ol Al...
Yes....one CAN make a "soggy stop". One example is the decelerating curve cast.
We could debate ACCELERATION a great deal more....and some of us have done that. The acceleration, for example, of a falling object is increase in speed at an unchanged rate, ie. 32'/second/second. In the event that I stand upon a 1000' high cliff and fire a rocket directly down at the ground, then the rocket moves with a rate of acceleration which is greater. This, then, is an accelerated accelerated or progressively accelerated rate.
An efficient fly cast has a rod tip movement which is constant acceleration, but not a constant RATE of acceleration, since the rate of its acceleration increases near the end of the stroke just before the stop. This is the essence of Joan Wulff's, "power snap" or Lefty's, "speed-up-and-stop" or the, "pop-stop". Thus, we can call this, ACCELERATED ACCELERATION.
Your number 2: In Jay and Bill Gammel's description of the essentials, STOP was inferred, but not listed. I asked Bill about that one day a few years ago, and he said he wished he HAD included it. You did........good.
"Power must be applied at the correct time and in the correct amount." (Gammel.) No quarrel here. To this I would add that under this label, we might consider some elements such as: 1.) TENSION, 2.) ACCELERATION and 3.) STOP.
As far as "unloading" is concerned, you are correct that this starts to happen at the stop. With some casters, some degree of unloading can occur with the return of the rod tip toward a straight line path after a dip (concavity) caused by erratic application of power during the stroke. This is another way of looking at the formation of a tailing loop.
7. Yes....the tip travel may change with the action of the fly rod......but it still has a direct relationship to the amount of line carried (the length of the cast) The efficient caster will have a greater tip travel with a longer cast as he carries more line whether he's using a stiff or a limber rod.
Inasmuch as you have no cast without travel of the rod tip, I suppose this can be considered an essential, going one step beyond the word, STROKE......since the casting stroke is only one part of the equation. This can get complicated, for as we carry more line and make greater distance casts, many things change, including stroke length, casting (rod) arc, body motion, and (sometimes) a step in the direction of the target. All these things combined, you see, go to determining the distance traveled by the tip of the rod.
8.) While the most important, ESSENTIAL is considered the, "straight line path of the rod tip", this is a gross oversimplification. True, the other essentials generally serve to help bring this about.
Some caveats:
1.) If the caster could truly master an absolutely straight line path of the rod tip throughout the stroke, a collision would occur, ruining the cast.
2.) Our best casters have been seen to have a very slightly CONVEX paths of their rod tips.......in other words, an almost straight line path.
3.) Where you place this convexity of rod tip path makes a HUGE difference in the loop.
a. A straight line path of the rod tip with a slight convexity near the end of the stroke, is produced by increasing rod arc at that very point. It results in a controlled wide loop. Another way of looking at this, is the control of the size of the loop by how far below (or away) from the path of the oncoming line you have the rod tip stop at RSP. If the rod tip stops close to the oncoming line, you get a small loop. If it stops way down (farther away) from the oncoming line, you get a wider loop such that the rod end of the loop is fairly straight, while the fly end of that loop is lower. This is often used for casting heavy flies.
b. A convexity in rod tip path (increased rod arc) at the beginning of the stroke, produces a wide loop such that the fly end of that loop is high and the rod end fairly straight. This method can be used to have a long leader collapse into slack at the end of the cast for a drag free drift of a dry fly.
c. The new caster who, "waves" the rod, painting a rainbow in the sky with the rod tip, is employing a convexity of the rod tip THROUGHOUT the entire stroke. This yields either a poorly controlled wide loop. If the convexity is greater, it yields, "no loop".
Lastly: When I used the term, "Straight line overhead casting", I took a term used often in past fly casting literature. Of course, I don't mean it literally.....but rather as a distinction from curve casts, some elliptical casts, Spey maneuvers, etc. Gary Borger once boiled this down to basics when he said, "There are only two ways to cast; Straight and curved." This can be described with the longest word in the Oxford dictionary, "floccinaucinilhilipililification."......a sort of belittlement which makes the point.
Gordy
From: "Allen Crise" <flysoup@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: "Gordy Hill" <hillshead@xxxxxxx>
Subject: one more
Date: Sat, 7 Jan 2006 19:00:56 -0600
Howdy GordyAs I reread yours again I found these,Acceleration should be uninterrupted and progressive to a crisp stop.Acceleration is uninterrupted and progressive. That is AccelerationHow do you make a soggy stop?2. Proper ACCELERATION of power applied to the fly rod at the correct time controls rod loading.All of this is to move and load the rod It does not cover unloading. That was in #55. There must be a STOP at the end of the stroke in both directions.This takes place after the Acceleration. Just one action at a time. Yes it added an essential but I feel it was needed as one of the most important items in fly casing.7. The length of overall TIP TRAVEL will be greater the more line is carried, and less when less line is carried. (Long cast = long tip travel. Short cast = short tip travel.) (Tip travel is the resultant of stroke length and casting (rod) arc.)What about slow or fast rod actions? This will very much affect the TIP TRAVELDo we need to call tip travel an essentials?8. The size of the loop is largely determined by the path of the rod tip during the cast. Especially the rod tip path taken near the completion of the stroke. Efficient tight loop formation requires the caster to move the rod in an almost straight line path.Should this not be the ROD'S TIP in a straight line path"straight line overhead casting."It works for side arm casting A straight line path is still the goal of the side arm, overhead, cross body,Yes if you are casting a curve you might only change one plane of the cast still a straight line in the other planesOK GordyI was trying to keep it in as few words as I can still getting the meaning across.I did not add some that you did because it would get in to splitting hairs. Generally Right is some times better.ol AlAllen Crise FFF Master Casting InstructorSOC VP of EducationHawk Ridge Flycasting School2508 A County Road 1011Glen Rose, TX 76043254-897-2045geocities.com/rrdoctorflysoup@xxxxxxxxxx