Ah, the standard Overhead Join! I was never happy with it. Especially at Booker, High Wycombe, with helicopters hither and yon, with noise abatement special measures, etc etc. And those of us learning to fly gliders....in those early days we were taught to fly the Standard Circuit pattern as displayed in the nicely coloured official drawing. When I became an instructor, in the K13, the downwind leg had a definite frisson, as the possibility of getting too low in the glider to make it back to Booker became increasingly likely!
And then the gliding authorities made a sensible amendment to our approved procedure. Getting low downwind? Cut the corner! This simple move kept the landing area in clear view and SAFER! Of course power traffic would prefer to enjoy the guidance of ATC, but on difficult gliding days when the thermals all quit at once, a lot of gliders may need to land ASAP.