"brtlmj" wrote in message
...
Most winches have more than one drum. In Europe, one winch can have up
to 8 separate drums and lines. This enables a launch every 3 minutes
or less.http://www.hydrostart.nl/EN/

Oh, sure. But what if a club wanted to have one winch for high
launches, located at the far end of a runway, and another one for
circuit practice, located in the middle of the runway?

Bartek

I think one winch would be enough. You don't need to do high launches and
low launches at the same time. It's just ascheduling. Plan some high
launches early and some landing practice late. Give the guys who want to
soar the mid-day slot. A winch can be moved around easily.

That said, many European and British clubs do use several winches at the
same time. Again, it's just a scheduling and organizational problem.

One thing a lot of US pilots seem to miss is that a winch can, and probably
will, operate from sun up to sun down. There's no noise problem. Cost is
not an issue. If you find lift, great. If not, the cost of a winch launch
is so low and it's so much fun, just glide down for a landing and do it
again.

Spending a day trying to get that glass racer down in the smallest patch
possible is huge fun. Since you have to push it back to the start line, you
have a big incentive to land short. Knowing you can land very short if need
be is a big relief on a XC. 20 or so consecutive landings will do that.

Another fun thing is to watch is the private owners who arrive at 11:00
expecting lift to start at 12:30 when the find out a solo student has been
soaring for two hours off a winch launch.

Bill Daniels