Am I being paranoid about safety? Are weak links not that important for
safe winch launching?

I took the matter up with the safety officer who said I need to take it
up with the CFI but I'd like to get some advice and input before I engage
with the CFI over the matter.
I'm new to soaring so I don't know it all.

Thanks

Not paranoid, and not only are the weak links CRITICAL for safe winch
launching, so is the rest of the preamble (called a 'strop', or
'trace'), which usually consists of the launch cable terminating with
a stiffened 3-10m section (air compressor hose slipped over rope/cable
is very commonly employed here) after the parachute, with the weaklink
on the winch side of the strop so the pilot to be able to see it (part
of pre-takeoff checklist for winchlaunch= weaklink type/condition...)
from the cockpit. Reason for the stiffened section is to keep it from
being able to snarl up on the landing gear or other non-releasable
bits of glider should the glider get jerked forward slightly before
actually launching.

http://www.tost.de/evers/eprod53/eprod53.htm -weaklinks
http://www.tost.de/evers/eprod54/eprod54.htm -preamble/chutes

There is no need to reinvent the wheel here, so hopefully your club
shapes up on this non-negotiable item so the safety nazis won't need
to descend upon your operation for an intervention since this can
screw us all... seriously.

-Paul (Hanson)

ps. your never 'know it all', but if you stay a perpetual student
you'll prolly get closer than anyone that thinks they do...

pps. If the 'safety officer' deferred this to the CFI, then what's the
point of a safety officer?
makes me think: "safety officer... ur doing it wrong"
http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/26271
http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/6727
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http://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1520
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