Slacklining
Slacken ( slackline, Slacklining ) is a popular sport similar to tightrope walking, when balancing on a tube tape or webbing that is stretched between two points. This band is ( German about: Cable slack, loose leash) Slackline called.
The requirements of slackens the athletes are a combination of balance, concentration and coordination. This makes it very suitable as additional training for sports such as climbing, skiing, martial arts, horse riding, vaulting, longboarding, snowboarding and other sports that require a good sense of balance.
- 4.1 Band material
- 4.2 Foundation
- 4.3 Breaking load
Characteristics
In contrast to balancing on the rope or dance the tightrope, where the rope is stretched so tight that it barely moves, a slackline under the burden of Slackliners expands (English slack: loose, slack, relaxed). It behaves thus very dynamic and requires a constant active balancing their own movement. The balance point of the Slackliners is thus very low. Therefore, the visual impression is less like the upright high wire runner or artists on the dance rather than the rope slack wire artist whose rope is also constantly moving under him, and compensates for the balance with the legs.
Although the slackers are not appreciated as artists, but a certain relationship can not be denied; only the scene context creates a serious difference: Slacken comes from climbing and is also mostly stayed there. While balancing usually used in the artistry on the tightrope as a basis or additional component for an artistic number that is to be presented to an audience, the slackers their sport rather than an end in itself and for itself, attempting to art pieces primarily has the purpose to figure out what everything is possible in this trend sport; slack rope typical exercises such as hand and head stand, unicycling and juggling are indeed no proscribed disciplines at Slacklining, yet the slackliners understand as an independent group.
Slacklining was so basically independently reinvented and is the basic idea actually nothing new.
History
While the tightrope in the circus has quite a long tradition, slacklining is a relatively young sport.
It developed in the early 1980s from a second job at the scene of free climbers in Yosemite National Park. This since the 60's sold already the time to rest and rainy days trying to balance on cordons and thawing of parking. Adam Grosowsky and Jeff Ellington were the first who came up with the idea to use their climbing equipment for it, and so slacklining introduced into the camp of climbers in the Valley, from where it is about from the turn of the millennium in other climbing areas and finally outside of climbing spread.
In Europe, the photographer and extreme climber Heinz Zak is considered a pioneer.
Regardless of the 70s and 80s also have climbers in Europe poised on tensioned cables. In addition, the ski racer Ingemar Stenmark from Sweden and Bode Miller from the United States used a tight rope or tape to balance it for balance training. However, these developments were to a very narrow circle of persons limited and could prevail neither as a form of training not distribute as your own sport.
Species
Currently, nine species of Slacklines can be distinguished:
Lowlines / Trick Lines
The most common type of slackens is the trick - or Lowlining, because you have to do this could quickly build and secure the line itself. Here, you try on a relatively low, moderately strained Line ( therefore about knee to waist height above the ground, Lowline ) to do tricks. It is chosen as the foundation at the best soft ground such as grass and sand or sets mats under, to prevent injury, when you lose your balance.
Some of the most popular tricks include: standing, walking, walking backwards, turning, sitting down, lying down, " surfing ", knees ...
Long Lines
, Which tries to cope with the longest possible line from fixed point to fixed point. The difficulties lie here in several areas:
Rodeo or freestyle Lines
Such lines are not tightened, but are more or less " flabby " suspended. Due to the slack committing such lines is much more difficult, also can pass heavier falls. The tricks on these lines are limited normally to walking, turning, cross standing and surfing, the latter is more like a slow, controlled swing. Rodeo Lines are a good workout for Long Lines, because the line must be kept very quiet under the focus of the Slackliners in both cases. Here is also a great similarity to the slack rope.
Highlines
High Lines are attached in a few meters to several hundred meters in height, so that a simple and risk-free jumping is no longer possible. This makes not only the ability to maintain balance, a role, but especially at the very high Lines is the psychological component to run over a precipice. Rarely Highlines also be committed without security loop.
In the construction of Highlines knowledge of the forces and the sizing of the fasteners is essential. When material failure is not only injury, but also a risk of falling. Therefore, the fixings for Highlines be redundant and the person on the line is secured by a harness and a belay located thereon at a climbing rope, which in turn is secured regardless of the attachment of the actual line and glued under the Line.
Water Lines ( Lines over water)
A variant of the game is to commit a strained water line. The lack of solid ground as a way to dismount as well as an optical fixed point the commission of such a line is usually much more difficult than initially on solid ground. However, after a phase of the exercise, you can use water lines well to practice special jump tricks such as somersaults, without risk of injury during landing, but also falls into the water are not always painless.
In the choice of the place should also be paid to an appropriate body of water of round gravel, sand or mud to stable fixed points in order to minimize the risk of injury from falls. For normal walking, a water depth of about 1.40 m is sufficient for jumps it should be much more, so that the slackliners not stumble upon landing at base. In addition, make sure that the ground breaks off abruptly as possible near the shore, so that the slackers can not hurt by the lack of water depth with falls near the shore. If this is not given, other slackers can serve as bouldering as spotters or the walkers through with the aid of a rod, rope, or the like Asts allow that he can safely balance from the danger zone.
Making a difference in the commission, there are between stationary and flowing water, because the water movement also distracts and disturbs the equilibrium sense.
Jumplines
Since 2007, a new trend, the " jumping " spread on the slackline. There are special Jumplines available on the market. In this application, the line is stretched as tight as possible, while distances of 15 m are rarely exceeded. The slackliners perform this 180 ° - and 360 ° rotations ( around the vertical axis ), backflip and Vorwärtssalti with landing on the slackline, Salti of the line on the floor over his shoulder. Similarly, several lines next to each other excited and it will jump from line to line. The line is partially stretched to chest height.
