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The Jakub Hanus « Kwjet » interview
Jakub is one of the pioneer of modern slacklining. He walked more lines than you can ever imagine. He is the nice guy behind Equilibrium who is working hard to develop new products for slackline. You would probably enjoy to sit down with him and drink a cup of coffee to talk about life and slackline. Here is his interview.
Tell us who you are ?
My name is Jakub Hanuš but in the world of slackline I am better known as Kwjet.
Where are you from ?
I come from the north of the Czech Republic, but last 8 years or so I live in Prague.
What do you love most about your hometown ?
I love the landscape around my hometown (lots of forests and rocks) and the cultural side of Prague as well.
Since how long do you slack ?
I started slacklining in fall 2007 on my own and the next season was a big breakthrough for me – I got to slack festivals, I met more experienced slackers and immediatelly fell in love with slackline.
What pushed you to develop Equilibrium ?
Actually we started first with Slackshop.cz during our studies in 2008. The idea was that we can do stuff better and cheaper than others 
In 2010 we fouded EQB as a brand to be able to distribute our gear to other shops as well.
The longest line you ever walked: highline and longline ?
My personal best in longline is 327 m (os halfman) and in highline it is 79 m (both on Zion – Czech PES / Dyneema hybrid webbing)
What did you do last sunday ?
Last sunday I spent woodworking – a friend of mine is currently makind his own bar and I am helping him with furniture and some other stuff
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be ?
I would like to get better in multitasking. Usually I can focus only on one thing and I donť care much about others.
A phrase you say often is :
« To se stává » which means « That happens ».. which means you shouldn’t worry too much about things that you cannot influence or that do not matter that much.
A common misconception about yourself is :
Maybe that I am « lazy ». And I am really not a super productive person But when it comes to a real challenge or something that matters to me, I can be surprisingly efficient.
Your biggest fear is :
I am affraid of heights. But you can get used to it
Your biggest worry is :
That my life visions won’t be fulfilled.
Your biggest weakness is :
My fingerstrength. I realized I have to work on it a lot to get better in holding one- and twofinger pockets while climbing Besides that, my regime should get much better as well.
A Guilty pleasure of yours is :
I still like to smoke weed althought I guees this phase should be kind of over by now.
An excuse you use often is :
« To se stává » which means « That happens »
Something you could use more of in life is :
Social interaction. Sometimes I like to be alone and some of the times I feel like I might regret it when I will be older.
Something in your refrigerator ?
Not much actually. Some cheese, vegetables, yoghurt and stuff like that. But I don’t really eat very healthy.
What country would you most like to visit ?
I always wanted to visit Canada. And New Zealand. And maybe Nepal or Tibet. But I am not much into traveling generally.
What webbing do you usually use ?
I like dyneema webbing for longer lines And actually I like a 2 ton PES webbing for lines about 60-80 m long since it has a nice stretch and I spent probably most of the time on these lines (that were pretty common here in Czech back in the day when I started slacklining. And I like threaded tubular for shorter highlines.
Your favorite possession is :
That changes in time. Right now I guess it is woodworking. I love the process of getting into something and revealing the secrets of the topic. That is what I love the most in life.
Your first thoughts upon waking up are ?
It depends. Sometimes I wake up with some briliant idea in my mind. And sometimes I just think about never getting up.
What passion did you have before slacklining ?
I was a passionate grower (of you-know-what). I spent few years doing reaserch, making my own systems, I had to know about every aspect of it. Which really paid of, when I wrote my diploma thesis based on this knowledge (technical part of growing plants). But after I started slacklining, this passion left me and I gave everything to my new hobby..
The last line you walked was :
Pretty short
The song you usually listen when you slack ?
I love to listen to some psy-chill that lasts and lasts and lasts… That music really turns the inner engine of focus and helps me to get in the zone.
The last meal you ate was :
I just had some donut and coffee for breakfast.
The last text message you sent was :
That I might be a little late in the office since I went sleeping at 4 am (due to our woodworking / bar project).
The best advice you’ve ever received was :
Hard to remember, but I guess it had to be something about not worrying much about life. No idea who told me
The best word to describe your life is ?
I always said my motto is: « Life is a game. » And I still believe in that.
What quality do you admire most in other people ?
Honesty. And peacefulness.
Tell us about your crew with Faith, Jan and Jordan and the projects you did:
I took part in the team a while after they got together. And it was amazing, we did some cool stuff in various countries, established new lines here and there… I really liked the trip to Morocco since it was a whole new experience for me.
