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New Aussie Record!

I just received some great news from my friend Bob Burwell in Brisbane. My good friend, Tim Lendrum, set a new Aussie record in Trick Catch/Doubling with a points score of 114. He set the record and took the all around title during the Boomerang Association of Australia's National Championship held at Beenleigh Queensland. I first met Tim when I visited Australia in 2005. Tim and I got together to throw boomerangs near Sydney on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas. The photo was taken that day.
 
BoomerangDave
Added on May 10, 2008 by bvdrangs

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It was a wild weekend of boomerang making.

I had a bit of free time late Friday afternoon so headed into the shop. I managed to sand some boomerangs and get them ready for testing. Saturday morning early I sanded some more. I had more than 3 dozen boomerangs to test so headed to the field on Saturday afternoon. I was surprised to find only a few guys hitting a baseball around and not a full fledged game in progress. I took part of the field where they were not. The field was sloppy from the rain the previous night and the wind was blowing pretty hard. I started testing some of the lighter stuff but the wind was blowing it around too much. I switched to polypro and polycarb booms to fight the wind but the wind got even stronger. Finally I had polycarb booms flying 40 meters behind me so I gave up and went home. Back home I crunched through another dozen blanks and closed up hoping for better weather on Sunday.

Sunday morning proved to be a bot better as it approached lunchtime. I headed to the field again only to fing a baseball game in progress. I headed to an alternate field and managed to get through most of the boomearangs before the teams showed up to play ball on that field. Back home again and I managed to finish sand all the plywood boomerangs I had tested. I also primered the ones I was going to paint. Barb and I took off for a couple hours and when I returned, I started to paint. I think I got 19 boomerangs finished. I have a couple more to do and at least 8 to do pen and ink artwork. There are still at least a dozen, maybe close to 18 boomerangs from polypro or polycarb which need to be prepped for painting. Soon I'll have  pretty nice supply and may even begin to sell a few again.

BoomerangDave

Photo: some finished boomerngs from the weekend.

Added on April 14, 2008 by bvdrangs

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Sometimes you need to throw...

I really needed to get out and throw. Throwing boomerangs can be a real stress reliever and I have been in bit of a funk because of my brother in law passed away over the weekend. Today it was cool, but skies were clear so I headed to my local field at lunchtime. I selected about a dozen boomerangs to try.

The wind was a bit stronger than I like, but would often drop off making me change my throws. I started with a couple polypro triblades I had made last week. I used the original as a control and the 3 new ones were great. I also had a polypro version of Fantone's Darth Maul boomerang. It worked fine and I nailed an easy catch with it. I had found three other boomerangs I made which I had never tested. The plywood EasyVee didn't really need testing but I threw it anyway. I also had a small left hand plywood hook. My first throw was terrible but I adjusted my angle and release and it was fine. Last homemade one was a plexiglass version of Jerri Leu's Sparrow. Wow, nice flight and range.

Next came the fun stuff. I hadn't been throwing for nearly 6 months and the new boomerangs which came in the house were piling up. I decided to try and get some of those in the air too. I started with a few I brought back from The Texas LD Shootout. One from the prize table there was a nice strip laminated omega by David Fantone. He used a finish that had glitter in it so the boomerang sparkles a bit. I noticed that the leading edge on this one was more angular than I am used to seeing from David but the test throws proved it to be a fine performer. I was a bit surprised that it took less power than I had anticipated and that it had some hover on return. Nice job David!

While I was in Houston, Dave Hughes gave me a few boomerangs he had made for me. I had those and a previous pair so they were up next. First off was two PaxVee's. The original one had been a favorite and the new one is no different. Two quality performers for sure! Next up was a Hughes style Geronimo Hook. I had to really work with this one for best return. It seemed as though I wasn't hitting the perfect throwing window for it.  I had a similar problem with the HyperVee, although I was getting close with that. Dave has suggested that I make a couple from .093" phenolic I found in my shop. I bet those would be easy on my old arm.

Next came a few boomerangs from a favorite boomerang maker, Kendall Davis. The first one was a Sparrow Hawk, I think from phenolic. What a great feeling throwing this one. It is sort of small with a big flight. I liked throwing it. I also really liked throwing a very special "extra hot" Peregrine boomerang by Kendall. Kendall painted this on with chile peppers on it. He sent it to me, knowing I was a chilehead myself. Again, excellent flight from pretty rang.

