squirrelslinger wrote on Mar 1^st, 2013 at 8:50pm:


As Caldou said, sport slinging will require those standard distances. Slinging in the backyard is part of the hobby and recreational side of slinging, no one is saying you can't shoot for accuracy in the backyard or in a local park. However, you can't shoot for accuracy for the purpose of compliance with sport slinging standards if you don't have adequate space nearby. That would require you to find an adequate space in order to comply with standard distances. For example, you can't drive around a roundabout and claim you are recording times for NASCAR. - Nothing will be stopping you from slinging in your own spaces for your own purposes.

As for the woven and unwoven categories, I think they should just remain compressed as one. We seem to be going for the liberal approach to slinging competitions regarding slinging styles and slings so what ever sling you want to use is the go. The two different slings really don't offer many unfair advantages or disadvantages as far as I can think right now. It just depends on the users skill and preferred techniques and approaches.

@Donn, the slinging guides and more instructional videos will definitely give the resources to craft a bigger slinging community and stimulate more development for an official slinging sport. This is really what will help the newcomers ease into slinging and sling building. I like the idea of having two categories of slinging competition, however, I'm not sure the popular vote will be to keep them both. The freer category will probably be more attention grabbing and be more free and easy for people to participate without needing the correct and approved materials.

@Caldou, as said by Donn, the slinging guides and similar items will be the teachers of the sport, at least very early on. You had a very brilliant idea of the safety inspections of stones in case they break apart. This is why there needs to be regulations in order to make the sport safe. I would also recommend sling checks. Additionally, the sling length may be needing certain limits in order to make sure its safe to swing around near audiences and etc. I'm somewhat picturing a booth for sling, similar to the confines of a cricket net, so sling length may be subjected to ensure it can be safely swung in the enclosure. But for open fields it's not really a problem unless you are using pirouette style.

Looks like we are going to have to make a small draft of our progress so far and a series of polls. I might try and put something together when I have free time

Whipartist wrote on Oct 9^th, 2011 at 10:36pm:


Finally a voice of reason. Where have you been?

A sling is a weapon, period. You can PC it all you want and call it a 'tool' or a toy but it's a weapon. I've been around this community for a year but have been slinging for nearly 40. Up until a year ago I had no idea slinging could be found in so many cultures and with it, so much variety.

Trying to cubby-hole slinging into categores and rankings and standardization of techniques, sling construction and ammunition seems to just take away from the variety, freedom and spirit of what I personally find in slinging. Now it just seems like Too many rules, too much politics and arguments over the minuscule.

Quote:


Actually the potential is extremely well known.
And while slings were used as weapons of war for a couple of thousand years - they've always been used - even today - as a shepherds tool.

So no, it's not a pure instrument of war and it never has been, it is very much a tool used to protect and direct flocks of herbivores, drive birds from crops and hunt for food. And those uses are older and far more extensive than the sling as a weapon of mass warfare.

Anyway that's just background.

Target and distance are the only things it's possible to realistically standardise at the moment. So lets just stick to that.

What we could do with is a simple and cheap to construct, set of plans for a portable balearic target.

Any takers ?

Donnerschlag wrote on Mar 5^th, 2013 at 3:43pm:

NAH, I think make the Diana out of 1/2 inch  plywood( if the stone does not leave a signifigant dent or remove paint, it does not count), maybe spray-painted neon pink. make frame PVC or whatever, as long as it is a certian size. 
Or, how bout magnesium alloy frame, and then maybe solid gold for the actual Diana, how bout 1.5 inches thick for a graunteed stop, gold is soft, so it should preserve indents will.
-Squirrel

Curious Aardvark wrote on Mar 5^th, 2013 at 3:53pm:

It would look pretty 

Cheap an easy? Cut a door in half and put a garbage can lid dead center. These could be practice ones while the actual competition "model" we could just take a real Diana and backboard. That would keep us in line with the Balearic league. Same target different rules!

squirrelslinger wrote on Mar 7^th, 2013 at 8:20pm:

I take it he meant you could just improvise something that would work for the backboard. The door's just an example


I like what Timu's suggesting though: just improvise something for personal/informal use if on a budget, and use a properly-made one for official use. It sounds like a better approach than trying to invent one standardized jack-of-all-trades that somehow satisfies all of the following: easy to make, cheap, portable, and yet somehow sturdy enough to last against dense ammo.
Even an old carpet/rug with a target spray-painted on and hung from something like a clothesline (like Dan's setup) would be a fine practice target for newbies, as long as it meets the dimensions and height.

Dan wrote on Mar 7^th, 2013 at 10:18pm:

Haha Great timing!
I imagine a good place to check would be apartment complexes. You'd be surprised by how often they have to change the carpeting out.