Because there are a lot of helicopter haters out there, this is how you do it properly:

Stand sideways on to the target with your throwing arm extended directly away from the target, elbow bent to raise the hand.

Hold the loaded pouch with your other hand towards the target so the cords pass over your head.

With the pouch hand, pull the pouch sideways and release it into a horizontal spin. Use a twirl of the throwing arm to put more energy into the spin.

The pouch now spins horizontally above your head. Use only your wrist to maintain the spin, dont use your whole arm. Its like stirring a cup of coffee, not stirring a pot of stew. Relax your arm, rotate your wrist.

Make sure the center of the circle is behind you. A common beginner error is to try and make your head the centre of the circle. This makes the throw very weak. Get your elbow back behind you and spin with the wrist.

Dont try to put lots of energy into the spin. Another common beginner error is to try and spin as fast as possible. Use only enough spin to keep the pouch horizontal. Any more than that is a waste.

Start a count of the spins as they cross in front of you. The count is 'One.... two.... THROW!'

When you throw, stop rotating your wrist and drive your hand straight towards the target. It is vital that the throw is straight. It is not a bigger spin, or a faster spin, or any kind of spin at all. You are throwing the center of the circle from as far back as possible straight towards the target.

During the throw you will feel a surge of centrifugal force as the pouch whips around behind your hand. It pulls back against your throw. When this surge dies away, let go of the release cord.

As the open sling whips around in front of you, use your free hand to grab the retention cord a short distance from your throwing hand. Pull the sling through your free hand until you reach the pouch.

With your throwing hand, take your next ammo. Bring the ammo to the open pouch. Use your pouch hand to fold the pouch around the ammo and hold it.

With your throwing hand take the dangling release cord and slide it through your grip until you reach the knot. You are now ready to throw again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GXkmT7eJFo

Helicopter is a good style to teach beginners because of the 'One.... two.... THROW!' count. Knowing when to start the throw is what confuses a lot of people when they first try and this leads to wild shots. Releasing on the other side of the 'surge' ensures the shot goes forwards.

great description, David. okay, i'll admit it, i'm one of those 'helicopter' haters. hate is a strong word, though. let's just say that i'm not a huge fan. i don't doubt the effectiveness of the style once mastered, it's just that i think its drawbacks outweigh its advantages. it's probably because i hunt with my sling and if i ever tried to use this style i'd never bag anything. using a sling to hunt is hard enough without scaring game with a twirling style. single stroke overhand, underhand, or sidearm styles are the order of the day when it comes to fast, nervous critters. now, warfare is a totally different story. helicopter might even be an advantage when squaring off with an enemy. that stone seen buzzing around in a circle over the head of David 'Madman' Morningstar would certainly make me think twice about mixing with him!

  I love the figure-8, but then I love slinging period.  I regularly use all slinging styles, you never know when you'll be in an area that you can't use your favorite.  Helicopter is a fun style, and I find my accuracy with it is not bad.

Aussie wrote on Sep 9^th, 2009 at 11:46pm:


Also watch an American style football quarterback.  When flushed out of the pocket and forced to throw off of his back leg his passes will always die in mid air, unless he's Brett Farve, who could, in his prime, throw well standing on his head while whistling Dixie.  He's still not terrible.

Thank you for the tutorial! After years of wild slings, it's nice to learn how. I've come to use a modified, "Start like a helicopter, end up vertical" sling, and consistently fire off to the right (I'm a lefty).

My brother in law uses this kind of goofy looking underhand, and actually gets pretty good accuracy and power out of it.

Go figure.

K'Jev

Now that is a slinging video.  For a moment there I asked myself; Where did that tennis ball go?  Then it became obvious
timann

It's amazing that c_a was able to keep the camera so still with that coming at him.  Maybe he didn't have time to react.