Date:	Fri, 10 Feb 1995 22:58:59 -1000
From:	tanaka_be@swam1.enet.dec.com (Bert Tanaka)
Message-Id: <9502110857.AA16905@us3rmc.pa.dec.com>
Organization: Harvard University Office of Information Technology
Subject: Are ya tough enuf?

/From:   SWAM1::US3RMC::"bwg001@carina.unm.edu" "Brian W. Gordon"
/Subj:   Re: New Product - Improved SkyShark 2P rod
/
/Bert Tanaka (tanaka_be@swam1.enet.dec.com) wrote:
/                      (stuff deleted)
/Thanks for the great info Bert!
/How do you think these spars will hold up (in terms of toughness) to
/other SUL spars like the G-Force?
/
/Keith Kidder
The G-Force Skinny is exceptionally durable.  We use G-Force rods in
our UL Skyburners and our experience with this setup is all positive.
I haven't been able to break a 2P yet so I'd guess that the rods would be 
similar in that respect.  Hard to say, because "toughness" is somewhat 
subjective.

I'm more interested in how much stress a rod can endure from actual
flying so I try to use maneuvers that are hard on the kite.  Tip stabs
seem to do a good job of breaking leading edges, and snap rolling your
kite in cartwheels work the bottom spreaders pretty hard.  While testing,
I used extra snap to try and break the 2p.  In real life, I'd be more
conservative with a kite that had an UL frame.  My experience with the
old 2P was that it was too fragile.  My recent results from ground 
pounding the new 2P, indicate that this rod is much, much stronger now.

Good Winds,
Bert


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