Yes, of course, a longer tongue is good for launching. I've launched with the "short" tongue at dirt ramps in Spanish, Ontario, sandy ramps in Long Beach and steep ramps at Bellingham, as well as Lake Powell. Lake Powell was the only ramp that I wished for a longer tongue, about 5' longer. At the rest, I was able to keep the rear truck tires out of the water and still launch/retrieve. This may be an advantage of a roller trailer.
The "long" 9' tongue, however, gave me interesting moments going through the parking lot at Walmart. I must of cut over at least 10 concrete barriers getting out of there.
When launching, the additional tongue length is linear: 1 ft of additional tongue=1' additional water clearance. However, in trailering 1" of tongue length=several feet of turning radius. The change from 9'to 8'was magnificent for towing and I've never regretted the loss in launching.
Boris