On Dec 19, 5:50*am, GM wrote:
I realize that not everybody will push his water-
laden $180k glider into the winch queue but perhaps there are many
pilots perfectly happy to do a couple of launches and maybe catch a
thermal for a local flight.

At my club we do both winch launches and aerotows.

Winch launches predominate, with aerotows being
largely "relegated" to (a minority of) trial flights, and
during competitions when we need to get 50 gliders
up within an hour.

The number of "relights" we need is surprisingly small.
By and large, if you are going to be able to soar at all,
then you can do it from a winch launch.