Boomerangs!!

[simnettpratt]

Anyone else here throw boomerangs? I'll be shocked if there is. Folks either completely fall in love or couldn't care less. My Kilimanjaro on the left goes about 65 yards out, with a full return. That's over 200 yards of flight time. And it's just a stick! I'd like to get into long distance, where the longest ones go over 200! yards out. Regular long distance ones go about 100 yards out, so you stand at one goalpost and throw it around the far goalpost. Not talented enough yet, though.
The second is my MTA, stands for Maximum Time Aloft. Those you don't catch, you just want them to stay in the air the longest. Mine's a beginner model, good for only about a 30 second flight, but the longest recorded flight was over 17 minutes. Sometimes they catch a thermal and just fly away. Probably the best way to lose a boom though.
There's nothing else I can throw 200 yards, or keep in the air for 30 seconds. Cool little sticks. The rest of the pics are just some boomerang porn, to show some of the shapes.

 

[fredvegas]

Never had much experience with boomerangs outside of the little foam ones they sell in "science toy" stores. I always thought they were pretty neat, though.
Gotta wonder about the first time someone threw a stick at something and it came back to them. Like they just accidentally picked up a funny shaped stick that just happened to be shaped in exactly the right way to return to the thrower.
Must have blown their mind.

 

[simnettpratt]

You know, in all my years of throwing that never occurred to me. Someone had to be the first one though. Awesome, dude!

 

[theray]

Wow...that's awesome! I have always loved them as a child. Is there any books or websites.where I can get some beginners info? Thanks!

 

[hnryclay]

I remember the nerf ones from WHAMMO when I was a kid, but they never worked...

 

[romeowood]

Here's a crossover you might enjoy: the AeroPress, from the makers of the Aerobie flying disc--great coffee in minutes! Note that it does NOT actually make an espresso, just a pressure-extracted brew coffee.

http://aerobie.com/products/aeropress.htm

 

[pawpaw]

20 years ago me and a buddy used to toss em about we parted ways and that was the end of it.I may even still have mine in the shed some where.

 

[aussielass]

I don't think you'd find an Aussie kid born in the 50's or earlier that hasn't thrown boomerangs - not 100% sure but I think you'll find it was the indigenous people of Aussie who "invented" them, if not, it's certainly something they've been using for hunting for 1000's years.

 

[mluyckx]

That's pretty cool. Not my cup of tea/scotch but cool nonetheless. I'd love to go watch it though, that's for sure.

 

[cacooper]

Greetings,
I remember the Whamo! hard plastic ones from the late '60's. I had a red one. From what I recall, they worked pretty well. You had to throw them in a large, deserted field so you wouldn't hit a bystander. Most kids played with them in the neighborhood street, which usually resulted in dented cars and broken windows. They didn't stay on the market too long because of that. Kinda like Klik-Klaks. Remember those. Fun until they shattered into sharp shards of resin. Bruised yor arms, too. Ahh, memories.
CACooper

 

[nsfisher]

Had them as kids and well into my teens. We got so we were pretty good with them. We used em over lakes.

 

[hobie1dog]

Never was any good at getting the darned things to come back to me.

 

[smokindawg]

Kinda like Klik-Klaks. Remember those. Fun until they shattered into sharp shards of resin. Bruised yor arms, too.
Remember them........ when I was a kid in the early 70's My parents worked for a company made them, by the thousands. Our job was to make the resin balls themselves. Talk about getting cut, we poured the resin into thin glass molds and then had too break the molds off. We did this as an in home business. Then shipped the balls off too another place drilled and assembled them.
Funny story........ We lived out in the country at the end of a drive that was a half mile long. You had to go down a hill, across an old wooden bridge over the creek then up another to the house. It was in Iowa. We had a heavy snow the day before a pick up of the boxed resin balls and the truck couldn't make it up the other hill to the house, so we were pushing the boxes (containing probably 500 balls and one of the boxes broke open. Those suckers could really slide on snow and we were still picking them up the next spring out of the creek.

 

[kennerth]

Throwing boomerangs violates on of my rules of life: Never play with a projectile that, once dispatched, returns to you with an equal and opposite force! 8O

 

[simnettpratt]

You're right kennerth, when you chuck a boomerang, YOU are the target! They all hover at the end though, and come straight down, that's when you catch 'em. If they're coming in hot and heavy, get out of the way! Broke my collarbone ignoring that rule.
theray, here's how to throw. You do four things. Two are science and you do the same thing every time, two are art that you change up based on what that boom likes and what the wind is doing at the moment of release. The two you do the same are angle off the wind and angle up.
Righties throw right-handed booms and throw right of the wind (lefties throw left-handed booms and throw left of the wind) Angle off the incoming wind is about 40-45 degrees. Angle up is to throw at the tips of the distant trees. Aim low and it hits the ground, aim too high and it goes straight up, then crashes.
The artsy two are power and layover. Spin is king, not power. Throw half power at first, with as much spin as you can. Layover is how much sidearm you use - never throw completely vertical and never throw completely sidearm. The rule is, the more wind, the more vertical, so it powers against the wind like a boat pushes against the water.
You look exactly like a baseball pitcher when you throw. Look left to check your wind ribbon, or whatever you're using to show you the wind (like you're checking the runner on 1st), visualize the throw, exhale, bend your knees and let 'er rip.
The best beginner 'rang is a Yanaki from Colorado Boomerangs. You can get one here for $19: Yanaki I HIGHLY recommend getting a Windicator (a ribbon on a three piece aluminum rod) to show you the wind, $12: Windicator
An excellent site for 'rangs is flight-toys All his 'rangs are good flyers. Happy booming!
PS I forgot we had an Aussie on the site; yeah, you may have thrown one!

 

[billinsfl]

My wife throws a boomerang; she's pretty good too.

 

[jaysin]

They take all the fun toys away. I never had a boomerang had a few bolos hit my self in the head a few times learning how to use them come to think of it that may explain alot.

 

[theray]

Thanks! And HAPPY IPSD Day! I am gonna jump on that site ASAP.

 

[logandow]

I haven't had much experience aside from making one in wood shop. They are fun though!

 

[philip]

There's lots of Wiki-info here: Boomerangs.