One mistake you’ve done rigging a line ?
I pulled out a tree. It wasn’t in the park and noone was hurt, but I still felt ashamed for that tree.
Highline should be completely free or there should be rules ?
I am not a big fan of rules in general, but same as climbing, highlining should be restricted in some kind. It is about safety of people and the nature as well, it is fragile and cannot defend against damage.
You think solo is :
Pretty nice experience. But maybe not for everyone. You have to think a lot about it before you do it but you can say the same about many interesting things in life.
Where did you travel during 2014 and what your best slackline memories ?
Last year I spent almost only in czech rocks (except for few small trips abroad and slackfestivals). But since the community is really international, I met a lot of friends which is the best thing about slacklining for me right now.
What goals would you like to achieve this year ?
I have some plans to increase my fingerstrength and climb some projects, that are too hard or too sketchy right now. And I have to finish my camper van conversion before spring so I can be super comfy out there in nature 😀
Last words ?
Keep on slackin’ , life is a nice thing so play the game and don’t disturb yourself with stuff you cannot influence. Simply don’t worry, be happy
Nouvelle Sangle Slack.fr : la MILF
Slack.fr s’apprête à sortir un toute nouvelle sangle aka la MILF (Made In La France ).
C’est une polyester verte et bleue plutôt lourde car elle se rapproche de la Core de Landcruising.
Nathan Paulin nous l’a apportée au festival en Turkie et Guillaume nous livre ses premières impressions.
La sangle est douce sous le pied donnant une sensation agréable au touché. Elle est peu coupante et son élasticité est plutôt faible.
Sur la sangle la marche est confortable à condition d’être relax.
Au final la sangle est recommandable dès lors que vous souhaitez une sangle qui vous challenge et vous apporte du confort. A priori elle est idéale pour travailler en longline et sera un défit intéressant en highline
La fédération de slackline : Résultats !
Nous sommes avec Guillaume Rolland qui nous donne quelques infos sur le projet de Fédération de slackline en France.
Guillaume, le sondage est clôturé : quel est le résultat ?
94% de oui pour 1600 participant.
Quels sont les retours des participants ?
270 personnes souhaitent s’investir dans ce projet ! On va pouvoir avancer !
Quelles sont maintenant les prochaines étapes ?
Nous allons constituer des groupes de travail afin de déterminer les démarches administratives et les sujets qui méritent d’être discuté dès lors qu’ils touchent à la slackline.
As tu des dates ?
Pas pour l’instant car il faudra du temps. Aussi nous posterons des nouvelles dès qu’il y aura du nouveau.
Un message en particulier ?
RDV sur le formulaire pour citer les 3 mots clefs qui caractérisent la slackline : http://goo.gl/forms/lJaJhzj0SM
Merci Guillaume et à bientôt sur une slack !
Du bon temps…
Courte video pour montrer que la highline c’est surtout du bon temps entre potes
Concours photo slack en talon
On lance notre premier concours photo : la fille en talon sur une slack la plus audacieuse !
Le gagnant ne sera pas le photographe, mais la fille qui réalise la prouesse ! Alors envoyez nous vos photos avec le nom de l’heureuse candidate ! Pas d’effets spéciaux 😉
Pour vous inspirer, nous présentons déjà la célèbre photo de Faith Dickey en highline et celle de Emie Briviba en talons aiguilles ! Qui sera l’heureuse Miss talon aiguille sur slack ?
La gagnante prendra la photo de couverture du site chocoslack ! Merci de nous envoyer vos photos avant fin mars !
Freeze solo !
La video freeze solo de slacktivity est enfin sortie. On peut y voir Samuel en bataille sur une waterline de 130m au dessus d’un lac en plein hivers. Ca doit être froid !
Faith Dickey en 2014
Faith Dickey est sans doute la meilleure dans sa catégorie. Elle vient de sortir une vidéo nous montrant ce qu’elle a fait en 2014 : longline, highline, talon line …. à vous de voir
Les poulies et le rendement
Le rendement des poulies. C’est le dossier du jour avec l’expert Romain Schempf de Slack Mountain qui nous a pondu un dossier pointu sur les poulies et leur rendement avec l’aide de Petzl et Wichard. Cela vous permet tout d’abord d’affiner vos connaissances techniques et physiques, et ensuite de mieux choisir votre matériel !
La taille du Réa :
Plus la taille du réa de la poulie est importante, plus la distance parcourue par la corde sur celle ci est importante, et donc moins le déplacement au niveau de l’axe poulie est important par rapport à la distance de corde parcourue.
