Club Obi Wan

i was out in the backyard earlier today practicing with my second hand Adam Winrich Indy-on-a-budget whip when i hear a few cars roaring thru the subdivision. i didn't think much of it until i see foru county sherrif officers round the corner of my house, one with his gun drawn. i jsut stood there in mid-swing. turns out what happened was that i was getting pretty good at cracking the whip, and the noise along with the echo one of my neighbours thought i was shooting a gun. i explained the situation to them & they all got a good chuckle out of the whole ordeal. they told me that although there were probally some state as well as local laws about a whip being a weapon of some sort, they weren't going to look them up, nor were they going to cite me, or worse. they just told me to not practice for a couple of days to let the "hysteria" die down. the kicker in all of this is that they are never around when people really are shooting off various guns...

I've said it for decades now...Nothing against the police or military, but lord help us if the lights ever go out and we have to fend for ourselves.....

Sheez, how's a guy 'sposed to practice his survival skills? mark my words, that neighbor will be thanking you when the Mayans' predictions come true in 2012....

PyramidBlaster wrote:I've said it for decades now...Nothing against the police or military, but lord help us if the lights ever go out and we have to fend for ourselves.....

Sheez, how's a guy 'sposed to practice his survival skills? mark my words, that neighbor will be thanking you when the Mayans' predictions come true in 2012....

Well if the end of the world comes then, I don't think your going to need a whip or anything else.

bruce wayne, that is a great story. I think that is the reason I practice my whip out in the open, so everyone can see that it is not a gun it is a whip. Geeez...I can't believe they sent four officers to your house. That was nice though, glad they got a good chuckle out of it. At least they were pretty nice about it. They didn't tell you which neighbor reported you in?? Well just glad that your local law enforcement was pretty reasonable about the situation. I have not had anyone come up to me yet and tell me to stop whip cracking yet, but if it is a police officer I would probably stop. Thanks for sharing, interesting to hear people's experiences.

IndianaChris

PyramidBlaster wrote:I've said it for decades now...Nothing against the police or military, but lord help us if the lights ever go out and we have to fend for ourselves.....

Sheez, how's a guy 'sposed to practice his survival skills? mark my words, that neighbor will be thanking you when the Mayans' predictions come true in 2012....

Yeah, just like how the Christians prediction of 1000 AD came true...and the rumors that it would be 2000 AD, and Nostradamus' theory that it would be 1998.

Seriously, just stick with the scientific notion - in a few hundred million years as the sun dies it will consume the earth. Use the one that's based on math, not an old man's delusions. :junior: -M

Mulceber wrote:

PyramidBlaster wrote:I've said it for decades now...Nothing against the police or military, but lord help us if the lights ever go out and we have to fend for ourselves.....

Sheez, how's a guy 'sposed to practice his survival skills? mark my words, that neighbor will be thanking you when the Mayans' predictions come true in 2012....

Yeah, just like how the Christians prediction of 1000 AD came true...and the rumors that it would be 2000 AD, and Nostradamus' theory that it would be 1998.

Seriously, just stick with the scientific notion - in a few hundred million years as the sun dies it will consume the earth. Use the one that's based on math, not an old man's delusions. :junior: -M

thank you.Thank you.

Mulceber, your stock just wen't up.

Obviously your neighbors dont know what a gun sounds like. A whip sounds like a loud .22 at best. Stupid yuppies.

A fellow gearhead and I were practicing out in the open a while back and got the cops called on us. The cops were cool about it and just told us we couldn't whip there anymore. Today's lesson: Don't whip near your home if your neighbors hate you.

Hey, give me some credit....The 'Mayan thing' was an attempt at 'humor'.

..besides, everybody knows the earth gets hit by an asteroid in 2016, silly...

I practice in my backyard, and so far (knocks on wood) I haven't had the cops called on me. My trowing is getting better and the cracks are getting louder now that I have found good a popper size (2 strands twisted to 4 about 8" long). My neighbors I guess are OK with it. At least no complaints. I ran into one of them while practicing and we just gave each other nod. Mine to him was along the lines of "sorry I'm a geek" and his was "yes you are", but they still haven't called the cops.

I practice in my (2.5 acre) back yard. It does echo quite loudly, especially being a 10' er. I got an email from a neighbor saying "I've heard people shooting animals to the south" and I said "I think that must be my whip".

At least no cops. On the other hands, I think my neighbour to the north IS shooting a rifle at ....something.

PyramidBlaster wrote:Hey, give me some credit....The 'Mayan thing' was an attempt at 'humor'.

..besides, everybody knows the earth gets hit by an asteroid in 2016, silly...

Ah ok. My mistake.

I've said it for decades now...Nothing against the police or military, but lord help us if the lights ever go out and we have to fend for ourselves.....

I just tend to doubt that weapons would help in that situation - the police generally do a decent job of keeping the dangerous criminals in check, so if nobody's armed, everyone's on equal footing. :junior: -M

Yeah, it's best to always side on the side of caution. I've never had a problem cracking in the backyard. Sometimes I've gone to a local park, but it's always out in the open and away from people that could be in the "line of fire" so to speak. If people see what's going on, it's less likely the police are called.

I'd check your local laws. Part of this hobby is being able to practice it, and not be cowed by various factions that think we're out there harming the peace. If it's legal, then by all means keep cracking. Stand up for your right to use it, and shake the stigma associated with the whip. It's practiced all over the world and the states, so next time, ask them to look up the laws.

From my understanding in asking the local police, while the whip itself is legal, a neighbor could file a disturbing the peace complaint. Best to make nice with your neighbors, and then the police will never get involved.

