Bill, I took the view that 200 ft of height was insufficient to learn how to land the glider safely if I couldn't use the airbrakes. I had plenty of practice landing ahead from simulated (and a few real) failures, but none doing so whilst holding the canopy closed and possibly unable to use the airbrakes. Allowing the canopy to swing open so I could use the airbrakes would risk full detachment and tailplane damage. And I'd need to let go of the canopy to pull the release.

All this is in the first two seconds or so after rotation, and a few seconds later the land ahead option is no longer available. So I decided that I needed height to sort out these issues, rather than trusting to luck if I released.

"Release if you have a problem and can land ahead" is a useful mantra, but the operative word is "if". I wasn't sure enough, and neither was the original poster.

I would have been sure if I had practised landing with a partially opened canopy, but bizarrely that's not on the training syllabus. Now, of course, I know how to do it.