Reverting to my long distant gliding training I NEVER lose sight of the field I have chosen. Having turned downwind, as I too was trained to do, I choose a field and then, if necessary, do S turns up and down the downwind leg until going downwind at 1000' and level with the touchdown point. (Low point?).
Orbiting could lead to losing sight of the field. Straight in approaches sound extremely dangerous to me unless you know the field and you KNOW that you are have height in hand. You ever see a glider pilot doing either of these things?