Night and Dark Lines
The slackline is spanned in a dark room or just at night in a dark place as possible. The challenge here is that you have to rely solely on the organ of balance, hearing and feeling the movement throughout the body. You can see the Nightline (of course backed up) as Highline or Waterline tension. The risk of injury from falling to the ground is minimized.
Slackline and skateboarding
This slackline movement has formed from the skateboarder scene. Skateboarders took advantage of the Slacklines as a substitute for disassembled road railings and benches. The Skater " grind " over the tense Slacklines and then switch back over to other animation elements.
Slack- Board
The latest style of slacklining is practiced mainly in the winter months or in case of bad weather. It is an indoor slackline, which is mounted on a structure. A Slack- Board therefore makes slacklining without the use of trees or attachment points and can be placed in rooms.
Material and construction
Band material
To Slacken not necessarily one needs a lot of material. The most important tool is the slackline itself today mostly a ribbon 25 mm wide is used. Sometimes even 30 mm, 35 mm (beginner or therapy) or 50 mm (Trick Lines ) offered broad bands. The wider bands have a higher breaking load and much less strain. This balancing is crucial easier because the belt can be tightened so hard that it almost does not sag. In addition, can be stabilized more easily from the ankle to broad bands. Also makes walking easier in the beginning.
Care must be primarily due to the elongation of the strip. For Lines up to 30 m in length, the elastic bands are preferred. The movements are softer, and the feeling of " slackness " is a better. From 30 m of a ribbon is often used with less strain, since the line is otherwise to tension only with immense power and material costs.
Due to the different material properties, it is an additional challenge to learn the same tricks on tapes of different width and elasticity.
Attachment
The line is attached to two fixed points (eg trees, railings, rocks, bolts ). If trees are used as fixed points, should be used to protect the bark of old carpets, car mats or special friction saver, by placing it between the bark and placed around the tree part of the attachment. There are multiple options for mounting: In the former fix stitched belt loops or other high-strength fabric slings to be attached to the fixed points. The line is ( shackles are preferably used since they have a higher breaking load ) at one end with a screw- fixed. At the other end is used to tension the line either a pulley, as we know from mountains techniques in mountaineering, a Spanngurtratsche or a lever hoist. This variant is usually used by climbers or erfahrereren outdoor athletes because it is slightly more complicated. Meanwhile there is also a newer and simpler version, which purpose is the only set of 2 parts. The one part is the band that has a loop at the end. This part will be placed around the tree and the rope threaded through the loop. The other part consists of a shorter cable, which has a ratchet on one side of a loop and on the other side. This part is fixed as well as the line on the tree. The long rope now threading and tensioned with the ratchet. With this variant, the slackline can be built quickly and without any prior knowledge and thus makes the sport slacklining accessible to everyone.
Breaking load
Important in this connection is in particular the breaking load of all materials used. Only steel karabiners and shackles have sufficient strength to withstand all loads that occur over time. When using aluminum carabiners such as in the sports climbing can cause vibration fractures. Moreover, it can easily happen that the carbine be partially loaded transversely, so that the strength is greatly reduced.
It is recommended that " ordinary climbing material only because of insufficient safety margins for Long Lines, High Lines and Jumplines " not to use: . 60
A rule of thumb to estimate the forces at the fixed points is:
Where:
- F = force at the fixed points in kN
- L = length of the slackline in m
- D = sag of the slackline in m
- G = weight of Begehers in kg
This results in a slackline of 10 m and a sag of 0.5 m, caused by an 80 kg person, a load of 4 kN.
Therefore, for " classic Slacklines ( rather soft cocked) or even Rodeo Lines ( ...) are elements of climbing equipment used wisely ," if you know their weaknesses. 60 However, one should then not use the materials for climbing.
Non-certified carabiners as they are available in supermarkets and hardware stores are not usually designed for such loads and represent a significant security risk because the slackline is under enormous stress. Long Lines must be preloaded with more than 15 kN part already, so you can commit to it. The equivalent of a static load of about 15 kN is that the metal parts are at a fraction to real projectiles. Therefore, the metal parts and the straps are attached directly to it more and more dimensions than the slackline itself, so that in case of any defect only textile material is thrown around.
Slack Festivals
As Slack festivals Events refer to operations which meet slackliners to jointly tension lines and to commit to exchange tips and tricks for building, the art and the movement or to introduce new techniques. Most Slack festivals are organized by local Slackline groups or individuals, often with a matching framework program such as film screenings, live music, food. In addition, they usually also serve to introduce the relatively unknown sport and to increase its visibility.
Competitive sport
Since 2010, the World Federation Slackline Tricklining tries to establish itself as a competitive sport. Finally, the WSFed was founded on May 20, 2011 by slackliners. The WSFed is tested Judges who serve the contest. Here, jumps and other tricks on five criteria - difficulty, technical execution quality, variety of tricks, height of jumps and general performance - evaluated. Competitions will take place at different levels.
The slackline as a training device
With the slackline can the sensorimotor system not only train in an upright position. There are various items that can be served on the slackline, which require the ability to maintain balance the extreme. Already, therefore, many top athletes train specifically from the snow sports area on the slackline. That just draw skiers on the slackline, can be explained by the very similar balancing exercise between the sport and the slackline.
A major advantage of Slackline over other exercise machines is that the sensorimotor always can be trained on personal performance limit, because you can very easily adjust the length and sag a slackline and so always used for other conditions. In addition, considered a great advantage that the slackline most exercisers is more fun than conventional balance training and therefore sustainable can be integrated into training after injury or in rehabilitation.