Did I save the best for last? It appears so. I recently received a Sussex Hook from Bruce Bernstein. When you receive a boomerang from Bruce, you immediately think it should be hung on display. When you actually do throw it, you know why Bruce makes boomerangs in the first place. I really hated taking this one out. I was throwing on a baseball field and to my left was the dirt infield. Anything that didn't make it back was going in the dirt. My first toss was exactly there, in the dirt. The flight wasn't bad, the angle and throw was. I adjusted several times and got some incredible flights from it. Most of the time I could get low flights if I didn't lay it over much. It had good distance and was awesome to watch. I expect this one to make many more trips to the field with me. As good as it looks, it isn't a wall hanger!

So, in about 30 minutes I got 30 throws in with 16 boomerangs. I feel better now than when I went to the field. I have to thank David, Dave, Kendall and Bruce for taking some of my stress and sadness away, even if for just a little while.

BoomerangDave


Phot: Top boomerang is the Salsa Perigrine
Added on April 08, 2008 by bvdrangs

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Another lunchtime testing session.

Well the rain went away and the high winds died down so it was off to the field at lunch. I started out with Kendall's Ninja 5 blade. What a fun boomerang. It had such a nice hover that I was tempted to do a finger catch. Next up was David Fantones' Boomerang Fever quad from ABS. That had nice range and a straight down hover for easy catch. I switched to a plexiglass version of David's "Darth Maul quad" that I made from a photo. It worked real well too. Time to leave the multiblades behind.

I decided to test a Cleveland Boomerang School Crab which I bought for 99 cents on Ebay. I was surprised at its range. Next up was a nicely painted Manta of mine, which is sort of a combnation of a Skippy and a Boomerang Fever. This one flew as great as it looked. I think the photo is in the gallery in the "Just Boomerangs" album.

Last on the list were 5 polypro boomerangs I shaped the other evening. The Gel Sunshines were just fine but the Omni of my design was getting out around 40 yards. I really liked those even if I did have to do some tuning to get full returns. I think with a bit of wind they would have been fine. I really wasn't expecting the winds to be so light after what we had recently. 

Evening update: Temps got near 50 so I took a bit of time to make  couple more boomerangs. The photo show a Darth Maul quad in the center, a design by David Fantone. Also shown are 4 Colt boomerangs designed by my son Vince. These are all in 1/8" polypro. The painted Colt is one made by Vince at least 10 years ago, maybe longer. The unpainted ones do not have the holes drilled yet. Testing will have to wait until this next batch of rainstorms move on out. 

BoomerangDave

Added on April 03, 2008 by bvdrangs

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Sponge and dot art boomerang

Wow, another blog entry so quick? Well here we have another attempt with a mix of sponge art and dot art. This boomerang has some history. I probably made this one over a year ago. I hadn't painted it except to put down a coat of flat brown paint which I assume was enamel based. I thought I would do some dot art on it. It sat and waited. Before Christmas I had a past customer contact me about getting a large boomerang. I suggested this one and set out to pint it in a different fashion. I sprayed another color on at places and the finish crackled. Then the customer decided against waiting for me to paint the boomerang so I set it aside again. About a week ago I decided to resurrect the project.

I sanded off all the old paint and started over. For some unknown reason I painted the boomerang pink, not floro pink, but plain old pink. I have no idea what I was thinking. Anyway on Monday evening I took it and started to add some sponge art. I marked off the areas to be painted black, then proceeded to add cream, orange and yellow paint with a sponge. It was set aside to dry. Tuesday night I painted the black area with 2 coats. About then it was looking like a psycadelic cow. Last night I added the dots. I started by leaving a small edge of the back background and then started with a row of white dots. I followed up with a row of yellow dots and then orange ones for the balance of the space available. All that worked pretty well and I think you can hardly tell the boomerang was all pink a few days ago.

Sorry that the photo isn't better. I prefer to shoot in natural light but the sun was dropping pretty fast when I took the photo. At least there isn't any snow and the grass is showing signs of greening up.

BoomerangDave

Check the gallery album marked "Just Boomerangs" for additional and better images of some sponge & dot art boomerangs.


Added on March 27, 2008 by bvdrangs

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25 week streak without throwing a boomerang ends

Today I threw a boomerang. No not just one but in fact at least a dozen.

