PoleVaultPower.com

Is there an advantage to moving to CARBON POLES?
There are several different kinds of Carbon poles on the market today!
Nordic (I have not had the opportunity to examine them!)
Altius ( light weight and fast back)
Gill Weave ( Dangerous in my opinion)
Gill Carbon ( light weight fast return and much more durable than weave)
ESSX (Light and small diameter)
Spirit ( Does not have a Carbon Solution)

A reason to move to Carbon would be the lightness, but lets not take this too far now. it has to be safe. Making a pole thinner and lighter is not the total solution without safety in mind! It has to be durable so if it hits a standard it will still hold up!
Another Attribute to CARBON is it increases the stiffness of the glass to hold more load, thus less glass can be used to produce a set stiffness pole.
One must keep in mind that the pole vault is a double pendulum and this is the key to timing. If you are getting a faster pole you will have to speed up the swing to catch the pole. Some have had great success at this until they move to stiffer poles then the stiffness works harder against them.
Choosing a CARBON solution should be safety first, then smaller diameter and then lightness of the carry weight.
Getting the maximum energy return is a key component of CARBON so if you are not jumping over your handgrip then a Carbon pole will be a waste of money.
Personal side note ESSX is not the lightness poles out there! However in my opinion the solution works!

Bruce Caldwell

Bruce you know anything about those experimental poles from back in the day where they tried to have some sort of gas release when the pole unbent. Someone told me they usually exploded after 3-4 jumps. Sounded like a great story, can't remember who told me. Honestly I wish we could keep poles being made like they have been; I would hate to see someone break Bubka's record one day and we have to question how much a difference that persons equipment made.

Kind of on a side note also..

Has anyone seen this pole?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anQlU5QWpWY

The bent handle is a patent after market design modification by a guy down in Texas - I talked to him a few times. If that is a HS meet, surprised it was allowed since that pole has been modified after it left the manufacturer - Idea is to get a higher grip hgt effect or pole at a higher take-off angle - was a concept I played with about 7 years ago but could not do it in one production step -- from what I know these are cut and then re-glassed with the angle in them.

Mr. Bentley also talked about how it helps keep the hand in a better position to pull when inverted. Very interesting concept.

Thread about the bent pole design here: http://polevaultpower.com/forum/viewtop ... =8&t=19690

Let's keep this one on topic.