Interesting discussion, but I think that most of the commenters have
missed the point.

The issue isn't the failure of the towpilot or the glider pilot to do
the right thing. And it certainly isn't about radios.

The issue is why, after all these years, have we failed to teach
something that seems so basic? And, make no mistake, we have
certainly failed. The towplane rudder waggle has been directly
responsible for two fatalities!

I can think of only two explanations:

1. We have suddenly lost the ability to teach tow signals, or

2. Creating a second "urgent" message from the towpilot was a bad
idea. Humans don't deal well with urgent messages.

The latter seems more plausible.

It's time to drop the rudder waggle from the list of standard
signals. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but experience has
proven otherwise. We should go back to the old way of dealing with
the situation: drag the glider up to circuit height and release it
overhead. If that isn't possible, just release the glider. Granted,
it's not a very satisfactory plan, but it sure beats suffering these
tragic, stupid, avoidable fatal accidents.

-Pat