Club Obi Wan

I have an 8 foot cowhide whip from midland whips and have been trying to perform the volley with it with no success at all. I have watched Adam Winrich's YouTube video on it but it just doesn't seem to help. In his video his says to throw the whip in a windshield wiper motion, but it doesn't seem to work with an eight footer because it has too much weight behind it, throwing me off balance. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Bdgsi11

Practice...rest...repeat.

I applied the same technique described by Adam as well. To get the volley to work for me, I had to bend my wrist just a little while performing the back and forth method described. After that, it worked. By the way, you will get used to the weight. I can do the volley with 6, 8 and 10ft whips. It just takes time.

Allen

Thanks, I forgot to mention, though. My whip is very floppy with not a very sturdy transition stemming from the handle to the rest of the body. Could this be a contributing factor as to why I may be having a difficult time?

Do a fast figure 8. Add another crack. Add another crack. Streamline the motion.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxQQYEIVE-M

Bdgsi11 wrote:Thanks, I forgot to mention, though. My whip is very floppy with not a very sturdy transition stemming from the handle to the rest of the body. Could this be a contributing factor as to why I may be having a difficult time?

Yes. It is my understanding that the volley requires some sturdiness there, which is why Adam Winrich said it was hard to do a volley with a chainmail whip.

-KB

An oldy but a goody, Adam shows that the volley can be done with a 10ft David Morgan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZjVNG7Ze-M

So there is hope!

Allen

Thanks, I tried a new technique I saw in a video called the lifting and dropping, and it seems to be helping a lot! I almost got it

An oldy but a goody, Adam shows that the volley can be done with a 10ft David Morgan.

Allen, I've watched that video dozens of times, it's mesmerizing to see what he can do with a 10 foot whip!

I know what you mean, I have studied that video for a looooong time. Adam is a true master of the whip and the inspiration for me getting back into whip cracking. Till this day, I still cannot get the three crack pattern down that he does!

Ohhh, I wanna try that one, or part of it.
I haven't been out all week or the past weekend, I'm dying to work on the De Longis Flash, the volley, the three crack...why can't my job be practicing the whip?

Bdgsi11, what's the lift and drop technique?

The "continuing the line" from Delongis' catalog is the quickest way for you hitch and fall to introduce themselves to the back of your head. That one took a long time to get down. It is very fun though!

Lukes Roommate wrote:Ohhh, I wanna try that one, or part of it.
I haven't been out all week or the past weekend, I'm dying to work on the De Longis Flash, the volley, the three crack...why can't my job be practicing the whip?

Bdgsi11, what's the lift and drop technique?

The lift and drop technique is something that is pretty obvious once you see it. Although, it is something that I failed to do when I started learning. Once I had begun placing more emphasize on it though, I noticed that I was able to volley for a little bit. More than what I had been able to do. Here is the video that really helped me.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LX0o7-cN ... ata_player

Bdgsi11

Interesting!
Really looking forward to giving this technique a try. Thanks for sharing!

Here's my progress so far. Should the whip be touching the ground at all? Let me know what you think.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfU7a9Un ... ata_player

Ok, your getting it. But to make it work smoother, you need to keep your hand straight out from your elbow. Right now you are angling it down toward the ground. That also results in the whip tangling like it did. As your arm builds up strength it will become easier.

Hopefully this will help, look at the 20 sec mark where I do the volley and see what I mean.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bM6Cix56TLk

Allen

The volley is tough, because people want to start it out too fast.
You are doing well by starting slow.
The angle of your whip needs to be quite steep.
The whip will almost brush you knuckles as it moves by them.
Try to tighten up the loop a little and watch the whip as it moves from side to side.
I use a little less arm and more wrist

Check out the website and the videos page.
http://www.thewhipguy.com/Videos.html
Down at the bottom there is a video called "Single Whip"
In this video I do some vollies while spinning in a circle.
You may be able to make it out. Perhaps glean something from it.

Hope any of this helps.

Chris

Thanks so much for the videos. I will attempt to have another go at this whip crack this week, and will try to put more emphasis on wrist movement. By the way Chris, is that an 8 foot whip you are doing the volley with?

I second the thanks for the videos etc.
Going to give this method a try this weekend as we are in for some beauuuutiful weather!

I've found that instead of a straight back and forth motion like a windshield wiper, or metronome, that a slight up and down as was mentioned before can help. Although I never really thought of it as up and down until I read it here. I try to imagine myself drawing tiny figure 8s leading with the butt of the handle. Not a huge looping 8, but just enough to say you aren't going straight back and forth.

Although he doesn't make mention of this motion in the video, pay special attention to where the butt is traveling in this clip and you'll see what I mean
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1UbT2Lhj20

Hey guys, maybe this'll help too...

When I do volleys, which I only learned recently thanks to Paul Nolan, I keep my arm pretty far extended out to my side, and keep my wrist cocked back, so that my palm faces away from me. Then, probably 90% of the movements I do to get the volley going are in my wrist, sort of doing a brushing back and forth motion. The timing is very important though. Try it kind of slow, but you want to be moving into the next crack at about the same time the other one is happening - so as the whip is cracking forward, you should be already starting to send it backwards.

Hope that helps! Remember - be gentle, and not too forceful! Try to keep your arm parallel to the ground!

Shane