The weather has been getting better, it hasn't rained in a few days and the winds dropped down to 16-22mph. That is a bit breezy but I had some heavy stuff to test. I started out with a Ninja from Kendall Davis. Hmm, too much wind for that one. Then I tried an ABS quad from David Fantone. This was better but still a little light for the breeze. I switched over to several boomerangs by Alberto Sabal. His offset omega (Phantasma) was really nice and handled the wind ok. He also sent me a standard omega in his special made plywood. I love this boomerang! I don't think it got more than ten feet off the ground the whole time. Hugging the ground it chewed up the wind. What fun it was to throw in less than ideal conditions. Next I tried his Toucano, or Toucan to the rest of us. This art rang is also a low flier and still was very nice.

Having warmed up a bit I switched to two Roadrunner boomerangs. One is an original made by Gary Broadbent in 1995. It was working well in the wind, or maybe I was getting better as I went. I also tested Kendall's "Funky Chicken" which was quite nice to throw. It's an easy to catch boomerang too.

Figuring I had enough time in on the real boomerangs, I switched to the 6 clear polycarbonate boomerangs I had just made last week. (see blog entry below for details)  I always worry about testing these since the clear boomerangs tend to get lost in flight and either end up where I can't find them, or come screaming in and hit me without warning. Well, I managed to keep track of every one of them. I thought the two Island omegas were great in the wind but required a little layover. The two Sunshines worked nearly the same as the omegas. I was really pleased with the Omni, a design of mine. It work best with almost no layover as did a Dragon Lady I made, all from the same 3/16 inch material. I think my testing worked fine and it was great to hit the field after such a long break.

So, I got to test six new boomerangs that I made and seven boomerangs from friends. That means I have less than 20 boomerangs left to test. Maybe soon I can lower that number during another lunch hour.

BoomerangDave

Added on March 26, 2008 by bvdrangs

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Made some sticks

I finally did it. I got in the shop and worked on some boomerangs.
 
This week I had a bit of free time and headed in the shop. It was 41 degrees F and rainy. The shop felt cold and damp. After a brief attempt to get the motor on my belt sander running, I decided to let that wait for warmer weather. I cut out some shapes out of 3/16 inch thick polycarbonate. I like the idea of using this material for Aussie Round boomerangs but had never tried it out. I cut 8 blanks and shaped 6 of the, Shapes I tried are the Island Omega, Gel's Sunshine, Dragon Lady, my own Omni and a small Vee I make in polypro. I shaped all but the Vees.

With the belt sander offline, I switched to using a 2 inch diameter drum in my drill press. I have the Singley drum sanders where you can use any standard paper or cloth sandpaper. This drum already had some paper on it so I set right to work. It was slower going than normal but that would be expected as the drum does not have the surface area of a 6 x 48 belt. The paper was already been used so it was not prime. I was wearing latex gloves to keep my hands a bit warmer and to prevent them from drying out. This is a regular problem for me, especially in the winter when the air is drier.

I was sanding my second boomerang when I noticed some noise. About the same time, I noticed the glove on my left hand was getting damaged. I shut off the drill press to check things out.It appears that the polycab takes a tough toll on the sandpaper. It was very worn and had torn, only hanging on my a quater inch or so. The rest of the pices was acting like a flap sander and sanding my hand.

I replaced the sandpaper and got throug the next 4 boomerangs with no trouble. I also sanded the paint off a Sabal Anaconda I attempted to paint but got mixed products which caused the paint to krinkle. I managed to gat a new base coat on that before quiting. I now need to test the blanks I sanded. Since I have never made these in polycarb before, I guess they are still sticks and not boomerangs. Once they are tested and found to work, I can call them boomerangs.The paper covering on the polycarb got a bit messed up so I had to peel it off before I test them. With clear polycarb, it turned then into "stealth bomerangs" which will be interesting to try and see when they fly or land. I have learned not to test clear ones on a grey day, they vanish from site.

Testing has been postponed due to bad weather. It had been raining and the fields are soggy and wet. Yesterday was high winds with gusts to 50 mph. Today more wind is expected with gusts above 35 mph. Tomorrow there is snow and rain predicted and Sundays high is expected to be only 40. Looks like it will be weeks before these get tested and proven.

Dave
Photo: six "stealth" boomerangs


Added on March 21, 2008 by bvdrangs

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President's Day weekend trip Part 2

I am not sure how to describe Monday. We started by heading out to Great Falls VA, a place with spectacular waterfalls on the Potomac, north of DC. Temps were in the high 60's and climbing. It was sunny and beautiful. Got lots of great photos. (see photo)

From there we headed to Mount Vernon. We got about a mile away and traffic slowed. At a half mile it stopped. The sheer number of people going there was amazing. We finally got to the entrance and were sent down a side road and off to an alternate site to park. We got a shuttle bus to the welcome center. Delays took us about 45 minutes to get that last half mile.

