Hi there! When I was 12 years old, like many people on this site, I became interested in the bullwhip right around the time Raiders of the Lost Ark came out. Weird Coincidence...Not!! I got a couple of Mexican deluxe whips & just sorta goofed around until a few years ago a friend of mine told me that you could get a whip from the guy who made Indy's for the movies. He also had a "How-To" crack whips VHS by some guy named Anthony DeLongis??? (I had no idea who he was at the time!) I had to have one for myself, so I bought a pricy David Morgan 8 footer. I had wanted the 10 footer, but it was just too much money, so I found another whip maker that apprenticed under David named Joseph Strain. I took a chance, bought a 10 foot 12 plait Indy Style & was completely amazed by Joe's work. To this day it is still one of my favorite whips to crack. It's a real pleasure!
Recently I became a lot more interested when I was working on the set of Cowboys & Aliens. The art director, Lauren, would go nowhere without her Indy whip strapped to her hip at all times! It was a gift from production of the 4th Indy movie & on top of that she had gotten some personal training from Anthony DeLongis himself! Now where have I heard that name before? I got to see her practice on break & she was pretty darn good. I brought my whip in the next day & she showed me a few new tricks. Well that was it, I got hooked again but wanted to learn more.
I've been spending all my money on whips of different sizes, plaits & styles trying to find out what kind is best suited to me. I already had an 8 foot 12 plait Indy style from David Morgan & the 10 foot 12 plait from Joseph Strain Indy Style (the Joseph Strain is still my favorite). I recently purchased a Raiders Style 10 foot 16 plait from Joe along with two specials he was offering that his brother Christopher Strain made, both black 12 plait indy style around 7 foot each. I wanted to try nylon so more recently I ordered a pair of performance hybrid whips from Paul & Lauren over at MidWest Whips & a pair of neon Yellow 9 foot Indy Style from Robert W. Buckley at Lineage Whips. Finally, I bought a pair of 7 foot Aussie style Black & Yellow 8 plait from Mike Murphy (I have no more money). I'm in the process of figuring out what I like & still trying to learn more crack routines & double handed stuff too! I'm having a ton of fun though. My girlfriend loves it as much as I do & we go to the park together & practice whipping all the time!
I feel like we need to learn from actual whip people who know what they are doing. If anyone knows a good whip teacher in the Los Angeles area or is someone who would like to go to the park just to learn from each other, please let us know.
P.S. I Some how forgot to mention- While I was on the set of Cowboys & Aliens -Harrison Ford Walked right passed me sipping coffee, while trying to ignore my stupid amazed goofy stair-
Here are some pics of my Whip collection:
