Welcome to Boomtown!

aLAcrity Boomerangs is a group of boomerang enthusiasts from Los Angeles. At the moment, it is comprised of three people: Manny (a.k.a. v12aero), phnxhawk and Charles (a.k.a. hey_kuya).

Manny and I (phnxhawk) started this blog to share our interest in boomerangs--throwing and tuning, making our own rangs, as well as unraveling the science behind them. As we continue our journey into the world of boomerangs, we hope to make new friends and to expand our horizons. In this blog, we will post such things as videos from our regular throwing sessions, musings and lessons learned from throwing, and thoughts on making our own rangs.

Manny and I started throwing boomerangs since Spring 2009. It has been a long road as we developed a semblance of technique for throwing 'rangs. Nevertheless, after many a bruised hand or windy day, our fascination with these returning throwing sticks remains undimmed. We most certainly have more to learn about boomerangs, but we'll keep at it as long as we continue to have many happy returns.

--phnxhawk--

Saturday, August 20, 2011

Lefties for Righties

by Manny Olivares

Hello all! If you are befuddled by the title of this post, no worries, the meaning will be clear momentarily. I mentioned a while back that I would post about an interesting way of throwing left-handed boomerangs. The time has come and soon you will all be enlightened and inspired with knowledge gained by aLAcrity through meeting another thrower from the area, Gabe. Some may even feel that they have gained the true secret to a happy and fulfilling boomerang life (I might have gone a little too far there...haha).

It was several weeks ago and we had just arrived at the park where we regularly throw with our other aLAcrity member, Charles. It was here that we were introduced to Gabe and then we all proceeded to start throwing our rangs. I began to watch Gabe throw, as he had just picked up a boomerang I was unfamiliar with and I wanted to see what kind of flight it had. He released the rang with his right-hand and it did the strangest of things! The boomerang began turning right in a clockwise flight, as opposed to going counter-clockwise like any self-respecting boomerang should go!

I was appalled at this apparent violation of boomerang law and instantly asked Gabe how he had managed to do such an incredibly feat. "It's a left-handed boomerang," he said casually. OF COURSE! Such a short answer but it explained the magic I had seen occur right before my eyes. Soon I had Gabe showing me how to do it, throwing a left-handed boomerang with your right-hand.

It's pretty simple of course, just follow the rules of right-handed boomerangs in reverse, thus changing it to left-handed boomerang rules. Throw to the left of the direction of the wind and instead of leaning it right for layover, lean it left. The paint should always be facing you. The big secret, of course, is to use your right-hand instead of your left. Ta-Dah! You are now free to shower me with praise. Ha ha. ;-)

Seriously though, seeing it in person was pretty cool. Considering that I don't own any left-handed boomerangs I probably would have never tried it myself. While this might not be a mind-blowing trick or anything it can come in useful every now and then.

Last year I ordered a boomerang and received a left-handed version as opposed to right. I tried throwing it a few times with my left but my throwing technique was horrible. Having never used my left-hand in the throwing motion I felt and looked incredibly awkward while tossing it. I could have easily thrown it with my right and been able to get a little joy out of it.

Anyway, I made the following video of me trying to reproduce Gabe's throw. It felt incredibly awkward at first but eventually I managed to succeed. I could have accomplished it much faster than I did, but this was a particularly bad catching day as you will see lol. Enjoy!





Thanks for watching!

aLAcrity Boomerangs

0 comments:

Post a Comment