One reason winch or auto tows are not more popular is that you are released
over the airpark. In an aero tow you can be towed to the lift before
releasing. Yes, I know usually on soft days there is a thermal just as one
turns downwind to base, but that is not the best place to thermal.

Hmmm...

I suspect this "truth" is more a statement of "the way aerotows normally are"
than "the realities of usable lift distribution." Reality as a self-fulfilling
prophecy, maybe?

In any event, BTDT insofar as brain-picking for "local knowledge" and
"locations of house thermals," but my experience throughout launch sites
(mostly aerotow) in the intermountain west (mostly Colorado and New Mexico)
has me concluding I can't think of one locale where it's *necessary* to "tow
over there" in order to find usable lift. Sure, some plains sites along the
east slope of the Colorado Rockies tend to start later than a tow into nearby
uplands, but my observation has been very few of the locals routinely take
advantage of that fact when time of launch is considered as a function of
release point. IOW, many tows "go to the hills" just because they can, and not
because it's necessary. Every single one of my launch sites has had convective
lift with easy reach of "above pattern height" releases, for ships of the
ubiquitous 2-33-35:1 performance range.

As for auto towing (exposed to that before winching, I was), popularity (or
lack thereof) has to do - so I reckon - with lack of familiarity; neither auto
towing or winching have been "popular" ("common" is probably a better
descriptor) in the U.S. because whatever critical mass may once have existed
disappeared when "cheap towplanes" became the norm after WW-II. Where they
exist(ed), my experience has been both were "hugely popular."

Bob W.