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Boomerang News #48 - 4-98

Cover BOOMERANG ART by Siegfried Stiller

News From The USA:

The 1998 USBA Nationals will take place on 30/31 May at UMass, Amherst on a new field next to the Mullins Center. Larry Ruhf is the tournament organizer. Individual Events will be held on Saturday. Team Events, Head to Head and Exhibitions will take place on Sunday. The registration fee is $50. The fee includes a T-shirt and dinner. For more info, call Larry Ruhf at (413) 323-4340 or write to:

Larry Ruhf

31 Jackson Road

Belchertown, MA 01007

In the last issue, I promised to test Pat Cardiff's ability to create special art boomerangs. I sent Pat several photographs of Toby, the Boomerang Retriever (below left) and asked him to do his best. I also ordered a special Tapir boomerang for Günter Möller, who has a fascination for these magical gentle creatures. The results are shown below. Pat Cardiff gets an A+ in art, creativity and craftsmanship. These boomerangs cost a little more than $60 each. They were ready in 2-3 weeks. If you have an interest in special art boomerangs, you can write to Pat at:

Pat Cardiff

159 Buck Street

Suncook, NH 03275

Jim Gleich is a graduate assistant in Health and Physical Education at Frostburg State University in Maryland. Jim was a circus performer for 16 years. He ran away from the circus to go back to school. One of Jim's former performing partners, from China, did an amazing act with three "X" style rangs. Jim is trying to introduce diverse skills and hobbies into his "Lifetime Activity Fair", scheduled to run from April 4 - 11. If you would like to help Jim introduce boomerangs, send an email message to Jim at: Juglnjim@aol.com

Jerald L. Graham of Irvine, California is making a short documentary on how to construct a boomerang for a film class at his university. Hopefully Jerald will share his work with other boomerangers when he is through. For more info on this project, call 714-854-0331 or email him at: jlgraham@ea.oac.uci.edu

Norm Kern of Left Turn Boomerangs is trying to promote just for fun events. He is willing to put some money where his mouth is. Norm sends the following announcement to USA throwers:

Rewards for Fun!

In order to promote more "just for fun events" with boomerangs, Left Turn Boomerangs will offer boomerangs or USBA memberships to three winners. All you need to do is hold events involving boomerangs, then send Norm Kern a list or photo of those who participated, and a short description of the activities, including the date and location. In early October, Norm will "scientifically" assess how much fun your activities created. The primary factor will be the number of people who had fun and the secondary factor will be the fun in the activities. Special consideration will be given to events which are new this year, and those not associated with official tournaments. The three individuals who created the most fun will be able to select a Left Turn Boomerang from Norm's catalog or a paid one year membership in the USBA. Winners will be announced in this publication.

These rewards are intended to promote more "just for fun" events so the following are not included for consideration: events you were paid to conduct (demonstrations for a fee), official tournaments (USBA or International), Toss Across America events. Events which will definitely be considered include: free demonstrations, explanations, lessons, making boomerangs, games, Super Novice or team tournaments. Only events in the U.S.A. will be considered. Send your entries to:

Norm Kern

1640 Haynes

Birmingham, MI 48009

Look for the May/June issue of The Sciences Magazine, published by The New York Academy of Sciences. This issue will have a really great article on boomerangs written by Dan Drollette.

Steve Conaway has decided to use his boomerang business to help organizations that help others in his native Fillmore, California. Steve has sponsored a Girls Basketball Team and donated a door prize to the Fillmore Boosters Club, which benefits high school sports programs. Steve also gave a 45 minute presentation to two second grade classes in March with videos, examples of boomerangs and kylies and a throwing demonstration. This is a repeat of Steve's demo from last year which included 240 students.

Eric Darnell of Turning Point is well known for his innovative boomerang products. It has been several years since we have seen any radically new Darnell designs. Finally, Eric has a new family of plastic/foam boomerangs to thrill boomerangers this summer. Two of the yet-to-be-named designs are pictured below. The larger model is made out of a similar foam material as Eric's outdoor "Air Dancer". It has a similar range as well, but throws more like a two blader with a more acrobatic flight. This will be another great boomerang for throwers with retrieving dogs. The lower boomerang is made of the same foam material as Eric's indoor FunFly tri-blader. Again, the two bladed model has a more acrobatic flight and is a lot more fun to throw. A third model, not shown, has a similar design, but it is made out of polypropylene plastic, similar to the outdoor tri-Fly. All three of these new boomerang designs will be commercially available in late Spring. Eric hopes to have them available for the USBA Nationals at the end of May. For more information on the commercial availability of Turning Point boomerang products, call Eric at (802) 765-4336 or write to:

Eric Darnell

Turning Point, Inc.