Inside there were tens of thousands of people. We did manage to get a decent place for the parade (the smallest hometown parade in America) and got close enough to get good photos of George. A couple of UConn students got up next to him and led a chorus of Happy Birthday. It was all very strange. We wandered the grounds and museum a bit then decided to leave.

We step outside at 3PM and there is a line for the shuttle. The temps were dropping and we didn't have our jackets. Then it started raining. and it rained, and the bus didn't come, and it rained. By the time we got on a bus (third one) we were soaked. About 10 minutes before that bus came, the staff came out and handed out rain ponchos, which helped us a bit. So we got on the bus. The parking lot was a mile or so away over a narrow road where cars parked on two sides. One car got stuck in the ditch sideways and had to be towed out. This blocked all traffic and we were stuck on the bus.
We finally convinced the driver to let us out, since we could see the parking lot from where were were. Wouldn't you know that as soon as we got to the scene, it cleared and the bus drove by us as we walked to the lot. It was 4:15 by then. We drove back to the hotel but traffic was bad and it took until after 5:30. This is more than 2.5 hours since getting in line for the bus.

We got to the hotel and into dry clothes. After a while we headed out to supper at the same place as the first night and try the ribs and chicken. Then it was back to our room to crash for the night

Tuesday we get up and pack. We stopped at one of the international grocery stores to get some Chorizio. They had 4 or 5 varieties including their own fresh made. we got some and also some different types of tortillas and headed to Baltimore. We spent a bit of time at the Inner Harbor and then went to Lexington Market. One of the fish stands was selling prime oysters at 3/$2.50. We eached ordered 6 and had them shucked right in front of us. They were probably the best we ever had. Before we left we got some crab takes from Faidley's Seafood for the evening meal when we got home. It was a pretty good trip.
 
Photos from the trip are at: http://travel.webshots.com/album/562565084JDERSw


Added on February 21, 2008 by bvdrangs

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President's Day weekend trip Part 1

We leave work Friday at shortly after 4pm and head through Harriaburg, York, Baltimore and down to Takoma Park MD. Takoma Park is about 8 miles north of the Capitol building in DC. We are staying at the Quality Inn using bonus points I earned traveling. We hadn't eaten and found a great seafood and soulfould place near the hotel which stuff us with seafood.

Saturday morning we head off to a flea market in Gaithersburg MD. We expected a rather large flea market but it was quite small. We decided to head to the new Air and Space Museum in Chantilly VA. Getting there we actually have a tailgate lunch. It was cold but warm enough for us to eat some sandwiches outdoors. The museum was incredible. We caught an IMAX movie then went to the "control tower" which was disappointing. After that we headed through the static displays of aircraft. There are too many to really look at in one day. There is everything from Langley's attempt to beat the Wright Broters, up to space stuff. It's hard to imagine a place this large but when you consider the is the Space Shuttle Enterprise, an Air France Concorde, the Enola Gay, some commercial airliners and a Blackbird, you can start to get the idea. We walked and walked and walked.

Returning to the hotel, we checked out the internation grocery stores int he area featuring African, Mexican, Caribbean and Salvadoran foods. We were amazed at the number of things we did not recognise. Of course we bought some items and now must learn to cook with them. We also found an excellent ginger beer and grabbed a case of that too. Dinner was at a nice Mexican restuarant where our waitress barely spoke English. We got by and had some great food.

Sunday we headed off to find a Metro station to ride the train into DC. After getting turned around a bit, we located it and head to the Smithsonian. We stopped first at the Sculpture Garden outside the Natural History Museum then headed inside for some exhibits. We had tickets to see the Butterfly exhibit which was really wonderful. An Owl Moth landed on my back and had to be removed. The it landed on my left hand as I was taking pictures. I handed Barb the camera to get a photo and it finally the attendant took the moth from me. (see photo) After that we had lunch and tried to see more of the museum but it was becoming overcrowded. Really, it was hard to get around and the exhibits were mobbed. We worked our way back to the metro ans ride back to the car. We found a few stores to shop at and headed to Silver Springs to search for supper.

In Silver Springs we located a restuarant named Crisfields, which boasted about seafood. After some $1 beers, oysters on a halfshell, crab cakes and shrimp stuffed with crab, we can say they were not boasting, they really are good.

On to part two
Photos from the trip are at: http://travel.webshots.com/album/562565084JDERSw

Added on February 21, 2008 by bvdrangs

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