Never had a cpl, sorry, not even a ppl, but I used to have a glider pilot's license.
We were never taught to fly circles around a fixed point in strong wind, except we tried it, to show us that that wasn't the way to do it.
We were taught to fly constant bank and speed, and didn't feel the "downwind turn syndrome" no matter the speed or bank angle, which was just what the practice was all about, even though the wind was enough to "park" the K13, about 63 km/h. yes, we flew metric, it is close to 35 kts.
We didn't use winch start but a trusty Super Cub for launching.