RE: Highstart - gaining additional heigth
Unless you have 1) a field with no obstructions for 500 or 600 ft. in every direction and 2) a lot of extra time to retrieve your line, I would recommend sticking with what you have. I used to use a 100/300 setup and switched to a 50/150 setup simply because the extra launch altitude you get with all that extra rubber and line are typically not worth the effort it takes to set it up and retrieve it. I'll freely admit that thermals are typically more well-developed at 400 ft. than they are at 200 ft., but I have grown to love the challenge of finding and coring the ones at lower altitude (Discus Launch flyers, feel free to chime in here). Last time out, I ran across a weak bubble at about 75-80 ft. and worked it for 2 or 3 minutes - plane (all 5 lbs. worth) didn't go up but it wasn't coming down either. Anyone can speck out by launching into a hat sucker at 400 ft.