Originally Posted by
Steven
SC,
That was kind of long and I'm not sure who said what in your post, but I did seize on your comparison of a sparkle dun to a parachute. I don't think you can compare the two as the parachute hackle spreads in front, to the sides, and the back of the wing, whereas the wing of the sparkle dun, and therefore its support, is in-line at the front of the fly.
Whereas a parachute might float properly without a tail if the collar hackle is long enough, this most certainly would not be the case of a comparadun without a tail.