After going through all three styles and as many of their variations as I could find, I have settled on Balearic and never went back. I wouldn't say its either overhand or sidearm, for me its a bit of a combination. Recently threw glandes way over 200y and would have likely landed 350-400y if there wasn't a embankment (with 28" sling and this style).

I would also like to know how this is accomplished.

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The way I know it would have gone at least 300y, is because I saw it fly over the tops of trees on an embankment which would be about ~150ft above level ground (with perfect stabilisation). It was also a cloudy sky which made them much easier to see. Unfortunately I threw 2 easier-to-see red ones but they were flying a bit sideways and one hit one of the tree trunks on the embankment and wouldn't have gone so far. They still go like a rocket though.
Clay on the other hand lags behind, but still got 200y shots with ~50g clay projectiles with the same 28" sling (again hitting tree trunks, but much lower down).
When you realise that lead is about seven times denser, an extra 100-200y makes complete sense.

WOTS I’m not saying you didn’t throw that far but I would question your logic.
I’ve had throws like this in the past , but once I really went to the effort of actually measuring throws on level ground and getting confirmed distances I was surprised.
Judging distances and especially height can be deceptive.
I do it a lot as part of my job and as a bow hunter.
I climb trees for a living and measure trees heights
Even with lazer rangefinders tree hights are almost never what you expected. Trees come in lots of shapes and can be difficult to actually measure until you physically measure the height. The same is true for distance on the ground. I can pretty accurately judge distances in certain terrain but in other terrain I can be completely off. This method of approximating distances also implies a perfect release angle and a theoretical (no wind resistance) parabolic arc. In real life wind and air actually play a massive role. Tail wind , cross wind , Magnus effect all can change those theoretical max distances. Sometimes even increasing distances.
This is why I really find these claims to be difficult to be accurate.

I really want to reiterate that I’m not discrediting you’re throws.
They are well inside of actual measured distances and I think your claims are very plausible. I don’t want this to come off as negative as I’m sure it does. It’s mostly the extravagant claims of almost double the record that really eerrk me.
But I would like to say that there can be surprises when you measure it on flat ground, and getting accurate measurements can be difficult enough.

Sorry if this sounds dismissive it not personally directed at you and I apologise if it seems that way.

AncientCraftwork wrote on Jun 30^th, 2020 at 1:58am:

I've just made a video (got it all filmed before breakfast ) with the Turkey Throw and Greek style. I think they are pretty comparable, but, at least in the short session I just did, I was far more accurate with Greek and in a lot of the shots was getting more power. This is kind of what I mean when I say that I agree there are three broad (because as you said, the angles are not always identical) release points, but getting to those release points can have a major effect on how the throw turns out and that's what I think makes the style.

AncientCraftwork wrote on Jun 30^th, 2020 at 1:58am:

I've never comfortably used Apache as you describe. I think of all the "established" styles, it's the least efficient and most uncomfortable to use.

AncientCraftwork wrote on Jun 30^th, 2020 at 2:12am:

This is a problem that comes up on the forum every few years or even months. The real problem is that humans like classification and, I have to say, a lot of slingers are science and mathematically minded (only the first one for me...) and so very much like the idea of classifying all of the different styles. The problem is that this forum has cultivated a language that would be difficult to change to more neutral names. If I say fig. 8 we'll all know roughly what I mean. Same with Balearic. It's absolutely true that every Balearic slinger that I saw at the International was doing something different to everyone else, but, because of this shared language, we know I mean a sidearm release with most likely prerotations, angled to the rear of the body and usually horizontally to the target. It's a lot quicker to just say Balearic than go through with a long list of qualifiers. This was the problem Bambula had a little while ago. He was absolutely convinced he had a completely unique throwing style that was unlike anything anyone had ever done before. To everyone here, it looked like fig 8 but before he went into the fig 8 motion he rotated the sling forwards a few times rather than hold it or let it hang. He wanted a name for it and I said "Fig 8 with pre rotations" and he threw an absolute hissy fit. He was incredulous that I dare suggest his unique style wasn't absolutely unique (except I do think he's the only person I've seen to have pre rotations with fig 8 and it actually makes for a very relaxing throw) and he stormed off the forum never to be heard from again.

The names are very broad because so many aspects go into a throw that if we were to get too granular with it we would be spending all our time classifying and none actually slinging For me, pirouette specifically is sidearm, but you spin your whole body around and release with a straight arm. That's specifically pirouette.

AncientCraftwork wrote on Jun 30^th, 2020 at 2:12am:

Let's call that one Dizzy Helicopter

Mersa wrote on Jun 30^th, 2020 at 2:58am:

I would say this is the best summary of the distance debate.

Are overhand, underhand, and sidearm (as it relates to slinging) determined by the movement of the arm or the movement of the sling?

AncientCraftwork wrote on Jun 28^th, 2020 at 3:19pm:


I have to emphatically disagree. My favorite styles cannot be described by any of these three: Kung Fu Meteor Hammer Knee-Strike style is my favorite!  Reverse Elbow-Strike is a close second.

Neither of these is practical, but they are a lot of fun if you happen to have a 5-foot-long sling around

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52sE2bD4Af8