Bob Burwell boomerangs
ART: This evening I had a chance to get together with Dave Hendricks for a throwing session. Before we met today, Dave said he wasn't really prepared for a session as he had brought "only a bag of Bob Burwell boomerangs". Never having seen a Burwell up close and personal I took Dave's statement as said. Well, let me tell you...
DAVE: Ok, I was setting him up. I had a spare Burwell available and instead of bringing a variety of other stuff, I decided just to pack the Burwells. Besides, I did only bring those, it's not like I had other boomerangs with me. Now, it would have been better if I remembered to pack my sneakers too. Is it happened, I had to throw in my work clothes, which were slacks, a long sleeve shirt and dress shoes. It was low 80's and a bit uncomfortable.
ART: Dave had a bag full of Bob Burwell boomerangs and I've never seen such beautifully worked wood. (see photo) There must have been 25 boomerangs in the bag and I got to throw them all.
DAVE: I think there were 26 before Art got his. The oldest one is dated 1986, the newest is 2008. Everyone is slightly different and it was fun to compare them to each other. I was really impressed this time with the small Lazy Seven, the Modified Lazy Seven, A C-Hook and the Pine Viper Mate. Some of these I have not thrown for a while and it was good to get them out again. It was pretty cool to get out the small triblade of Bob's and make a finger catch on my first try. I think Art felt I was showing off.
ART: I am now the proud owner of a PJ5. Thank you Dave for the boomerang and the opportunity to see and throw the rest of these marvelous booms, and thank you Mr. Burwell for making it possible. The workmanship on these boomerangs is superb. The words "only" and "Burwell" should never be used in the same sentence.
DAVE: Well, unless the sentence is "I am only thowing Burwell's today"
ART: If any one out there gets the chance to throw a Burwell boomerang, take it. It is so nice to see the large lazy circle they make, and the hover at the end of the flight that makes it a pleasure to catch. The PJ5 is marked 25m but we paced off a throw at 35m and that was just the average distance on this boom.
DAVE: If you are throwing with me, I'll gladly let you try some. Art had the pick of the bag. Over the weekend I was camping with a group from church and they got to throw some Burwell's too. One got stuck in a tree and report in another journal entry.
BoomerangDave
Added on June 26, 2008 by bvdrangs
Stuck up a tree
I was camping all weekend, a bunch of us from church went together. Our campsites were right on the edge of a field which was big enough for 30 meter rangs. Of course I had plenty with me so started throwing after we got our camper set up. Some of the group decided to join me and get some pointers. One of the guys, Ken, had thrown before, but only with backyarders. I tried various boomerangs with him and he was getting pretty good with my new PJ5 from Bob Burwell. I finally decided I had enough and headed to the camper for a cold one.
Ken was still throwing but as I walked in off the field, he moved in too. Not the best idea, because of RV's and trees. Ken made a throw, and it was a bit laid out. The boomerang heads up and into the tree at our neighbor's RV (not part of our group). I dug out my baseball and started tossing it at the boomerang hitting it a few time but not knocking it down. The the baseball landed on top of the RV and I was left without something to throw. My kylies were at home so that was not an option. Ken got a rope and a weight and tried to loop over the branch. We finally had to quit to make and eat supper.
Saturday after doing some sightseeing, we got back to camp. I started to look at what was available to get the boomerang back. I had 2 load bars from my pickup truck and removed the feet. I also had a 4 foot aluminum pole and removed one adjustable pole from my screen room. I duct taped a picnic tablecloth holder to the short pole for a hook, then taped that pole to the adjustable one. With one of the load bars taped on we could just about reach the branch.
We taped the second load bar on and Ken took over. I think he felt guilty for getting the boomerang stuck. Sneaking the poles past the branch he was able to snag the branch and pull down. All of a sudden the boomerang pops off the branch and tumbles it's way down. Then all I was stuck with was 20 plus feet of poles taped together. I had to disassemble them and put them back in their proper place.
BoomerangDave
Added on June 23, 2008 by bvdrangs
The thrill of victory....
....and the agony of defeat.
Thursday lunchtime flight testing of some new boomerangs I got from Bob Burwell. With afternoon thunderstorms looming on the horizon, I decide to take a chance and test the boomerangs anyway. The wind was a bit stronger than I would have liked but I need to throw when the opportunity comes along. Bob had sent me 4 models, some of these to be passed on to two other boomerang enthusiasts. The models were the Mini Rippah, Modified Lazy Seven, Pal Joey 5 and weighted Pal Joey 6. Here are my comments.
Mini Rippah, 5mm Hoop Pine 5 ply Marine grade, 20 to 30 meter range, reversible. This is a smaller version of Bob's Rippah and it's a joy to throw. Very easy, almost flies with just a flick of the wrist. I'll be sure to keep it for beginners as they will do well with it.
