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Teaching slinging the safe way. (Read 1652 times)
Demagogs
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Teaching slinging the safe way.
Jul 29th, 2006 at 4:36am
 
Hello.

I'm a little into this historical reenactment and experimental archeology thingie, and i'm going to this little viking-age festival http://www.apuole.tai.lt/ "Apuole 854" in Lithuania. After seeing a sling at my belt the organisers of the event asked if i would like to show some demonstrations. Of course, i agreed- a great chance to show the power and awesomness of this all too often overlooked weapon. I'm mainly thinking about distance slinging from my side (i think i can sling a little more than 150m), since i'm simply terrible in accuracy (oh, surprise surprise).
To spark more interest in sling i would like to let everyone cast some stones and get the feeling of our beloved non-linear accelerator.
What do you think, what casting styles would be the best for first timers? I want to give the first-timers a good impression about slings power, yet i don't want any deaths on my consciousness. I'm thinking about using potatoes to minimise chance of injuries (stones on my distance crowd-aweing shots).



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Willeke
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Re: Teaching slinging the safe way.
Reply #1 - Jul 29th, 2006 at 4:46am
 
I would use a slinging style with no wind-ups. Easier and less change of mishap. (Appache, greek overhand, underhand......)
And you can consider balls (tennis balls or softer) for new slingers as first ammo.
And remember, there is no safe place to watch a first time slinger, ammo can go everyway.

Willeke
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nightweave
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Re: Teaching slinging the safe way.
Reply #2 - Jul 29th, 2006 at 5:38am
 
Demagogs,

I have recently had to teach a whole heap of my metal-weapons group people how to sling. Most of them can not do even the basic casts over arm.

What I did learn though is:

1. First find out what sports they have played.

2. Cater for each under that sprot.

Example:

Softball players do underarm very well (see the casting styles page)

Baseball players (Not the guy to pitches) do the Apache better then they do the basic overarm. Cricket players also do this one well.

Tennisplayers and poi users are good at the figure eight.

Everyone else underarm.

So that's where I'd start. (Have a look a the casting styles page I have laid it out for teaching a newbie or group of newbies)

http://www.slinging.org/wiki/index.php?title=Casting_Styles

Also Willeke has a point start with tennis balls that should shorten your range as well because of the drag co-effcient on the tennisball.

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Demagogs
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Re: Teaching slinging the safe way.
Reply #3 - Jul 29th, 2006 at 10:29am
 

Of course, while throwing there won't be anyone behind the slinger and within ~5m radius. From what i undersand we'll be slinging from a cliff or rather a hill. Should give impressive distance.

I'm thinking of using overhand technique now, since underhand has a bad reputation of launching the projectile skyward. 

I guess the only sport they are likely to have played is tennis, since baseball and softball aren't very popular here. Yet figure eight can be a bit tricky the first few times. Though figure eight is a viable possibility. Hmm... 

Now thet i think about it, maybe slow figure eight would be better than simple overhand. It'll give more distance and thus will encourage the would-be slingers to turn to this sport more likely.

By the way, sling and slinging is spreading like wildfire through Latvian living history and experimental archeology groups, i think i've given away some 6 slings now. I wonder if we'll be able to beat Balear islands in some years lol Cheesy
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Slinger_Man_Dan
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Re: Teaching slinging the safe way.
Reply #4 - Jul 31st, 2006 at 2:15am
 
    Demagogs! Laba diena / Labdien / Tere !!                                
         I, too, have had occasion to demonstrate my sling to others. It was always one-on-one rather than to a large group. They would "ooooh!" and "aaaah!" when they saw the stone fly from the sling.      
         I'm not sure what to tell you about letting people try the sling. One the one hand, I think this is a good idea and I agree that a "hands-on" approach may work best; on the other hand it took me about 200 throws before I could reliably send a stone downrange with my sling. For safety's sake tennis balls are the way to go for the beginner with a crowd nearby.                                                  
         Also, I generally use the Apache technique because it is SIMPLE. Although I've tried other techniques it seems that the Apache technique was easiest to learn. Also, since the plane of rotation is vertical, spectators should be relatively safe if they are standing off to the side ( rather than behind ) the slinger. You might want to increase the safety distance to at least 10 meters. Occasionally, I have had a stone slip out of the pouch before my intended release point. It will generally go up and a little to one side or the other.                          
         In a previous thread there was a discussion of how to demonstrate the power of a sling and the consensus seems to be that the best way is to throw a rock BY HAND and then to throw a similar size and weight rock BY SLING. What you are actually demonstrating is the increase in DISTANCE because that is easy to visualize. Perhaps you could spray paint the rocks some bright color to make them easier to see. Also, since these would be full power throws you might want to increase the safety distance some more ( 15 meters ) in case you get a premature release of the stone from the sling pouch.            
         It seems to me that the biggest problem with the figure eight is that the plane of rotation is horizontal so that an accidental premature release could go in any direction; there is no safe place for the spectators.                                                                                
         I hope these suggestions will be of use and best of luck to you, Demagogs!                                                            .......Dan
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« Last Edit: Aug 4th, 2006 at 1:57am by Slinger_Man_Dan »  
 
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siguy
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Re: Teaching slinging the safe way.
Reply #5 - Aug 1st, 2006 at 8:33am
 
for the first couple of throws let them do a dry run, meaning the sling is emty.  then perhaps you could give them some tennis balls or some other ball that is soft (i used a rock wrapped in rags one time) until they get the hang of it.

if you want to really impress them with distance, get a few 5 oz ( 140-150 gram) lead fishing sinker and paint it neon orange or red to see it far.  these will basically give you the best distance.

good luck
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Demagogs
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Re: Teaching slinging the safe way.
Reply #6 - Aug 2nd, 2006 at 7:06am
 
Thanks for the tips! Labdien, Dan Smiley I'll definately paint my distance projectiles some bright fluorescent colour. I'll give those egg sinkers a try too.

About ammo- i'm thinking boiled potatoes (carefully selected for size and shape) Cheesy You know, just  so that they aren't completely hard and would squish when thrown at hard surface. The problem with tennis balls is that they aren't cheap, and since we'll be throwing from a cliff, retrieving ammo will be difficult. So throw-and-forget style ammo is best.

I guess i'll do some teching-tests of figure eight and apache styles on some of my friends and/or unsuspecting bystanders (maybe at the site of that event) and then i'll decide wich one is best.

One problem is that the event is taking place in Lithuania and my lithuanian doesn't really go beyond "hello" and "bye". Well, i've still got some 3 weks, so maybe i can quickly learn the needed words and phrases to teach figure eight: "keep your elbow in place" ; "stand with your left shoulder to your target" ; "release when the pouch is above your head" ; "OH MY GOD DUCK ROGUE STONE!!!!".
Cheesy



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siguy
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Re: Teaching slinging the safe way.
Reply #7 - Aug 4th, 2006 at 8:15am
 
hey demagogs, the nice thing about the sling is as long as there is a visual to copy, you don't really need words.
but definately figure out how to say
"OH MY GOD DUCK ROGUE STONE!!!!"

because i have this strange feeling that you will be dealing with alot of those in the near future.

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