Server's equations (attachment) / Translation

I have watched the Best of the West cast off competition for several years now. Rick Hartman has a unique style. As I have observed it, his long translational move allows him to carry significant amount of line, the 90 feet of backcast room at the competition being very restrictive. On his final cast he has tremendous speed and forward extension. His style is very unique and worth studing.

I do realize the importance of rotational but my question is this: How important is translational compare to rotational movement in the cast? How does the translational move contribute to the cast compared with rotational? Can one have a significant long distance cast without translational composing a significant part of the Casting Stroke (the linear path taken by the hand during the cast)?

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Some of us on the CBOG have debated this question for the past several months. We have reviewed the videos and the Casting Analyzer readouts.

Bruce Richards is of the opinion that the main reason this long translational movement is so effective is :

1.) It takes up any slack

2.) It delays the rotational phase of the stroke. This has been noted to help yield tighter loops for a reason not entirely clear to any of us.

Others (including Bill Gammel) have studied this translational phase in detail and have come to the conclusion that there is, with powerful tournament distance casters, enough acceleration of the rod butt with this translation that it starts the most effective acceleration of the rod, as rotation occurs, at a higher level.

Evidence agains the latter proposal is that without any rotation at all, the rod top moves at the same velocity as the hand and rod grip. For most casters this is less than 5 meters/second. I don't think it has been measured for our best tournament casters such as Rick.

I don't really think we have the final answers as yet. (True of many facets of flycasting .)

One thing that is apparent is that it works !

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A request from Capt. Kirk Eberhard :-

I'm looking for construction designs for a portable 100 foot casting pond, PVC frame, liner etc. Similar to those used at sport shows, conclaves. Thanks,

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Kirk: Two years ago, at the West Yellowstone Conlave, I helped dismantle the pond. The frame was made of PVC pipes ... stuck together but not glued. The material for the pond was blue plastic tarp material. Some sort of duct tape was used on the seams.

Perhaps one of the Group can give us a better plan for a casting pond.

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This message is from Chris Dore (New Zealand) in reply to Al Crise on teaching the double haul:-

Thanks Al. Im meeting the chap again later this week, and between yourself, Jason, Bruce and the Sexyloops crew, Ive got a few tricks to try. It sounds as if Im on the right track with the ground casting thing - Its all about building familiarity with the movements and coordination of both arms.

He's been practising the pantomime in front of the miror the past few days trying to get the basic timing right, then I think I will ad the rod and reel (no line) to give the feel and weight of introducing the rod to him.

Had a lesson today with another guy and had him double hauling in 20 minutes! Some people just need that little extra attention I guess, and throw in an afliction such as the first chap where coordination is a neurological issue, then I just must be patient and keep him on the ball. Changing drills or introducing something new every 15 or so minutes will also be in my bag of tricks, so he doesnt stalemete with one long, drawn out practice. Its all about digestible chunks ;)

Thanks for the advice mate!

Chris

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Comment: Obviously, Al suggested that Chris try teaching the double haul horizontally on grass. This has been the most effective teaching method for me because the student can see what is going on. Here's how I do it:-

(I won't teach the haul until the caster has mastered line control and a good basic cast.)

I have the student move the rod tip alone a line on the grass to mimick a, "back cast". It's done SLOWLY.

While the rod tip is moving, I have him/her make a simple pull (haul) with the line hand. The line flips in the direction of the cast making its effect obvious.

We, then, do it in the opposite direction over the same line.

After repeating this many times, I speed up the cadence.

Then we go, "airborne" with some line speed and faster cadence a couple of feet above the line.

Once mastered, I have the student do it with the rod tip ever higher.

Within a few minutes, the caster is executing a basic double haul.

After sufficient, "alone time" to play with this .... perhaps at a different time or day, we work on refining the haul by teaching the, "mirror image" concept between the action of the rod hand and that of the line hand. This brings the student to be able to make more effective hauls while carrying different lengths of fly line.

Gordy