Dale
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ACK! TechStuf beat me to press! And he said it with (many) fewer words! Nevertheless, I've spent some time typing this and checking some facts, so I'm going to post it anyway:
However I personally feel about the "purity" of slinging and whether Engvall's record should be counted, his French Arrow or kestros or whatever is a very nice piece of work. There isn't a pocket, as such. The odd-shaped metal piece serves the function of a pocket: the hook in the middle slips into the hole in the side of the dart, the release cord attaches to the left side of the metal piece, the retained cord to the right side. When Engvall twirls it, the dart's own weight keeps it firmly attached to the hook, until he releases. Then the whole metal piece rotates, the hook slips out of the hole, and the dart is off and flying. It looks like the mechanism releases very cleanly, the dart won't have any sling-induced wobble.
As for whether this is a sling -- well, the Guinness people read Engvall's thirteen pages of documentation, including his definitions of a sling ["a ligature throwing device (ie. a flexible extension of the human arm) that is powered exclusively by the throwing motion ... not an energy storing device such as an elastic slingshot"] and of a stone ["an inert (nonself-propelled) object"] and they accepted it.
I must note that Engvall clearly pointed out his departures from the notion of a "traditional sling," including using kevlar and aluminum instead of leather, and using a dart instead of a stone. Engvall's point was that he had kept the essential features of the sling: two cords, one of which is released, and a device that holds the "stone" in place until he releases. Engvall also challenged anyone to better his record, and noted that his definitions leave room for innovation (rather than restricting everything to specific designs, materials, weights etc).
Anyway, since Guinness publish the book, and not I, the record stands.
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