That's pretty interesting. Seems incredibly minute, but if it [using
spoilers early in the takeoff roll] gets results there's not much to argue
with.

The effect may indeed be minute, and it almost certainly will vary from ship
to ship for a host of subtle, perhaps forever-mysterious, reasons but, "If it
happens, it must be possible!" That noted, "safe soaring" is all about risk
management, and risk management is all about maximizing one's margins in any
given situation. By single-main-wheel definition, takeoff in a sailplane is a
low-margin situation (hence the near-universal need for a wing runner), and
anything Joe Pilot reasonably can do to minimize his time at risk is arguably
worthwhile doing.

My only point against teaching it is the complexity it adds to a launch,
when there's already a lot going on and plenty to be aware of. I can see
it needs to be muscle memory.

Ah, yes, a sixty four dollar question: "Where and by whom shall the technique
be taught and practiced?" Beaucoup soaring skills are self-learned/self-taught
(one of the attractive charms of the activity in my view). Arguably a quick
way to kill the sport dead would be to mandate from the top down a list of
things that *must* be taught over and above those things presently mandated,
on the grounds of soaring presently having insufficient safety. That's not
meant to suggest I completely agree with the level of federal mandation
presently existing (I am not an an instructor nor have I ever played one on
TV), just that "the safety card" over-enthusiastically applied can squash just
about any human activity unto death. (How ironic.) A life reality is there's
no practical way to avoid having to "self-certify" by innumerable daily
decisions/judgements/practices, if we're to remain alive so we can continue to
enjoy what life has to offer. Soaring isn't immune from the
"self-certification need."

Sensible ways for Joe Soaring Pilot to "post-licensing self-certify" would
seem to be much more widely known in general than are (f'r'example) certain
areas of need (e.g. how to enhance aileron power at low speeds). But that'd be
another thread...!

Thanks for the explanation.
You're welcome. This aspect of soaring eventually became a subtlety left for
Joe Soaring Pilot to discover, contemplatitively explore, and learn how to (if
deemed desirable) mitigate "on his own"...and evidently, still is. An easy way
to "avoid the need" for this particular bit of self-teaching is to avoid
flying those higher-aspect ratio glass gliders none of us would ever willingly
give up! Interested readers will find references to the technique beginning to
appear in "Soaring" mag way back in the 1980s.

Bob W.

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