As Nick Lappos once said the disc does not care where the wind is coming from. Once above translational lift the wind will only affect your ground speed. If anything if you are trying to do a recce at say 40 kts groundspeed in a 30 kt wind then when you turn downwind you will have to reduce power to an airspeed of 10 kts, now this may result in a loss of translational lift which would mean you having to use more power than at 40 kts ( this is dependent on lots of factors) You may also have to use some power due to poor handling at slow speed downwind ( wind trying to weathercock you round)
Are you sure you understood what was being told ?