Un réa de 60 mm aura une circonférence de 3,14 x 60 = 188,4 mm.
Un réa de 32 mm aura une circonférence de 3,14x 32 = 100,48 mm.
Donc en un tour de poulie avec un réa de 32 mm on aura parcouru que 53% (100,48/188,4) de distance parcourue en un tour de poulie avec un réa de 60 mm
Attention : cela veut dire pour schématiser qu’il faut faire tourner la poulie un peu plus pour arriver au même niveau avec la même force appliquée.
La taille de l’axe a aussi son importance.
Un axe de 12 mm aura une circonférence de 3.14 x 12 = 37.68 mm
un axe de 15 mm aura une circonférence de 3.14 x 15 = 47.1 mm
Une poulie de 32 mm avec un axe de 15 mm aura un ratio de 100.48/47.1 = 2.13
Alors qu’une poulie de 32 mm avec un axe de 12 mm aura un ratio de 100.48/37.68 = 2.67
La poulie de 32 mm avec un axe 12 mm déplacera la corde 2.67 mm pour 1 mm sur l’axe, alors que la poulie de 32 mm avec un axe de 15 mm déplacera la corde de 2.13 mm pour 1 mm sur l’axe.
Ce n’est donc pas seulement la taille du réa qui compte mais le rapport de la taille du réa sur la taille de l’axe central de la poulie
Et si l’on compare avec une poulie de 60 mm avec un axe de 12 mm on obtient: 188,4/37,68 = 4,98 soit plus du double qu’avec un réa de 32 mm et un axe de 15 mm
La rotation de l’axe central générant des frottements il faut donc minimiser cette dernière pour avoir un meilleur rendement. D’où l’intérêt d’avoir un meilleur ratio:
La poulie de 60 mm avec un axe 12 mm déplacera la corde 4,98 mm pour 1 mm sur l’axe, alors que la poulie de 32 mm avec un axe de 15 mm déplacera la corde de 2.13 mm pour 1 mm sur l’axe.
Le cordage :
Sur une poulie, le meilleur ratio est d’avoir un cordage avec un diamètre situé entre 1/6e et 1/8e de la taille du réa, (au delà, la corde n’a plus assez de friction pour faire tourner le réa de la poulie et glisse directement dessus, cela ne sert plus à rien d’avoir un réa qui tourne). Les cordes sont solides et flexibles et donc déformables sous la pression. Plus le cordage sera fin, plus la friction et l’écrasement de la corde sera réduit et donc le rendement augmentera (dans la limite des 1/8 de la taille du réa, sinon le rendement se réduit).
Si le cordage est supérieur au 1/6 le rendement sera réduit.
Sur un réa de 60 il faudrait donc un cordage de 10 mm à 8 mm (60/8 =7,5 n’existant pas en cordage courant).
Sur un réa de 32 mm il faudrait un cordage de 5 mm à 4 mm ( 32/6 = 5,3 n’existe pas).
Petit point supplémentaire: les cordages et les réa auront un meilleur rendement plus la gorge de la poulie sera adaptée au diamètre du cordage, entre une poulie à gorges de 60 mm avec une corde de 10mm et une poulie de 60 sans gorges (plat) le rendement diminuera d’environ 5 % (dû à l’écrasement de la corde qui augmente donc la friction.)
Les roulements à billes :
Il y en a pour tout les prix et toutes les qualités. Les « meilleurs roulements » sont les SKF, leader mondial du roulement.
La nomenclature des roulements est toujours identique quelque soit la marque
- leschiffres indiquent les dimensions
- si rien n’est indiqué après leschiffres cela indique que les roulements sont à l’air libre
- ZZ: le roulement possède des caches anti-poussières
- RS: le roulement est étanche
- C3: roulement haute vitesse
Les roulements à billes sont faits pour des vitesses moyennes de 1000 à 20000 tours/minute selon les modèles.
Les roulements à billes seront plus efficaces que les bagues autolubrifiées jusqu’à la limite de charge d’utilisation. Au dessus de la CMU les billes auront tendance à se déformer. Le principe du roulement est de réduire les frottements en réduisant le point de contact grâce aux billes (au lieu de quelque cm², on réduit la zone à quelque mm²).
Par contre une zone réduite de quelque mm² subit toute la charge et aura une limite avant déformation atteinte plus rapidement.
Les bagues auto-lubrifiées :
Réalisées en Bronze, cuivre, laiton, elles ont la propriété de ne pas adhérer (se gripper ) aux autres métaux (acier, alu).
