More slinging

Went on a hunt for marbles, golf balls, bouncy balls, anything with enough mass to hurl a distance. It would appear marbles are surprisingly hard to find nowadays. Probably not enough frenetic visuals and buttons to push for the yutes these days.

After hitting every dollar store in the downtown core I finally found one close to home. Perfect ones actually. Neon bright colours, about an inch in diameter and with a bit of weight to them. Buck a bag.

Off I went to the nearby soccer fields/baseball pitches. 

Much flinging, and despite the bright colours, much walking in spirals to locate them. Most times I saw where they went, but the odd one went in an unexpected direction. Only managed to lose one, which went god only knows where. I think my best distance was about 65 meters. I’m getting a bit better.

And again, the camera conked out after only a few pictures. Don’t know if something is wrong with the battery or the fact that it was brutally cold that made the camera conk out.

Hitchcraft – Sling In Action

Tromped down to a spot I knew I could find some rocks and also fling said rocks with gleeful abandon and not have to worry about causing any damage. 

The sling loaded, or as I prefer to call it, the “High Capacity, High Power, Military Style Assault Weapon Machine Sling!”

And after that photo, the battery in the camera died. I fired that incompetent photographer on the spot.

Which is perhaps for the best, since my performance was on the whole rather pitiful. I mentioned yesterday that there is a very steep learning curve to these. I thought that had to do with actually hitting a target. I didn’t realize that it also had to do with flinging the rock in any sort of desired direction, releasing the knot at the right time, etc. I tried swinging it over hand, underhand and overhead. The latter, helicopter style essentially seemed to be the one that worked best for flinging the rock in random directions. The others were a little more accurate. As for my hoped for speed and power and distance.....the less said the better. I think my best shot was about 25 meters. 

Since there was a hard crust of ice all over everything, finding decent rocks also proved tough. I did the best I could, but didn’t find much. I think I’ll go to the dollar store for some marbles and keep trying. 

I can see this being fun. Once I get the hang of it.

I erred on the side of leaving the cord quite long, just a few inches off the ground when hanging from my hand. I may find I prefer the cord shorter, but I’ll try it for a while this long.

Here you can see a mistake I made. Opening my fingers when the knot is down there, I would have to crank them wide open in order for it to be released. What I should have done of course is use that amazing thing humans have – the opposable thumb. Clamping the knot between the thumb and index finger makes it very easy to release it at the right time. By the time my little pea-brain figured that out I had run out of usable rocks. But I know now for next time.

Hitchcraft – Sling

After meaning to make a sling for ages, I once again came across what is the site on the subject, http://www.slinging.org/, and decided “goddamnit, get off your ass and make one already.” I spent the afternoon trying a few different approaches, and wasn’t so thrilled with them. I recall seeing this particular tutorial years ago, and attempted it. Worked out nicely.

I will be happier tomorrow morning when I am flinging rocks out across the lake. There is a very steep learning curve with these. Accuracy will come with a lot of practice. But for now I will be thrilled with speed and power and distance.