Gibbon Slackrack for Balance Practice

Aloha Tribe,

I got an early Birthday present last night. It's the Gibbon Slackrack for slacklining indoors. It's a way totally  awesome  portable steel rack that holds a slackline. I do not know it's exact weight, but I'd gues maybe 70 pounds or so. You can tension the line as tightly or loosely as you would like and it can hold any type of webbing or rope, though the way it is made, it is specifically made for Gibbon slackline products, of course. To use something else, like your own webbing, or a rope, you simply tie it on rather than use the ratchet system for a Gibbon line.  The rack is 10 foot long and about a foot high. The base is gray and the end supports are a sort of magenta, it's rather pretty.

I have it set up in my Surfing Room. I really love it. It's great practice for slacklining, and the skills you learn can certainly apply to surfing. Regarding surfing, on a slackline, you are developing all of your balance muscles, so, having something like this lets you practice in any kind of weather and at any time since it's just in your home. It can break down into two 5 foot sections (I'm simply guessing but maybe 35 pounds each perhaps) for taking to a park or wherevers, it easily fits inside of both my Subaru Outback Sport and my new model turbo VW Bug, thus I can bring it on surfing trips for those times when I'm not camping and doing outdoor slacklining but instead, staying in a nice hotel and want to slack in my hotel room.

If you want to simply practice slacklining, this product can do anything you'd like. You can walk, bounce, stand motionless meditating, or even do slackline yoga on it. Or my favorite, of course, slackline chi gung. In fact, here it is about 1:30 AM and I'm still practicing on my slackrack. The balance possibilities are endless.  For example, regarding surfing, you can lay on it and paddle, it's high enough, then, sit, as though you were in the line up, then, paddle again with wave catching speed, pop to your feet, and, practice your surfing moves. Sure, it's not a board, it's a slackline, thus, it doesn't have the width a board had, yet, surfboards have stringers, and, knowing your stringer perfectly is what surfing is about. I've found that slacklining has dramatically improved my surfing by cutting off years of training, and, likewise, my surfing has radically helped my slacklining.

It will be interesting to spend a lot of time on the slackrack, like I do on my NOHO Surf Balance Trainer when I do my Silver Surfer Training Camp sessions. With my longboard on my NOHO, I spend as much time on it as I can during such training camps, and, likewise, I plan to do the same thing on this slackrack, simply hanging on it for hours at a time, ever increasing that time limit. I want to make it so comfortable that it is home to me, just like my longboard has become due to my Silver Surf Camp training I do so often. With my surfboard, I want to know every millimeter of it, and, I want the same for my slackrack. I want to know what it can do, how I can push the limits, where I can go with it and what mystery awaits me, what hidden treasures it holds within.

This is a great product for keeping your slacklining skills honed to perfection, especially also, if you are using it to keep your surfing in perfect shape.

I highly suggest one studies Chi Gung and bring it to the slackline  and, your surfboard for it will open doors of exploration in ways you've never imagined, offering new moves, increased balance, and greater freedom in truly expressing yourself physically.

Since the slackrack is so adjustable, you can, of course, tension it up like a traditional slackline, that is to say, the line is tensioned "straight," and then it sags when you walk on it. Or, you can use cavellettis and tie your line off, if you like, thus making your slackrack more like a tightrope line. Or, if you prefer, which is way fun I must add, you can simply tie your webbing or, as I prefer, manilla rope, loose, and thus have a loose rope or soft rope system, which is especially interesting if you're interested in Chinese Soft  Rope Penetration Arts. Thus, if Chinese Single Bamboo Pole Drifting is in the future for you, this is a great way to practice for that too. Drifting, by the way, rocks, and it makes SUP (Stand Up Paddle) which is so all the rage in the States now, seem rather calm and easy and, well, sorry SUPer's but, dull. There's just so much more you can do on a Bamboo Pole that offers such a greater challenge for those who love such things. Shooting the rapids, instead of in a kayak like the local boys do, try it on a bamboo pole, you'll not only turn heads but also hearts yearning for adventure.

Bodaciously Stoked,

Lily of the Valley