cracked pole question

[pvjackex]

i have a spirit pole that is fine except there is a crack running down from the top of the pole to the top of the pink weight label. i found it on the ground in the shed cracked... maybe someone stepped on it or something. can i still jump on this pole?

[zack]

Yeeahh you should probably NOT jump on that pole.

[jmayesvaultmom]

We had a pole come in that had the tip crushed and one of the coaches just cut off the top until it was clear of cracks and it has been used forever.

[Skyin' Brian]

i know that some pole factories can test poles for defects by bending them with their machines. a couple of years ago my high school decided to take their questionable poles down to gill. the ones that didnt break(and were gill poles) were given new weight ratings and stickers. usually just a small fee is charged per pole or something like that.

or you could get some guy a little bigger than you to test it out and if he doesnt break it it would probalby work for you(or maybe that is a bad idea)

[wacky274]

I would have to agree with vaultmom about cutting the top several inches off, BUT i can not say if it does anything to the pole. I recently had to cut the top 3 inches off 2 of my poles because they were ran over and crushed by the shipping company. In hs though, you are not allowed to do this, because A.) the poles length will not match with what the manufacturer put on there, and B, if it's more than the top 3 inches on a spirits, you will be cutting off the poles info that is inscribed in the top.

[jmayesvaultmom]

Exactly...she used the pole in warmups and for drills since it was a pole right at her weight before it was cut. But even then when we were at Bell's once, Jeff Hartwig spent about an hour and flexed all the poles she had at the time and then he cut off about four inches off the bottom of that pole so the flex would fit in the series of poles she had available to her at the time. It went from being a 13 foot to about a 12 foot pole.... But she could not use the pole at Texas Relays or at another national meet in Miami where they weighed the vaulters and checked the weight ratings on each pole, marked them and impounded the poles the day before the competition and locked them up.... She wasn't even allowed to use the pole for popups in warmups in either meet (which was all she was using the pole for at the time anyway.... So we ended up buying a new pole (with all labels intact) right a little above her weight to have for warmups, and in case of bad weather, head winds, jumping when hurting or not feeling good....something she could use even from a 6 or 8 step in a meet. But then most regular high school meets never check....but they have the option to and the option to weigh vaulters on the spot if another coach doesn't believe you are on poles at or above your weight... And we've seen plenty of girls that are probably on poles 20-30 pounds under their weight! And cutting it does raise the weight rating on the pole...it did on that one by about 5 pounds...but you still can't use it in meets where they check the poles...

[jmayesvaultmom]

The other thing cutting it does is change where the sail piece is in relationship to the length etc. of the pole so it does probably change the way it bends...

[wacky274]

but cutting off the top would not have an effect on sail piece, since you are holding below that point anyway, the sailpiece issue becomes irrelevant. I mean, if you are holding say 13' 6" on a 14' pole and cut off 3 inches, you're still holding 13' 6" at the same distance away from the sail piece, whereas if you cut 3 inches off the bottom, you would now be holding 13'6" and be holding 3 inches further away from the sail piece.

[opalkak]

I have vaulted on several poles that have cracks on the top like you described. I have not experienced any problems. I however tend to grip down on a pole about 10 inches, so that region of the pole isn't anywhere near my grip.