One-Question Survey

[lonestar]

Can one of the pole people clarify this for me? I always thought the compression side was the worst side to have a defect on. Not that there is a good side for a defect, of course.

I'm not one of the "pole" people - manufacturers anyway, but the way I've been told by the pole people is that the inside of the pole (that faces down at the runway when you're planting) is never really stretched, but the fibers are like compressed or pushed together, so even if there's damage there, there's no stretching of the damaged fibers. The outside of the pole (that faces up at the plant), undergoes a stretch and the fibers are pulled upon, so if the damage were on the up side, it would be like stretching a shoelace with a gash in it as tight as possible until it snapped. Decamouse, correct me if I'm wrong please!

[Decamouse]

That is basically correct - but if the damage is bad enough on the compression side it will implode or cave in - actual damage on the nuetral axis is the best place if there is such a place

[xtremevaulter]

And the person who owned it(they will remain nameless) was pretty pissed. Not really, he just came up to me and said you know you owe me a $400 pole hehehe

[jomrus]

Been vaulting for seven years and only broke two. One I don't even count as a break. Sophomore year in high school I broke both i think. One was a cut off yellow cat we used for training. Kind of crunched rather than exploded, and the other was a 14' 170 which oddly enough didn't break at the plant like most I hear about. Rather, it broke on the unbend as I made my feeble sophmorish attempt to get upside down. Must have been really badly bruised. Wish I had some stories like you folks...

[Oldcoach]

The Yellow CAT break sort of sounds like a compression side failure(implosion) as described by Decamouse. The big breaks- explosions that sound like a gun are most assuredly tension side failures.

[Caseman33]

i broke one pole, it was i a meet. I weigh 155 and the pole was a 14'6" 170. I had to have a defect, cause it broke 3 feet from the top of the pole...anywho, i did a backflip into the pit and broke my thumb. I continued vaulting and ended up tieing my pr at 13'6"

~Casey

[pistolpete6994]

Snapped one junior year of high school before i really learned to jump. The lower half poped out of the box and my shoulder landed on it, leaving a few small pieces in my shoulder, but beyond those couple of cuts I had just a fdw bruises from the pole unbending so fast. I think it was a 13' 150 (I weighed just 140 at the time)