Club Obi Wan

Now I appreciate this has been discussed before but I am after some specifics. I'm ordering a whip and have some time to decide. I want it to wear and also to use. I'm not really bothered about multiple cracks or anything 'complicated'. I only want to do what be does in the films - crack, wrap and flick things away.

I've never used a whip before and will have to learn. Is learning with. A 10ft REALY going to be THAT much harder to learn on than an 8ft? I just don't want it to be so hard that I end up giving up. Also how much room will I need to learn / practice in? I don't meen 'can I use it in the house' but how much open space will I need? My garden is about 80ft by 15ft I would be worried about the looks i'd get in the park as I try to learn and end up hurting myself and getting tangled up!

Also is there anything I should wear while learning to protect myself such as goggles etc?

Hi there!

10 footers are a little heavier than 8 footers, and you start to feel that weight after you've been practicing for a while. Also, 10 footers are a little slower than 8 footers. I'd say an 8 footer is definitely best to learn on, although 10 footers are going to be better for wraps and tricks like that.

In terms of room you'll need... remember that the length of the whip is only measured from the handle to the fall hitch, and doesn't include the fall and cracker. So if your average fall is about 2 feet, then your 8 footer will need around a 10' radius to wield safely. Likewise, the 10 footer would require 12', and so on, not counting the cracker, which should be a few inches also (mine's about 6" right now).

When practicing, and especially learning, it's a good idea to wear goggles, as well as pants and a jacket, though those aren't neccesary. Also, a fedora and some ear protection (it can get loud) wouldn't hurt. The main thing is to be careful and don't get too excited. Be sure to check out the learning materials by people like Anthony DeLongis, Alex Green, etc. etc. These types of DVDs can be very useful in learning to properly and safely wield the bullwhip!


Best of luck, happy cracking, and keep us posted!
Shane

PS - What kind of whip will you be ordering?

Order a DVD like Whip Basics Volume I which should give you all you need to know to do what you outlined. The general consensus is as stated above, the 8 footer is probably the way to go-although I cut my teeth on cracking using a 14 footer! Invest in quality and get Robby's DVD. I think forum friends www.midwestwhips.com distributes the DVD here in the states.

However after getting your whip and learning a few cracks the real problem for you will begin. Its a virus known as ineedmorewhips or more commonly called gottahavemore. Its a strange affliction that comes with whip cracking!

Good luck!

Thanks Shane. Do you think 10 ft will make it so much harder to learn what I want that I'm likely to give up? Also sounds like my garden is going to be too small. Maybe some very early starts in the park

Raider Of The Lost Ark wrote:Thanks Shane. Do you think 10 ft will make it so much harder to learn what I want that I'm likely to give up?

Those do look nice! I don't think the 10 footer will make it THAT difficult - no way. And they're definitely rewarding when you do get them to crack. You can watch them roll out and explode, and it's just fantastic. But just know that if you're watching somebody crack an 8 footer and you want to copy them, your whip will be a little slower! ;-) My whip (and my next one coming) are both 8 footers, but I have a 10 on the way - because I have spent some time with 10 footers before and they're always very fun to crack. I think that with either length, you'll enjoy yourself - and that's what matters, isn't it?

bobm2004 wrote:However after getting your whip and learning a few cracks the real problem for you will begin. Its a virus known as ineedmorewhips or more commonly called gottahavemore. Its a strange affliction that comes with whip cracking!

That's true! I had one whip, then sold it for a different one. Then saw the whip of my dreams and ordered one of those... then tried somebody else's whip at the QM and had to order one of THOSE too!!!

Shane

I think you'll find that limiting yourself to what is seen in the movies will get boring rather quickly. That being said space is limited only by your skills. I have been known to use my 10' KoTCS in my mothers basement, but don't tell her that. I just control my loop and have a decent close range forward crack. If I take a knee I can do a little more.

hollywood1340 wrote:I think you'll find that limiting yourself to what is seen in the movies will get boring rather quickly.

+1 to that. My very first whip was a 10ft. Indy bullwhip, and doing single cracks was fairly easy, but you do have to make sure you give the whip enough time to fully load. For instance, on the cattleman's crack, it seems like you have to wait forever for the entire whip to get behind you (maybe the fall and cracker actually touch the ground behind you) before you start your forward motion to make the crack. Here is a video of me right after I got my whip, and you can see it's not that difficult to learn to crack it...however, I got bored really quick with making single cracks, and now that it's been a couple weeks, I'm getting better at multiple cracks, but it sure would have been a lot easier with an 8ft whip.

I guess what I'm saying, is don't sell yourself short...I think that once you get a few basic cracks down, you're going to want to move right into putting them together for multiple cracks. And an 8ft whip is definitely easier, but certainly not impossible with a 10ft whip.

If you really are more interested in a longer whip you will not mind its idiosyncrasies (that's a big word - had to watch carefully as I typed that one). To the cracker who likes the 10 best, the 10 footer is wonderful and 'just right'. I don't find it slow. Not at all. But then I'm not comparing it against anything. If I went to a meeting with other whip crackers and their 8 foot whips were faster it wouldn't worry me. I know my 10 foot whip has advantages of its own. I am completely satisfied with this length. I am not a whip artist, just a weekend cracker. The 10 foot gives me the sort of feedback when cracking that I really like in a whip. Others seem bored with owning just 10 footers but I am no way bored by them. The opposite.

A positive take on it is that the 10 foot whip is graceful and smooth, with a nice flow and usually a very satisfying crack and follow through. A 10 foot whip can be cracked in quite a confined space, easily within the area you describe as long as some cracks such as the overhead are avoided, but for a beginner you'd need more space around you.

The ultimate of course is to own an 8 and a 10 footer (and others if you can). Is the 10 foot whip difficult? I'm not all that talented a whip cracker and I haven't had any problems whatsoever in learning to crack a 10 with all the main cracks (the ones HF does in the films, and some extra ones not in the films). I live in a semi-rural area though so I do have the 'swinging room'.

Best of luck with your choice. I tend to think you should get what you really want, as it is such a large sum of money. If you are more interested in a 10 footer, get that. If you like the idea of an 8 foot whip, get that one. If you go to a lot of get-togethers with other whip crackers and you only have one whip perhaps the 8 will fit in better.

You asked, so here goes;

MY personal favourite is the 8 footer. I find it to be an all-around good length. It's faster than the 10, but not as fast as a 6 footer. It's long but not too long... You get the gist.

Basic rule of thumb in measuring minimum SAFE space needed for a BULLWHIP: take the length of the whip, add 3 feet (I've found most average falls I've ever seen are about 30" not 24"-Sorry McFly, + 6" for cracker). Take that number and multiply it by 2, then add another 2 feet for the length of your average arm = minimum circle for safe practice. So in practical application for an 8 footer it looks like this:

8' + 3' = 11' X 2 = 22' + 2' = 24'

Round it off to 25' and there you have it. The minimum amount to safely practice without having any fear of hitting anything. Now if you have a smaller space, it doesn't mean you can practice with your whip, it just means you will be forced to be more careful in certain directions. If you had for exsample a stretch of grass that was 15' long by 6' wide, you could probably get away with an 8 footer no problem, but you would have to practice in a certain direction and be careful of the sides...

Anyway, I'm not trying to argue with anyone on fall lengths here, I'm just saying that you need a lot of space to practice in a full circle of obstacle-free space, but that one can get away with less if one is carful.