Elles auront un rendement réduit par rapport aux roulements à billes, mais aux limites d’utilisation du roulement à billes les bagues permettront de monter beaucoup plus haut en charges.
Par exemple : les voitures sont sur rotule à billes, pour les camions la charge est trop importante et le système passe sur des bagues auto-lubrifiées car la charge serait trop élevée pour des billes, sauf à avoir des billes qui quadrupleraient de volume mais cela ne serait plus intéressant.
Quel est donc le rendement théorique des poulies utilisées en slackline ?
Les calculs suivant représentent une valeur théorique, dans la réalité les forces fournies varient et ne sont pas régulières dans le temps. Attention le total de la sommes des réa et bloqueur n’est valable qu’avec un renvoi. Sans renvoi le total doit être divisé par le rendement du bloqueur. Ne prenant aucune marque concurrente en référence nous nous baserons sur les rendements fournis par Petzl et Wichard. Attention toutes les marques n’ont pas la même qualité de rendement.
Matériel utilisé pour comparer :
Poulie petzl à roulements à billes servant de référence :
poulie minder réa de 51 mm rendement 97 %
poulie rescue réa de 38 mm rendement 95%
poulie prussik réa de 25 mm (axe de 10) rendement 91 %
Bloqueurs de corde servant de référence :
Protraxion petzl réa 38 mm (ou poulie minder avec machard) rendement 95 %
Micro traxion Petzl 28 mm (ou poulie rescue avec machard) rendement 91 %
Robot de Kong 35 mm rendement 69 %
Grigri 2 Petzl rendement 52 %
Plaquette Gigi 48 %
Pour les poulies quadruple, nous prenons l’exemple de 2 poulies doubles mises ensemble sur un multiplicateur d’ammarage, une perte supplémentaire de rendement s’ajoute à cause des frottements des cordes entre elles pour l’égalisation du système pour que les poulies restent droite.
Pour nos ingénieurs qui veulent s’amuser à faire des calculs plus personnalisés, vous retrouverez ici la fiche pour calculer le rendement d’un poulie :
http://slack-mountain.com/shop/fr/content/12-rendement-poulie
The Jan Galek interview !
Jan Galek is a slack Master: Longline, highline, solo, trad climbing, bouldering, expeditions, new terrain: he does it all. Jan is not the new kid on the scene but he is the guy who inspired slackliners for the past decade. He is one of the most accomplished slackliners and you can see him on great films where he is exploring vertical and horizontal limits on different locations around the world. Go talk to him if you meet him : he is an amazing person and he will motivates you to go out your comfort zone.
Tell us who you are?
My name is Jan Gałek. I am 26 years old (born in 1988). I consider myself slackliner and a climber 😉
Where are you from?
I am from Poland, Wrocław (2nd name – Breslau).
What do you love most about your hometown?
Damn, that’s a hard question as I spent here big chunk of my life, but I guess what I like the most is great location (not too far to Germany, Czech Republic and other great climbing/highline location in Poland) as well as great slackline and climbing community.
Since how long do you slack?
I am slacklining since summer of 2005 so it’s almost 10 years right now. Goddamn, I will have my first big jubilee soon. I guess I am becoming old and a slackline dinosaur …
How did you enter into Balance Community?
I’ve been working with quite few slackline companies as my slackline interests evolved and I finally stuck with BC for a few reasons. First of all I really like Jerry, his a friend, great slacker – I think inspiration to the whole community and I just wanted to cooperate with slackline company in which I fully believe. What I mean by that is that I truly believe it’s the best gear, really good company philosophy and I can truly recommend it to friends not because I get paid, only because … it’s true!
The longest line you ever walked: highline and longline?
The longest longline so far was 232m OS-FM on polyester webbing “Octopussy” from a friend in PL and highline “Master of Universe” 96.5m in my favorite place Ostrov in CZ.
What did you do last Sunday?
I did some bouldering with my best friend in Ostbloc, Berlin.
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
I would like to be more organized human being.
A phrase you say often is:
No pain no gain!
A common misconception about your self is:
Well, I don’t know if you’re talking about others misconception about me, or my misconception about myself so I will answer to both. I think people generally think at first I am hardcore and hard to approach but if you get to know me/talk to me it is totally not the reality and I am just silly and goofy slacker. I guess my biggest misconception is usually I think small of myself – not trying to say I am super cool in reality, just I am lacking some self confidence so when I surprise myself and send hard something I totally didn’t expect it is really good feeling.
Your biggest fear is:
Not being able to move at all.
