaling launches and perhaps a warm evening in the club house or pub afterwards. Most winch clubs I was familiar with gave a student three launches before switching. That is, unless they soared away for about 30 minutes from the first launch or 20 minutes from the second. That way little time was wasted getting in and out of the glider between launches. Of course, not everywhere had the space to land back and take another launch.

Do any clubs still do first come, first served rotations?