From: wwalker@qualcomm.com (Bill Walker) Subject: Re: off off..what is off? > Ya know one thing I never bothered to retain in long term memory was 'off'. > > what does a phrase like 28 off mean? And why is this different than just > plain old measuring from the hook to the handle?It refers to how far the rope has been shortened from the standard 75-foot length, e.g., "22 off" means 22 feet taken off the rope, so the rope is 75-22=53 feet long. So as the "off" number gets bigger, the distance from the hook to the handle gets smaller.
Tournament ropes have built-in "take-off loops" at fixed, standard settings: 15 off, 22 off, 28, 32, 35, 38, 39.5 & 41, if I recall correctly. In a slalom tournament, once a skier has cleared the course at 36 mph with a 75-foot rope, they start shortening the rope, one loop shorter for each pass through the course, until the skier finally can't get around all the bouys (OK, this is an oversimplification, because some passes are routinely skipped, but it's the basic idea). The skier who can get around the most bouys with the shortest rope wins. The skier's score is sometimes expressed as the number of bouys succesfully rounded at the shortest line length attained, e.g., "4 @ 38 off" means the skier got around all 6 bouys (and the entry and exit gates) at all passes down to 35 off, then got around 4 bouys successfully in his 38 off pass. The current world record is something @ 41 off, which means the skier is using a rope that's only 34 feet long to get around bouys that are 37.5 feet from the center of the course!
> > I have a back hook not a center post in case you're wondering.Makes no difference, except that it's harder to shorten the line. The measurement refers only to the length of the rope.
---------- Bill Walker - WWalker@qualcomm.com - QUALCOMM, Inc., San Diego, CA USA