Nordic Feather Light Design

[Tim McMichael]

Here is good pole design mystery. Back in '85 Nordic made a pole called the "Feather Light," or maybe it was "Feather Flight"; I'm not sure. The last four feet of the pole was made out of pure graphite and did not bend. Wladyslaw Kozakiewicz and Tom Hintnaus both jumped 18'11" on them when neither had cleared much higher than 18' for several seasons previously. They both credited their resurgence entirely to the poles. The problem was that they kept breaking, and eventually Nordic stopped making them. Wally and Hintnaus both disappeared from the international scene. The design was effective enough that two veteran vaulters at the end of their careers thought they were the best ever made, but something was missing in the technology of melding pure graphite to fiberglass.

This is my best memory of the pole and its history. I never got my hands on one, ( though not for lack of trying). Someone out there may be able to shed some more light on the subject. Bruce Caldwell saw the design specs at some point, and when I asked him about it, his only thought was that perhaps Nordic was trying to kill somebody. Whatever was going on, Nordic was definitely thinking outside the box, and as of yet, no one else has attempted to design anything like it. It may be a promising direction to look at.

[vaulter870]

wouldnt something like that create a higher bend? very dangerous sounding though

[achtungpv]

Was that the pole that Hintaus said was like taking off of a platform 3' above the runway? I know he was talking about Nordics but I've only seen the black Nordic Graphites...unless those are the same thing. I saw a few high schoolers in South Texas jump on those back in the late 80s.

[Tim McMichael]

Was that the pole that Hintaus said was like taking off of a platform 3' above the runway? I know he was talking about Nordics but I've only seen the black Nordic Graphites...unless those are the same thing. I saw a few high schoolers in South Texas jump on those back in the late 80s.

Yep, that's the one. I talked to the guy that made them when I was trying to get Nordic to send me some, and he said that Hintnaus and Wally's jumps looked the same, but everything was happening higher up in the air. He basically said that the design of the pole lifted them higher off the ground right at the takeoff, and then everything after that was just their ordinary jump. I saw Wally win the Dallas Morning News meet on those things in '85 and it was pretty impressive. He had a grey beard and looked like a very old dude thrashing Olson, Bright, Jenkins and Lytle in their prime. That performance is one of the main reasons I have always wanted to know more about those poles.

[MightyMouse]

I heard a rumor that Bubka jumped on them for one meet in Japan or some Asian country, and they broke on all 3 attempts... but that could be completely made up

[Tim McMichael]

I think I can confirm that. I heard the same thing from someone who was at the meet. As I said, the fact that they broke was their downfall. However, It has been more than twenty years since these poles were introduced. Maybe technology has improved to the point that this design could be attempted again. Anyone know?

[achtungpv]

I heard that same story but it was with Pacer Carbons v1.

[KYSEAMAN]

Gary Hunter was telling me stories last week, about what he has witnessed with poles changing. He told me about this one pole that had ridges all the way up the pole, so that no tape would have to be used...but it tore people hands all to pieces, has anyone heard of this? or does anyone still have one?

any pictures of the nordics, or this pole i just wrote about?

[souleman]

The pole with the ridges I think could have been the Wonder Pole. As I said on another thread, my impression of the wonder pole was a wooden pole (probably wasn't but that's my recollection of it) with resin around it, but sure enough, it looked like it had ridges on it. Later.............Mike

[vaultmd]

I still have one of the original Feather Flights, one of the few that didn't blow up. It's probably my best pole, although I can't jump on it any more. It's destined for Ron Morris' Pole Museum in Burbank.

I think there was a problem for two reasons:
1) They couldn't get the graphite to bond to the glass consistently; and
2) Nordic's flex charts seemed different from everyone else's so the poles had flex numbers that would lead one to think they were stiffer than they really were.

Too bad, because they were made by non other than Ted in the old Skypole factory.

I was there when Tom Hinthaus returned his whole series of part-graphite poles and asked for poles made entirely of glass. I think he jumped high on those before hanging up his spikes. I'm thinking this was around 1986 or '87.

It was always fun showing up to meets with the college kids with that pole. They would look at it and assume it was an old Catapole. Then this 30 year old asian dude would kick their asses with it.

[dj]

hey

i think catapole/yellow made a pole with "strips/slats" that ran up two opposing sides.. it was interesting ... looked to have two 1/2" strips under the layers.. kind off "bulged" in those places.. but i don't think it came up to the grip..

i vaguely remember anthony curran? being around catapole at that time..??

don't remember seeing one used..

i do remember nordic poles being used around Irvine.. some worked some broke..

which was the order of the day with any pole that was still developing..

we recieved 20 black catapoles for the florida pole vault school in mid 1970's and broke every one of them..

bad glass..

later

dj