slackline webbing

When picking a slackline webbing, you must first determine which one is suitable for you. Your choice of slackline kit will be primarily based on your budget, slacklining goals, degree of experience, and personal taste regarding the types of Slacklining you’ll do.

The Breaking Strength

Breaking strength is a key feature of webbing because it determines (in conjunction with stretch) how safe a webbing is for use in slacklines, particularly highlines. The safer your webbing, the higher its breaking strength should be. A reasonable rule of thumb is to use 3 times as much force as you expect to tension your webbing when

For example, to make a 600-foot line with 8 feet of sag, you’ll need approximately 3,000 lbs of tension. This implies that you should not use a webbing that breaks at 9,000 lbs or less.

It’s also worth noting that there are more, somewhat subjective elements to consider. The most important information to remember is the safety cushion that is placed on the webbing’s strength grade. Webbing manufactured in the United States is usually rated very cautiously to shield the mills that produce it.

This is sinceit must bethere are massive variations in the resulting product. Many things can go wrong during the milling of webbing, including the width of the webbing, the monofilament tensions, and the weave tightness.

During the weaving process, other things can happen that might influence the finished substrate’s strength. These include broken monofilaments, mis-weaves, loose fiber ends, and a few other factors. Even within lots made by the same manufacturer, accumulating effects of these sorts can result in significant variations in webbing breaking strength.

This is why the breaking strength ratings for all webbing should not be taken too literally. As we previously stated, webbing in the United States has a large cushion on its breaking strength because to this reason. Because other parts of the world don’t generally make webbing with such big safety margins, it’s critical to examine how a firm rates its material.

The safety of webbing is not just determined by its strength. The stretch plays a significant role in the safety of your line, which we’ll look at next.

The Stretch

How safe your line is for Highline usage will be determined by the stretch of your webbing. The less strong your line needs to be, the higher its stretch. This is because the impact force of your fall causes tension in your line during a leash fall. The force of the fall is very high in a low stretch webbing, resulting in high impact forces and allowing for greater shock loads. In a high-stretch webbing, the leash fall takes considerably longer.

This is due to the fact that as you fall, the webbing elongates, extending the impact force’s duration. The lower the speed of descent, the less impact force there is, and therefore the lighter your shock load on your gear. As a result, high-stretch webbings have a lesser shock load than low-stretch webbings.

This is why the tighter your webbing is stretched, the stronger it must be. This isn’t to say that low-stretch webbings are dangerous; rather, it implies that if you want to go the low-stretch route, only the highest-strength materials should be used.

Stretch is a crucial component in Highline safety, but it’s also a feature of highly dynamic webbing. Highly dynamic slacklines require more active movement. Surfing and bouncing the line on stretchy webbing is considerably easier than low-stretch lines. If you enjoy dynamic slacklines, you’ll love high stretch webbing.

The touch of grip on one end and the lack of it on the other will also impact how quickly you can set up your line. A webbing with greater stretch will require more slack to reach walking tension than a low-stretch webbing, owing to its different level of feel. If you pull out more slack, there’s more work to do, and less rope for your Pulley System, resulting in less energy for walking. If you’re looking for fast set-up times, low-stretch webbing is the way to go.

The Weight

How difficult it is to walk is determined by the weight of your line, as well as its stretch. Lightweight webbing will always be easier to walk than heavy webbing. Because there is less weight to react to your movements when walking the line, and the following motions have less momentum that has the potential to throw you off the line, this is a good technique. When a heavier webbing begins to move, it requires more effort to halt those movements, making it simpler to manage. Other elements of webbing besides weight may influence the complexity, such as the hand and fiber type.

Heavy webbings, like any other type of fly tying, are anything but difficult to walk. It doesn’t matter if heavy webbings are more difficult to walk; they’re still fantastic fun. One of the finest training tools for learning how to keep a line quiet as you walk is a heavy line. A calm line is always simple to maintain control over, in comparison.

The Thickness

The webbing’s thickness is most important when it comes to applying locking devices and assessing the line’s sharpness for catching on a Highline. Webbing anchor performance is generally better with thicker webbings than thinner ones. The reason for this is that, whereas a thick webbing bends around a radius, the inner fibers stretch less than the outer fibers. Stretch, on the other hand, is an important consideration in comparing sizes.

A thicker webbing is generally less sharp than a thin webbing when used to catch on a highline. This is fantastic if you enjoy highlining and don’t want to get cut up too much.

Hand

The feeling of webbing is determined by its texture. Some kinds of webbing are soft, some are hard, and some have ridges. The feel of the webbing is affected by a variety of factors, all of which influence the other characteristics listed above. Because each strap has a distinct hand, I’ll go through the characteristics that impact each webbing in detail below.

The weave pattern and fiber size are the most significant variables in determining the hand of webbing. A more compact weave with smaller fibers would have a much softer feel than a looser weave with larger strands. When you’re walking a webbing, the hand is crucial for how it feels on your feet. A softer touch will be considerably more pleasant to walk with than a rigid-handed webbing. This makes the stroll much more pleasurable.

Best Slackline Webbing Material

Depending on the sort of slacklining you want to do, you can select from a variety of different types of lines. Here are the most popular and common options for slackline materials to choose from.

Nylon Webbing

The stretchability of a nylon slackline is said to be greater than any other material available. Nylon is very elastic, as it is purported to stretch up to 50% more than polyester. They also bounce higher than polyester lines due to their strength and weight reduction features.

Slacklines made of nylon are ideal for practicing highlining and waterlining.

Polyester Webbing

Polyester slacklines don’t stretch as much as nylon lines, which means they are generally simpler to set up. There’s less guessing and determining how tight to make them so they don’t sag beyond what you need. Longline slacklines are often made of polyester since to the ease of tension offered and lack of stretch.

What’s the difference between a polyester and nylon slackline? It all depends on the sort of slacklining you’ll be performing, as well as several other variables to consider.

Slackline Types That May Suit You!

Beginner line

A 2″ slackline is an excellent place to start if you’re new to the sport. While many seasoned slackliners recommend going straight to the 1″ line and forgetting about overhead support, they seem to forget that learning anything is a personal experience. We all have varying levels of competence and learn at different speeds.

Begin with a simple beginner line that won’t induce you to give up in frustration. A 30–100′ long and 2′ wide line is an excellent place to start. It’s short enough in length to not overwhelm you but long enough that you can get comfortable with it over time.

Trickline

For bounce, a trickliner requires as much tension as possible. The majority of tricklines are 2″ (50mm) in width. TRICKLING IS ONE SUCH OPTION If you enjoy gymnastics and jumping or simply wish to take your slacklining to the next level, tricklining is an interesting option.

Longline

A longline is a line that is longer than 100′ – 130′. Tie-down ratchet, carabiner & webbing combination, and rope pulley systems are just a few of the many options for tensioning offered by high-quality slacklines for longline usage.

Longlining is a practice that may put you in danger if done incorrectly. When setting up the line and actually utilizing it, caution is required. It’s made up of selecting the proper site, employing tree protection, rigging the line properly, and walking safely. An expert long lining should be hired to set up the longline.

Highline

Safety should be a priority. Given the risks involved with Highline slacklining, it’s critical that it is as safe as possible. Highlines are frequently set up between mountains, bridges, and other landmarks. Because highlining occurs at such a great height, precautions must be taken and safety is of top importance.

The slackliner is attached to the lifeline via a harness, which is in turn linked to the slackline line and another safety harness.