Got one!

[randystokes]

Just got an 8' Joe Strain-made whip (with the Morgan style handle). What a beautiful whip! Now I've just gotta learn to crack it!

It was delivered at the office yesterday, and a lot of people were admiring it (although I think I had my secretary a bit concerned . . .)

[whammerjammer]

Randy,

Congrats on your new Strain. I just recently moved to Sierra Vista and have been meaning to post a message looking for any other Arizona whip fanatics. I'm not a real IndyGear fan but have joined this forum for the abundance of information regardings whips. I had Adam Winrich make me a beautiful 10 footer just before moving out here in July. Although you are about 200 miles from me, maybe sometime we could hook up and I could show you some of the things that I do know about whip handling. I'm by no means a professional, but I'm no novice either. Hopefully some of the other members from Arizona will read this post and would like to get together as well. Again, congrats on your new Strain. Hopefully you will post some pics in the future.

Best regards,

Jay Lankford

[Michaelson]

It was delivered at the office yesterday, and a lot of people were admiring it (although I think I had my secretary a bit concerned . . .)

You missed a good chance there, don't cha know?

You should have smiled, and said, 'Look, a new management tool!'



Regards! Michaelson

[thefish]

If I didn't think I'd get in trouble with Campus Security, (in Ohio, whips are considered a deadly weapon, for some stupid @$$ed reason, and there was a history prof on another campus several years ago who got in trouble for having a de-commissioned WWI rifle on his wall that COULD NOT FIRE. Don't feel like playing THAT stupid game. Academics can be so bloody....academic! Anyway...) I'd put a wood plaque on the wall in my office with a little brass plaque that said "complaints department," and hang MY Strain whip from it when I was at work.

Congrats Randy! You've picked THE whip if you're interested in accuracy and quality. And as I was told, if you think it handles cool now, give it a year to break in. I've had mine since December, and it's just getting better and better.

Happy cracking!

-Dan

[randystokes]

I also bought one of Paul Stenhouse's instructional DVDs, although I didn't take the time to watch it until lunchtime today (thank goodness my laptop plays DVDs!). Now I can't wait to get out with the whip and try to make it crack. (Although I have to keep in mind what happened at the beginning of Last Crusade when Indy cracked a whip for the first time!)

Right now the whip is in my office, along with a bunch of other Indy gear -- I think I've got a few people wondering . . .

Randy

[thefish]

There are two things to remember with cracking whips

The first is that the whip travels in a straight line. If you stay out of it's plane of travel, it won't hit you, (but that's the really trick. So, take that worth a grain of salt from the guy who scarred his back last weekend by cracking the whip out of plane.)

The second is that the whip WANTS to crack. That's what it was designed for. You just need to throw it OUT there. Don't ever pull it back at you. That's what Young Indy did in Last Crusade, and see what happened to him.

Stenhouse will teach you everything you need to know.

Have fun! Post pictures!

-Dan

[Kentucky Blues]

Congrats on the new whip! Cracking is pretty fun (though for some reason, I seem to have stopped)

On a totaly un related note, I dissappear for a mere couple of months, and Michaelson grows a beard and starts wearing a crown?!

High Regards,
Daryl

[randystokes]

So I took my new 8' Joe Strain whip out in the backyard after work yesterday, after watching Paul Stenhouse's instructional DVD, and after locking the dog in the house out of danger. I kind of swished the whip back and forth a little in the grass just to loosen it and my wrist up. Laid it out behind me as Paul advised, whipped it forward -- and got a huge, loud, rewarding crack on my very first try. My 14-year-old son was very impressed. I spent about half an hour after that -- some great cracks, some not so great, some just little whiffs -- but it was fun all around. My old-guy shoulder and forearm are a little sore this morning, but not too bad. Gotta do some more cracking!

Randy