Natural sag. Until today I assumed that's what happened to people of a certain age as a result of gravity. It's the stuff that makes plastic surgeons smile, or so I thought. Apparently not. Natural sag is what slackliners look for in the terrain. James - who it has to be said displayed no sag at all - explained it to me. You seek two nice big trees a fair distance apart with a nice big dip between them. Find that and you have a perfect spot to secure your line. You don't have to climb uncomfortably high up the tree to anchor the rope but still have a nice big hollow under the rope to allow the movement you need to perform tricks. It's amazing the things you learn when you stop and talk to strangers. The line James had strung up at Musgrave Park today is a rodeo rope. I now know that a rodeo rope is a REALLY slack slackline. Where a tightrope is taut, the rodeo rope is just the opposite - it has LOTS of give. James told me that the aim of the rodeo rope is to learn to move your weight and centre of gravity so that you can effectively surf on the rope.This made perfect sense - to the girl with both feet, her bum, her dog and all her natural sag on the ground. Some times I think being a bit slack is perfectly called for in the circumstances.
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| See, it's slack. Really slack |
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| I wasn't the only one having a look |
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