Bill Daniels wrote:

I am fighting a lonely battle to convince my fellow USA pilots that winch
launch is a perfectly normal way to launch gliders and not some invention of
the devil.

Just three things to consider:

A which launch brings you to a certain altitude above the site. At some
places, this gives you enough options to find a thermal, at other sites,
it does not.

A winch operation doesn't mix well with other traffic. It's doable, if
everybody is willing.

And, most important: If done correctly, a winch launch is safe. But
there is an extremely small margin for errors. I love winch launches,
but they are dead serious, literally.

Stefan