PJ5, 5mm Hoop Pine 5 ply Marine grade, 25 to 35 meter range. The PJ5 is very nice and easy to throw. It has good hover too making catches very easy.. Very accurate and did a good job in the wind too. Another boomerang I would not hesitate to loan to newbies as they will master it quickly.
Lazy Seven. 6mm Hoop Pine 5 ply Marine grade, 30 to 40 meter range. The Lazy Seven is very nice to throw and accurate. It's easy to catch too. It looks great and is a winner in my book.
PJ6 weighted, 6mm Hoop Pine 5 ply Marine grade. Weighted with a Australian five cent piece at each end, 50 to 55 meter range. I simply am amazed with this boomerang. I have always be in love with Bob's Viper and didn't think I would ever see a boomerang outperform it. Was I ever wrong! After warming up with all the other boomerangs I pulled out a Viper so I could check the performance of the PJ6. I made two throws with the Viper and had it come up short (maybe I wasn't warmed up enough). I tried the PJ6 and it screamed out farther than the Viper and sailed right in. I tried another and got the same results. Then a third PJ6 and I was hooked. This is an amazing boomerang. I can't believe that a hoop pine Joey out performs a 12 ply Finland Birch boomerang.
My next thing will be more difficult. Two of those PJ6 need to go to other people and I am going to have a hard time parting with them. I'll be packing their boxes and sending them on the way. I am sure these guys are going to love the boomerangs.
Friday morning update. When packing the boomerangs last night I couldn't find my Viper. I had the sneaky suspicion that yesterday when I was testing I didn't pick up the throw that came up short. Not finding the Viper in my bag had me really worried. Early this morning I headed out to the field to see if it was there. I checked the soccer field I was using and had no luck. I was using one of the soccer fields that is closed, which meant there should have been less people walking on it. There were a lot of storms that rolled through in the afternoon and evening so I was hoping no one saw it and picked it up. I guess I was wrong. I could kick myself for not picking it up after I threw it. I am in the agony of defeat, or maybe the loss.
BoomerangDave
Added on June 19, 2008 by bvdrangs
Thoughts from first timers....
The following are comments from a group of us whom got together to throw boomerangs after work. Russ and Hector were firstimers. Joe was on his second outing. Art has been at this for a year and I have ben doing this for 18 years.
RUSS: This was my first experience throwing boomerangs and I really enjoyed it. I was amazed at the speed and distance you can get out them based on different throwing techniques. However, I was even more amazed that I actually got a few boomerangs to return to me, but of course I failed to catch them!
HECTOR: Prior to our boomerang outing, the only experience I had was simply being familiar with the basic theory. You throw the boomerang and if you do it right, it should come back to you. Sounds easy, right? I was in for a big surprise once I got to the field. It was so much harder than it looked. My first few throws I was aiming to high. Then I wasn't getting enough spin. Then my delivery was side arm. Then the wind started blowing so I had to aim another direction. Needless to say, I got my exercise in that day chasing after my boomerang. And that was just throwing the piece of it. Next came the catching part, which ncluded other techniques. Unfortunately, I didn't even have a chance to catch many of my throws. I was more so just chasing after them. However, I felt like I did improve as the day went on. I did catch one before we left and I was very proud of myself. Coincidently, the camera was put away already at that time and I have no concrete proof that I caught one!
DAVE: It's always fun to see a first timer get a boomerang to work. When it magically comes back they just can't believe it. Russ had the technique but not the power. Hector had the power but not the technique. Joe, on his second outing had loads of power and technique. Hector did improve throughout the session and has 4 eyewitnesses who will vouch for that last minute catch.
HECTOR: All in all, the boomerang experience did exceed my expectations. It is definitely a lot harder than it looks and if your technique is off, you will be sure to get lots of exercise. Also, if you don't do much throwing in general, be prepared to be sore for a couple days! I learned something new and now I have something to talk about if I ever run into other boomerang enthusiasts.
DAVE: Exercise? I need to start throwing bad so I can lose more weight. Maybe that, or I need to chase down every throw.
ART: It was a lot of fun throwing with these guys. I have more experience than all except Dave but I still have a lot to learn. We were out there to have fun and it was. We all had to chase errant throws and a few times we almost got beaned. Kind of scary to hear a boom goes wooshing past your head. I'm looking forward to our next outing. Thanks Dave.
DAVE: I think more of the scary throws were caused by the terrible sun angle we had to deal with. Almost every throw came screaming in from out of the sun. It was hard to follow them in when you couldn't see.
Photo: left to right, Dave, Art, Joe, Hector and Russ
Added on June 02, 2008 by bvdrangs
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