On Sunday, May 26, 2019 at 10:11:05 PM UTC-4, Mike Schumann wrote:

Anyone who thinks that they can get properly trained in winch launching with 8 flights...

With some insane exceptions, someone with a winch endorsement who goes to another winching site will need to demonstrate their proficiency in dual instructional flights before the new site will launch them solo.

With hundreds of aerotows in my logbook, it took me ~28 winch launches to comfortably solo at https://soar.co.nz/ We were not in any rush because there was excess glider and instructor availability, and I probably could have soloed earlier. The following summer I took another 12 launches with Karl Striedieck at Eagle Field in PA. My proficiency faded fast. I'm old though, YMMV.

Winch launching is hella good fun, and I'm pretty sure my winch training makes it much more likely that on my next premature termination of aerotow, I will 'drop the nose and recover airspeed before turning' and that I will sort out a good way to land the glider. The simulated rope breaks of winch launching are of great value to me. Prior to winch launching, I had never done enough practice rope breaks on aerotow to really develop the 'muscle memory' for dropping the nose to recover airspeed after the rope breaks and you do that on every winch launch. I knew the theory about PT3, but I did not have the reflexes.

I highly recommend winch launch training even if winching is not available at your home club. I'm looking forward to refreshing my winching currency next February.