Study? Nope. Time to slack

Most of my friends are spending their days inside, at the library or locked in their rooms, writing papers and studying for final exams. But not all of them-Laura Smit and Sakura Maillet are slackin’. Literally. They’ve been slacklining.

These two girls are roommates. Last year, one introduced slacklining to the other. Ever since, both have been addicted.

Sakura Maillet gets tipsy on the line. Photo contributed by Maillet

“It’s challenging. You don’t think at first that you’ll be able to get up on it and be able to stand. Once you get that going, you want to take a step. And then another step. And then learn to do a trick. It doesn’t stop.”

Maillet’s talking about tying a very narrow strip of webbing between two trees and walking on it. Smit says it’s a long piece of nylon webbing that’s about one inch wide. Her line reaches 50 feet, but they set it 30 feet long. Smit sets it up tight, but when someone stands on it, it sags.

“Don’t call it a tightrope around Laura,” warns Maillet. Her roommate is quick to say that it’s very different from a tightrope. It’s slack-it sags and sways from side to side. Some compare it to a longer, more narrow version of a trampoline.

“The swaying can throw you off initially but it can also help you save yourself, as opposed to a tightrope where if you’re going over, you’re going over,” says Smit.

Smit and a friend work together to keep balance. Photo contributed by Maillet

The girls are students at St. FX. Their line is set up between two huge trees on West Street, across from the university campus and close to a high-traffic intersection. The girls say that slacklining gets them a lot of attention from puzzled passers-by.

“A lot of cars drive by and I feel like we’re gonna cause an accident because people stare at us as they turn. They honk and they yell,” says Laura.

It’s not a popular sport in Antigonish. It’s not that popular in Fredericton, either. But Max LeBlanc says it’s gaining status.

LeBlanc is a UNB student and a member of the school’s Rock Climbing Club. He heard of the hobby a couple of years ago from a fellow climber.

“I jumped on his line and got pretty hooked so I had to go out and buy my own,” says LeBlanc. “Traditionally, [slacklining] was used by climbers as a tool to better their balance so they could become better climbers, but I think it’s elaborated into more of a game. It’s like its own little entity.”

Duncan MacGillivray, a friend of LeBlanc's, slacklines in Fredericton. Photo contributed by MacGillivray

Some of the climbers at the UNB club use slacklining as a way to cool down after the activity, but LeBlanc treats slacking as a sport of its own. He says he’s noticed an increase in slackliners around the city. Some areas they like to set up are downtown at Queens Square, near Renaissance College and even on

UNB campus, near Carleton Hall.

LeBlanc says when practicing the hobby, the important thing to do is pick big trees because the line puts a lot of tension on them.

“For the most part, the trees are pretty resilient. There is potential for wearing on the bark, which can cause some serious problems,” says LeBlanc.

To avoid damaging the trees, Smit and LeBlanc use tree slings, which are made with the same material as the line. The material has a protective sleeve around it. They both suggest putting a towel between the sling and the tree as a buffer. This way, the line is not directly pulling on the tree, nor scraping it.

Photo contributed by MacGillivray

“Find a decent sized tree. If you’re doing it on a young tree, you’ll probably ruin it. You’ve got to find stable, tall ones. Or potentially, tie it to telephone polls,” says LeBlanc.

Both LeBlanc and Smit use low lines, but some slackliners attach themselves to high lines with carabineers and slack over rivers and cliffs.

For now, Smit says she’ll stick to the low line and practical tricks.

“I like tricks that have high cool factor and low danger,” she laughs, “because I value my brain.”

Right now, LeBlanc and Smit say slackline societies do not exist in their respective cities, but both would like to see the under-rated sport gain more exposure.

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Posted by Melissa Russwurm on Apr 14, 2010. Filed under Features, This Week's Edition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.