When I crack, I usually go to different parks each time. Hard to find a grassy area that's not near houses around here.

in regards to which neighbour it was, the police did not say, but only one neighbouer in the subdivision ever casue trouble by calling the cops & making a mountain out of a molehill. i am going to the county sheriff's office today to check on the local laws.

Mulceber wrote:... so if nobody's armed, everyone's on equal footing. :junior: -M

Sadly these kind of misunderstandings happen. Chances are though that the person who called the police really did think they where gunshots and where not calling the because someone was cracking a whip in their backyard. Thankfully the police in your case had a good attitude about the situation.

I would be really surprised if there was a local law that specifically covers a whip as a weapon, but good idea to check to be on the safe side so you are in the know. Obviously brandishing anything as a weapon to another person is going to be unlawful, be it a baseball bat, a crow bar, a rock or a whip but as long as you are on your own property not using the whip in a threatening manner, I don’t see the problem. Still it's best to make nice with the neighbors and be considerate to them but at the same time as long as its not illegal behavior, what you do on your property is your business and you should have the right to practice with your whip. I would think the most the police could do in that case if they wanted to get technical about it, would be cite you for would be a possible noise ordinance violation. That’s something you may want to check into as well but something like that would basically be no different then a barking dog or playing music too loud after dark.

I wouldn’t stop cracking, but I might suggest cracking the whip more softly and practicing for shorter periods of time during the day especially if your working the whip hard and loud. Power cracking is annoying especially for long periods of time even to other whip artists. It’s not too good for the longevity of the whip or for your own hearing either.

Dan

I make up an ordinary cracker (popper) but slightly thicker. I then tie an extra knot or two in the loose fibre end of it. If there is any more fluff left on the end I cut if off fairly close to the last knot. This reduces the noise of the whip to a dull, quiet sound. This is much better to use than no popper at all, because your fall is saved. You can do leaf cutting or whatever to your heart's content. If I'm out in the bush, I use the ordinary cracker.

as long as you are on your own property not using the whip in a threatening manner, I don’t see the problem

+1

I wouldn’t stop cracking, but I might suggest cracking the whip more softly and practicing for shorter periods of time during the day especially if your working the whip hard and loud. Power cracking is annoying especially for long periods of time even to other whip artists. It’s not too good for the longevity of the whip or for your own hearing either.

+2

I feel for you. I don't have that problem. I can fire pistols (and have) without the neighbors gripping, because they do also. I think the whip is just a curiosity to them.

I go as easy as I can, which takes some attention; my EM-Brand 8 footer can really boom! I spent most of the afternoon today working with my whip and actually heard a neighbor three houses away ask "What is that? Is someone setting off firecrackers?". Must have been a visitor, all my neighbors should be used to it by now. The accousitics in my neighborhood are so good that you can hear a butterfly break wind a block away on a calm day.

I think my whipcracking rates as a very minor nuisance compared to my next door neighbor who likes to rev his engines and slam his doors at 3am every weekend, and the neighbor that likes to share his love for AC/DC with us every weekend, (and sometimes the weekend starts on Tuesday at his house!) concert begins at 11pm. As long as I do it during daylight and try not to be obnoxious about it, no problem.

Great story bruce! Good to know your local authorities are attentive and have everything under control.

Weston

Exactly the same thing happened to me once.
When I was a kid I used to use the whip to scare the blackbirds out of a tree in my front yard.
I did it once and innocently went back inside.
I came back outside after about five minutes to find my Dad and neighbor giggling to themselves.
Evidently, while I was inside, the local police had done a drive-by and asked if anyone had heard any gunshots, as they'd had a report of some.

"Ohhhh not at all", said dad, "We haven't heard a thing"

I practise on my backgarden every day and never had problem. Irish weapon low is very rigorous but whip is still legal .

I know there's no Pennsylvania law against having a whip.....biggest thing that could happen is getting cited for the noise.

In defense of the neighbors who called the police, there was a shooting outside my front door (short version: neighbor's daughter's boyfriend went a bit nuts and suicidal. They called the police when he decided to go to his car for a gun).

I was in my basement working when the police showed up. All I heard was Pop.... pop, pop .... pop from my son's baby monitor. All four shots sounded like faint whip cracks. I didn't even register them as being gun shots. I went up and looked out the fonr window of my town house and saw nothing, because (as I found out later) the boyfriend was out of sight on the left in front of my garage and the police were on the right out of sight in front of my neighbor's garage.

It did not sound liek gunshots. I think whip crack can sound more like movie gunshots, which is what most people know. I've fired .22 and thirty-aught-six rifles and a few handguns, and I still didn't recognize the sounds.

So, anyway. Don't feel too bad when people call the cops for hearing strange sounds. It just means you're in a safer neighborhood where such things aren't common. (Mine is safe too, except for the boyfriend losing it...)

You know what the irony is: you could be dressed like a clown in the middle of the town square cracking whips and blowing fireballs, with dozens of people around and no previous warning to the local PD, and NO-ONE would complain!!! Go figure...

Sounds like you had a nice snap going there. IMO a good whipcrack does sould like a .22.

I would take the cop's advice and lay low for a little while before starting to crack again. But that is just me.

Good Luck
Bill

I have a friend who can do .22 sounds with his 6 footers, but I can never get it under a 30-06... I don't even muscle it either, but it is really loud and reverberates on buildings 4 blocks away!

one of the advantages of living in the rural south. Around here people DO shoot guns quite frequently, so noone thinks twice about a loud crack unless it sounds like it's right outside their front door.