In the Eastern Soaring League's Novice Lounge you can find many articles that are helpful to new glider pilots.
http://forums.flyesl.com/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=14
In particular I did a follow-up on the subject of maximizing your height using a hi-start. Where this discussion was learning how to use a HS, the article at this link is about getting it as high as possible.
http://forums.flyesl.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=257
I hope you find it useful.