So at ne waterbury I was asked by a team if we had a heat gun to fuse their strap end. I handed them the heat gun and noticed they pulled the Velcro off the end of their strap. So I asked what happened. They were told the Velcro couldn’t be in the last 4" of the strap / rope .
With all the rope questions this year and the various updates I am reading it differently.
So is it me or did the inspector read it wrong?
Talk to the LRI at the event. And honestly, that’s what the team should have done. If an RI finds something that there is a difference of interpretation on, the LRI should be the first person called.
If the velcro is made of flexible non-metallic fibers that are legally formed into a rope or part of it, then there’s no prohibition against it being in the last 4". Whipping and fusing (especially the fusing) to prevent fraying is only legal in the last 4".
That’s how I read it.
Now, there may have been some OTHER reason for the velcro in question not being legal–for example, adhesive that was sticky.
The Velcro was sewn on to almost the very end of the strap. Maybe a 1/4" of strap past Velcro. Looked to be a 1" wide strap with about 3/4" wide Velcro sewn on.
Read Question 21 on the official [i]FIRST Q&A:
Q: If we choose to use our own rope can we use a 1" strap with velcro sewn on the last 4 in of the rope?
A: Please see Team Update 02. I04-D explains how the last 4" of your rope may be treated, and this treatment must be ‘only to prevent fraying’. Hook and loop fastener would be an odd choice to ‘only prevent fraying’, and would invite more questions from Inspectors.
A lot is open to interpretation and the LRI. A different LRI may consider the ‘end’ of the rope to be the final loose piece at the tail end of a knot, which may be anchoring a loop hanging below it closer to the floor. The next LRI may interpret the ‘end’ of the rope being the bottom of the loop closest to the floor.
We are hoping most will use the first interpretation, since that is how our rope is set up, and we have velcro sewn all around the bottom loop.
Q&A:](FIRST FRC Q&A System)
For some reason, I think the Q&A is a bit confused on that. I04-D states:
consist entirely of (except for dye or adhesive applied by the VENDOR as part of the normal manufacturing process for a COTS item and no longer tacky, e.g. a “binder coat”) flexible, non-metallic fibers sewn, twisted, tied, woven, knitted, crocheted, intertwined, or braided together except for the last 4 in. (~10 cm) of any cut end (E) which may be whipped (with material that is flexible and non-metallic) or fused only to prevent fraying.
The key words to me there are that it “may be” whipped or fused. The rule seems to imply that the last 4 inches of your rope can have those treatments as things other than what the rule previously states. I also believe that the question was answered before sewing was explicitly allowed on the rope, bringing in more ambiguity.
Either way, teams should have a backup plan ready in case their rope is illegal.
I don’t think this is what happened. Multiple teams at Waterbury had Velcro at the end of their straps within the letter of the rules that were allowed to compete.
The key is that they were asking for a heat gun. If they attached the Velcro using an adhesive, instead of sewing or stitching it into place, that is why it was ruled illegal, not because of the use of Velcro at all. If the Velcro was sewn on, how would a heat gun help them remove it?
Q&A:](FIRST FRC Q&A System)
So they are saying the rope cannot extend to the end of the rope? It says you cannot use Velcro as a whipping material. (Functions as something other than to keep the rope from fraying.) It doesn’t say that as part of the rope it cannot be in the last 4 inches. Once Velcro is legally part of the rope then it is rope. (Using the GDC’s definition of rope) That is a little contorted I know, but the is the GDC’s doing not mine.
It can vary by inspector. As always if you have a question speak to the LRI. In Waterbury we were told the Velcro had to come off the last 4" of rope only to find later on another team was using a rope with Velcro all the way to the end. Consistency will get better as weeks go on but the way we read the rule was exactly the way the inspector did, we forgot the rule when we sewed Velcro on. We since decided it was not the best choice of rope for climbing and are using something different now.