Club Obi Wan

Morning all,

While I patiently await the arrival of the Stenhouse DVD, I'm looking to fill my time with a few basic cracks. I'm getting the hang of the overhead, forward and sidearm cracks, but I have NO idea how to do an undehand crack. I'd certainly appreciate any basic info!

Also, I'd like to know what kinds of targets you use for cutting. I'd think that you would want something fairly soft to prevent damage to the whip. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Jeremy.

I've never used targets with my whip, but if I were to do so, I would only use a sheet of paper, as anything tougher than that may damage the whip.

As for the underhand, yes that's a tricky one. Paul shows it in his video like this: Start with whip laid out behind you, hand down by your leg, palm forward. Step forward with the foot opposite of your hand, while casting the whip underhanded directly in front of you. It kind of takes a little snap to your wrist at the end to do it correctly. It's hard to explain in print, but with the video you will have it in no time flat.

badger_state wrote:Morning all,

Also, I'd like to know what kinds of targets you use for cutting. I'd think that you would want something fairly soft to prevent damage to the whip. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Jeremy.

Target cutting or hitting with a whip is an exhilarating way to spend some time. It becomes a challenge to see how precise one can get with a whip. Many times one can spend seeming infinite amounts of time trying to put that cracker back on that same spot. And that's part of what makes the sport of whipcracking fun. And the cutting is the visual part of this sport. people watching whipcracking soon get tired of hearing the whip crack. After a while to them it just becomes noise.

There are many many things one can use for a target. Probably the most common, if people would admit it is the leaves on the trees and shrubs in the back yard. (You can always tell a whipcracker's house by the unusual foliage pruning)

Let your imagination run wild with targets. Saltine crackers make excellent targets. There is visual gratification when that thing explodes.

Also pieces of pasta. (How many cuts can you make on a single piece of pasta? (In one contest the winner cut a piece off the standard spaghetti pasta 9 times.)

Pick up a silk scarf off of the ground and keep it moving with the whip.

Colored ping-pong balls make good targets. Line them up and hit them in sequence or make up a random order to hit them.
For close work targets, cut a piece of pasta held behind your own back. This one will leave a few welts on your back I guarantee!.

Build a Zorro Board and practice putting out the candles, and then go to Vegas and win the prize money. I think it is up to about $4500.00 this year.

Then when you get really accurate with your normal hand, start all over and do the same thing with your other hand. Which brings up a point that I have found. Whenever I am trying to learn a new crack and incorporate it into the rest of the cracks, I usually end up learning it with my off hand first. Not proficient with the off hand, but slow and deliberate, which helps me see where the whip is going in relation to where I want it to go. (Sometimes those two don't mesh for a while) My suggestion is to learn a crack, and then learn it with the other hand.

Target cutting can be fun and intriguing, and you are not going to hurt your whip. If you are hitting with the thong, you need to back up! Target cutting is usually done with the bottom couple inches of the fall and/or the cracker. Target hitting is usually done with the cracker.

And when cutting targets the object is not necessarily to make the whip crack. If it cracks okay, but you want it to crack on the other side of the target, not on your side. If it cracks before it gets to the target the energy is gone, and the whip falls harmlessly to the ground. You will have to learn how to judge distance, but just get out there and do it. It sure beats standing there and doing the forward crack over and over again.

Keep 'em cracking

Jerry R

I used to have this HUGE laurel bush behind my house I would target practice on. I kept meaning to trim it because it was getting a little unruly.
I then realized that every time I was taking off a leaf with my target practice, I was promoting new growth! No wonder the thing was so dang big!

I have been practising on my shrubs as well. It's staining my popper green! I have gotten to where I can split my target leaf in half! Woo!

Another target idea are those door stops you see on bathroom doors. Its a small spring that screws into door down at floor level. Mount a few of them at different heights. When you hit them, they sproing (is that a word?), but you don't have to re-set them.

I've got the pack of spaghetti all set... Time to trim a little pasta!

The low hanging branches on the tree are already taking a beating. At least it is fall in Wisc. so it doesn't look *too* obvious.

Thanks for all of the great suggestions. I've already got my Sunday all planned out.

jerryrw,

Those are some great ideas. I like the ping-pong ball idea. I'll have to give that a try.

I use pasta with my target stand. I'll have to try the saltines though.