Your biggest worry is:
As for now, sadly just normal life; trying to get healthy after my accident and earn enough ‘dolla, dolla bills yo!’ so I can live and go on the next slackline and climbing adventure.
Your biggest weakness is:
I think it is impossible to explain urge to train everyday – have to force myself to rest.
A Guilty pleasure of yours is:
Definitely ice cream, any kind – I will eat it!
An excuse you use often is :
Not enough time? I don’t know you can use whatever you want – excuse is always trying to cheat your self 😉
Something you could use more of in life is:
Lazy day activities …
Something in your refrigerator?
Actually way too much … I love food.
What country would you most like to visit?
I would like to drive across whole Southern America and finish in Patagonia for some time …
What webbing do you usually use?
Aero or Mantra MKIII
Your favorite possession is:
My range finder …
Your first thoughts upon waking up are?
Let’s have a productive day!
What passion did you have before slacklining?
Well, I had quite a few. I finished music school on a classic guitar and since I was a kid I played quite a few instruments. From more active passions – cross-country running and MTB biking.
The last line you walked was:
Longline on Aero webbing in a park …
The song you usually listen when you slack?
Jesus, that’s a super hard question. I am a music freak so I listen to a lot of different stuff. For slacklining I usually prefer something electronic, which takes my mind off unnecessary thoughts. Some dark, melodic dubstep or ambient electronics do the trick
The last meal you ate was:
I had some scrambled eggs with some veggies and avocado.
The last text message you sent was:
‘Gonna a bit late for training buddy’
The best advice you’ve ever received was:
Focus on one thing at once.
The best word to describe your life is?
Unpredictable.
What quality do you admire most in other people?
Being persistent in being a generally good and conscious human being
One mistake you’ve done rigging a line?
There was way too many, starting from all time classic – ‘oh shit, I forgot to put the rings on!’, but I guess ripping what I thought to be a solid tree out of the ground and dragging it with the 160m line few meters on the ground in front of people chilling in a park during sunny Sunday. The funniest thing was no one said anything to me. I felt so dumb …
Highline should be completely free or there should be rules?
I think it should stay free in terms of where a person wants to take it and which direction evolve with it. On the other hand I think it would be good to put some rules for rigging and safety because that can and eventually will safe some lives, as the sport grows bigger. I think it wouldn’t be stupid also to discuss some rules and standards for world record sends, but that’s it.
You think solo is:
That’s an interesting topic. Personally I am really interested in free soloing and people associate me mainly with that activity, which I am not sad about but I am all-round slackliner and have accomplishments on different grounds too. But that’s how it goes and I am fine with it. I like to share it with people because the videos of Dean Potter free soloing classic L.A.S. highline and then Andy Lewis repeating this line really inspired me and showed me anything is possible; especially since I have witnessed Andy’s first ascent of this line back in 2007 and it was most shaky yet impressive walk I’ve seen 😉 I want to inspire people to so that’s why I think sharing pics or videos is ok as long as you show the amount of preparation and don’t say openly go free solo to anyone. If someone chooses to because of me, I am fine with it – it’s always serious and conscious decision. I don’t believe beginner or especially someone new to slacklininig would go free solo because of the video – I mean if you think of the feeling sitting on your first highline and not wanting to stand up in a harness and then add up to the equation no safety – no f’in way 😉
Where did you travel during 2014 and what you are your best slackline memories?
Well, 2014 was pretty grim for me. I had a climbing accident just at the end of 2013 in which I had an open, multifracture, rotational break of my lower right leg (both tibia and fibula where broken). It was a quite a recovery process and it wasn’t pretty but I feel I learned a lot and what doesn’t kill you make you stronger. I think walking my first highline after almost one year since the accident was the most beautiful moment I had for a while. It was beautiful and I almost cried 😉
What goals would you like to achieve this year?
There is way too many and I have to choose wisely as I had to hold my needs because of my accident. Main goal is obviously to get healthy, I will have last surgery in one month, which will be removing all the metal stuff from my leg and then I can start thinking about all the goals I set for myself. All I can say is I will definitely do some epic stuff with Somewhereelseland Team and go big on Yosemite Walls this time not only highlining but climbing. I would love to get back to skydiving too as soon as my leg is back to its full strength.
Last word ?
SlackOn !
The trailer of High over Todra : a great highline film starring Jan !
Juste pour la beauté des images…
Une vidéo qu’on a adorée et qui nous motive à chaque fois qu’on l’a regarde. On ne s’en lasse pas !