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Comments to nick@bluespoon.com

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From: Antonis Papadopoulos <apap@hol.gr>

Subject: [FAIsoaring] Tow lines break in

Dear all on the list,

I would like to share with you what I heard two weeks ago in Germany where I had the chance to meet and talk with people from EMC-WEGA company, the main distributor for tow lines, the majority of F3J competitors are using.

I had a conversation with them regarding the many cases of lines breaks all the competitors had in Corfu.

They told me that there are two reasons for that. One is the heat but the most serious is the not proper "Break in" or conditioning of the lines as they call it. Probably some of you are aware of the case but since I heard this one for the first time I would like to share this peace of information.

First of all you have to place the lines in water for two days. Then you have to stretch the line for one hour under 20 Kgs tension and then one more hour under 30 Kgs.

After that the lines are ready for use but after this conditioning the lines should always be kept in wet condition (either inside water or wrap them in wet towel). If this is not happened conditioning is not of any use.

With this method line breaks will be minimized.

Hope that this information might help you.

Best regards

Antonis Papadopoulos