Star Route

South Strafford,VT 05070

AUSTRALIA

Brian Kemp is researching "The Development Of Boomerang Throwing As A Sport In Australia Between 1900 AD and 2000 AD". Brian would appreciate any assistance from BN readers to help him procure extracts from newspapers, magazines, books - photographs, personal anecdotes, etc. that may have any relevance to this period. Brian is especially interested in the period from 1900 to 1950 with throwers like the Timberys - Joe, John and Bertie - Bobby and Eddie Sims, Albert Perrett, Freddie Foster, Bill and George Longbottom, Clarrie Walker, Bill Onus, Frank Donnellan, etc. Brian will pay for postage, photocopying etc. Email Brian at his son's email address: damo@webaxs.net or write to:

Brian Kemp

1160 Bellarine Highway

Wallington, Victoria 3221

Australia.

Dietmar Reinig made contact with a new source of Australian boomerangs with beautiful Aboriginal Art. Sizes vary from 6" (15cm) to 22" (55cm). All booms have great art with a high gloss finish. Prices are all under $30 (Aust.), including the painted "killer" throwstick. For more information, contact Kevin Wells at Bingra Boomerangs, Gold Coast, Queensland.

Phone-fax +61 7 55 639144

email to: wells@qldnet.com.au

CANADA

John Cryderman received great coverage of his boomerang hobby in the 18 February edition of Kamloops "The Daily News" and the 1 March edition of "Kamloops This Week". These articles included great photographs of John with his strip laminated boomerangs. These articles really help to promote boomeranging in John's native Ontario, Canada.

ENGLAND

Martin Laslett recently took a MSc course in information technology which had a strong emphasis on computer programming. Martin obtained a copy of the Felix Hess thesis and used his programming knowledge to construct a boomerang flight simulator. The user of the program can design their own boomerang and save the design for future use. The boomerang design is a lot of numbers describing the boomerang as a collection of aerofoils, each with a position, mass, and aerodynamic factors for lift and drag forces. The program allows up to 2000 aerofoils to make up a boomerang; but this would take many hours to run, apart from the hassle of typing in all the data. In practice, most boomerangs can be described by a few aerofoils. The user then specifies the throw with a speed, spin rate, angle to the wind, angle of lay over, and upward angle of throw.

A more comprehensive article on the flight simulator will be described in a future issue of the BBS Journal. If you want to contact Martin about his software, you can send him email at:

Debandmart@btinternet.com

On March 20, the BBC held a boomerang competition on the 'Mega Lab' television show. Competitors had to make a boomerang out of cardboard and throw and catch it as many times as possible in 1 minute. Each throw had to circle a pole positioned at three metres. According to Edward Cadman, three BBS members qualified for the final throw off: Lawrence West (19 catches); Mark Harris (18 catches);Steve Pankhurst (15 catches). The (unknown) winner of the event on 20 March had 20 catches in the competition. How many can you do for next year's comp?

FRANCE

Jean-Louis Orgueil of LMI & Fox Boomerangs and his friends have organized a new boomerang club in the town of Fleurance. The name of the club is "youp la boom" which has no direct English translation. Their first competition will be in June, with a large festival about boomerangs and Australia. All French Team Members will use the event as practice before going to the 1998 World Cup in Saint Louis. The festival with take place from 9 - 14 June. The competition will be held 13 - 14 June. For more info, email jl.orgueil@hol.fr or write to:

Youp La Boom

chez J-Louis ORGUEIL

Appt 20

46 boulevard Paul Valery

32500 Fleurance

France

GERMANY

Siegfried Stiller made a beautiful two bladed boomerang in the shape of a pair of pistols (pictured right) to raise money for the German "Young Guns" World Cup Boomerang Team. This boomerang has been added to the Spring 1998 Auction. Collectors can bid on this boomerang by adding an extra line on their bid sheet and numbering it as #201.

Most of the members of the Team German Young Guns II will be travelling to the US on the 30th of June. Gerrit Lemkau, Julia Kraemer, Torsten Fredrich, Oliver Thienhaus, Fridolin Frost and Jan Voigt will start the 6-week-trip in San Francisco.

