Winch Hardware - To swivel or not swivel

John G. Harte wrote:

Our club is fortunate enough to have a winch, and a large number of ground
launch endorsed pilots.

We use a steel cable and encounter some kinking and twisting at the glider
end of the setup. Last weekend we installed a swivel in line before the
cg hook and were initially pleased with the first several launches;
however, after several more, we encountered even more twisting and
kinking, but, alas, the kinking and twisting occurred in that portion of
the cable that was descending after release.

Has anyone had experience with swivel installations?

Input would be greatly appreciated.

jgh
Tost recommends that the swivel only be used when pulling out the wire rope,
not under launch tension.

I've found that putting a 'set' into the wire rope when new and every few
hundred launches also helps. We attach the wire rope to a vehicle and give
it a good hard static load.

Frank