Infinitive wrote:Please enlighten me as to why it seemed appropriate, and why it was named so.
You have to place this within the context of
when it came into being. Back then (and we're talking about '93 or thereabouts)
tricks meant the Axel and little else.
Now... you try to Axel a kite from the early '90s with the flying skills from that time. It added up to an alarming tendency to do it
very poorly.
The hardware was big and clunky too. Anything that reduced tip or spine wraps was a good idea. The trick line was pretty much essential to some kites if you wanted to Axel without it being followed by a brief stroll to recover your stricken kite from a tangled knot of line. No trick line, no tricks.
Of course quite a few people found that they interfered with the other,
newer tricks as they were discovered so the trick line was modified. Incut trick lines (W-shaped, attaching to the standoffs - some charlatan even tried to name it "the Dodd Line"
), Active Trick Lines (ie; with a piece of bungee), even ones that looped between the LS connector, wingtip and spine.... lots of stuff was tried - all to keep the tip wrap protection but reduce interference.
Very few kites use these lines as necessary structural elements. The Stranger did, the Box of Tricks needs it too. Geminis can get away without them.
To be honest the TE defence is a side-effect that means the line is still (sometimes) used rather than its primary function. The first kite that I recall that actively avoided the trick line would be the Prism Illusion from '97 (you know... the
good one). So there was only quite a small window where it was a
trick line, not a
sail-saver line.
Mike.