They'll rent a car and travel around California. On the 14th of July they will fly to New York and rent a car again. They'll arrive in St. Louis for the Team Cup around the 22nd of July. After the Team Cup, they drive back to New York and fly home on August 6th. This group is looking for places to go and people to see. If you have any suggestions, or if you can host the group for a day or two, please send Oliver Thienhaus email at: oliver.thienhaus@hamburg.netsurf.de or write to:

Oliver Thienhaus

Gut Stellmoor

22926 Ahrensburg

Germany

HOLLAND

In a recent issue of the ABO Holland newsletter, there was an article titled: "Ecuadoriaanse Terugkerende Houtje". Bart de Boer sent in a translation of the article which is about an unusual returning device, a sophisticated "Tumble Stick", that was discovered in the jungles of Ecuador.

The thing is a toy, which one of the members of our club discovered during his holidays in Ecuador. It is a small, cylindrical stick, usually the stalk of a banana leaf, which is launched using the elastic force of a rolled banana leaf. The leaf is cut in a special way so that the stick can be rolled in the leaf and the point can be cocked. The stick is released by making a slapping motion with the leaf. It will then shoot away while rapidly spinning around its long axis. If launched upwards it will return by an orbit in the "vertical" plane.

The flight of the thing is quite different from that of a boomerang, and so is the physical principle that makes it return. This physical principle is called the "Magnus-effect" and is basically the same effect that makes spinning base- balls or golf-balls curve. The Ecuadorian stick, however, is much lighter and spins much faster than a base-ball or a golf-ball, so the curve it describes becomes a full circle.

Do any of the readers want to try making one of these tumblestick devices?

SWITZERLAND

Tibor Horvath sent in information about the Tentlingen Long Distance competition which was held on March 7/8 with 31 throwers in rather challenging weather.

On Saturday, the winds were very strong, variable and with rain. Ingo Frantz (Germany) won the event with 118 m, Eugene Cinal (France) came in second with 110 m. Manuel Schütz (Switzerland) became the Swiss champion with 104 m. Lorenz Gubler had 102 m and Tibor Horvath had 100 m. With these conditions there were throws over 140 m but without a satisfactory return.

On Sunday, the conditions were still terrible but the throwers decided to do four events, anyway.

Overall winner was Manuel Schütz (first: Aussie 63 P & MTA 44.28s), second overall was Daniel Abelairas (France; first in Accuracy: 42 P) and third overall was Laurent Crassa (France). Eugene Cinal took first in Fast-Catch with 28.72s and was fourth overall.

TURKEY

Roy Dempsey recently found a Neolithic cave painting in a book called "Red Deer Hunt. The painting shows several hunters on horseback chasing deer. A couple of hunters have bows, but one hunter appears to be throwing a boomerang. The painting is located near Catal Huyuk in Turkey.

WWW

The USBA has a new URL that is very easy to remember: http://www.usba.org/

Check out the new URL for the USBA events calendar: http://www.usba.org/calendar.html

Jim Barber of the Cutting Edge Kite Store has changed the URL of his page featuring Channel Craft and laminated booms to: http://www.cuttingedgekites.com/boomeran.htm

Olivier Duffez of France has posted a web page with contact information for ranglist boomers: http://www.mygale.org/07/duffez/contact2.htm

Kendall Davis has created yet another email & web page listing of boomerangers: http://www.cris.com/~davisks/boomerang/rang-list.shtml

Pat Steigman has created his first web page with a photo gallery of the booms he has made: http://www.tyler.net/psteigman/

SouthBay Johnny Weigel has posted a web page with darts and boomerangs. The boomerang page has all kinds of photos and links: http://home.pacbell.net/dbl-bull/Boom.html

RingWorld is an innovative way of linking web pages together that have a common theme. You can search for a specific topic at the Ringworld Directory: http://www.webring.org/ringworld/

Tom Conally started a boomerang web ring at: http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Gallery/8603/ring.html

Peter Hartog created a really fine web page for The Algemene Boemerang Organisatie Holland (A.B.O. Holland). Visit: http://www.rebel.demon.nl

Gerhard Bertling found a book of a Thomas Brezina Adventure book on a German web page. The book has nothing to do with the subject of boomeranging, except for the cover which has great boomerang art: http://www.thomasbrezina.com/dbooks/bookkb/bkkb31.htm

Martin Laslett has created a new Gyrofoil Boomerangs Home Page with a great explanation for how a boomerang works. This British site also has booms for sale, a flight simulator, and a lot more: http://www.btinternet.com/~debandmart/webpg1.htm

