Many people who see a highliner on a highline for the first time, think that the forces in highlining are very high, especially when falling (leash fall). Since the slack (“sag”) in highlining is not as limiting as in longlining over ground, most highlines are much less biased and this leads to lower forces than you would like.
Check out this video and write out of the tests we did:
Highlining Forces: Write-out
We wanted to measure the forces that occur in highlines. For this we rigged 3 different highlines and put an rockExotica Enforcer on one end. Two on pinkTube (18% stretch @ 10kN) and one on halfMarathon (4% stretch @ 10kN).
| Parameters | 63m pinkTube | 39m pinkTube | 41m halfMarathon | |||
| Weight of slackliner | 57kg | 57kg | 57kg | |||
| Standing tension | 15kN | 1.4kN | 1.7kN | |||
| Tension with the slackliner | 2,4kN | 2.1kN | 3.1kN | |||
| Max. force bouncing | 1.6kN – 3.6kN | 1.3kN – 3.3kN | 1.6kN – 4.4kN | |||
| Hardest Leashfall | 4.3kN | 4.0kN | 5.3kN | |||
| Bouncing Speed | 0.35Hz | 0.46Hz | 0.56Hz |
Some conclusion were made:
- Leashfall on the lowest point of the line creates less force on the line then intense bouncing.
- Walking towards the anchor with the force measurement device meant an decrease in the force.
- Polyester lines on short lengths puts more force on the anchors and the body of the slackliner during leashfalls.
- A heaver slackliners puts more stress on the anchors during a leashfall.
- Strechier webbings take longer to absorb the forces of a leashfall or bounce.
- The shorter the line, the quicker the bounce. The tension also seems to influence the speed of the bounce.
Written By:
SLACKTIVITY Slacklines co-founder, managing partner and team athlete, Samuel Volery olds multiple highline world records (1900m – September 2019) and has a spectacular and versatile style when performing highline-shows.