Martin Laslett has a link to a calendar of British events at: http://www.btinternet.com/~debandmart/events.htm

Rosemary Thomson found a very odd web page that has a 3-D woman wearing shorts and holding a boomerang in one hand (Betsylew, is that you?). The web page has software that allows you to rotate the boomerang thrower in space about any axis, but there doesn't appear to be any control to make her throw the boomerang: http://home.netscape.com/comprod/products/navigator/live3d/examples/woman/womboom.wrl.gz

Richard Harrison found a great site to market just about anything on the internet, including boomerangs. The eBay Auctions home page has links to online bidding in a large number of categories. Go to any category and type "boomerang" in the search string. I found seven boomerang related items, including 2 real boomerangs that auctioned off at fairly low prices. This site is worth checking out: http://pages.ebay.com/aw/index.html

Jim Mayfield has been keeping busy writing business publications and training small and home based businesses to achieve business success both on and off the internet. You can check out Jim's new web site and maybe get some pointers at: http://www.schu.com/bsb/

Mark Horstmeier changes the location of his MTA web page continuously. This month, you can find it at the following URL: http://lazarus.fellows.denison.edu/mta-web/index.html

BBC Tomorrow's World - Megalab '98 indoor boomerang contest has it's own web page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/tw/megalab/mega_boom.html

TrelleBorg Boom Page is a small boom page with instructions for how to throw a boomerang in the Swedish language: http://www.trellgroup.se/trellgroup/BUMERANG.html

Norm Kern has a new email address: kerntan@gateway.net

WBA

Check out Chicago Bob's comprehensive web page with everything relating to the 1998 World Cup at http://www.htc.net/~chibob/worldcup.html Additional details can be found on the web pages: http://users.aol.com/tbrang2/World_Cup98.html and http://users.aol.com/tbrang2/World_Cup98_2.html

All team organizers need to communicate with Tom Fitzgerald . Tom has email at: Fitzreturn@aol.com You can also call (314) 839-1604 or write to:

Tom Fitzgerald

1159 Holly River Dr.

Florissant, MO 63031

Greetings World

Championship Competitors!

Tom Fitzgerald and I are hoping that this message will reach as many members as possible from the various teams coming to the World Boomerang Championships here in St. Louis in July. If you can provide more email addresses of team members which are not included above, please send them to Chicago Bob at chibob@htc.net. We are trying to establish as large a list as possible in order to keep teams as up-to-date as possible. We are at the stage in planning that things are coming together, and email is the fastest way to send information to the competitors.

This message is in regards to the rules. Tom and I finished the rule book during an all-night writing session, and the rules are posted on the "Events" page of the World Championships web site. The rule books will also be mailed to the teams within the next few days. The location of the rules on the net is:

http://www.htc.net/~chibob/events.html

Tom and I invite all WBC competitors to read over the rules. If you have a concern about any of the rules, or have an idea or constructive criticism, please email BOTH Tom and I by 15 April. We will take into consideration everyone's ideas and update the rules accordingly. The final rule book will be published on 20 April. It will be posted to the web site at this time, as well as mailed out by the end of April.

The only major changes to the event rules since New Zealand are the addition of the event Team Terror Round, and in Aussie Round and Accuracy, two throwers from the same team will throw from the same bulls-eye at the same time. Read over these rules and let us know if we have covered everything.

Each team should send Tom (fitzreturn@aol.com) an address of a captain or coach where the rule books should be sent. I think Tom has some of these addresses, but it will be faster to get the rule books mailed if we have all of the addresses. These addresses will be used for future mailings as well. Please, one address per team.

The World Championships is coming together very nicely. A large group of local throwers and leaders has put together a great week of activities. Now that I have the rules page done, look for updates on the other web pages more frequently. The "What's New" page will have all of this information as it becomes available.

We look forward to seeing everyone in July!

Chicago Bob & Tom Fitzgerald

IN CLOSING

Bid sheets for the Spring auction were mailed in March. The bid sheet must be returned by 15 April 1998. Notification of winning bids will take place on or before 1 May 1998. To preview the auction and/or download a bid sheet on the WWW, visit: http://users.aol.com/tbrang2/auction.html

SUBSCRIPTIONS

This publication is produced monthly. Every issue is packed with 8 pages containing all the information you need to stay current in the ever changing world of boomeranging. The distribution of BN currently stands at 164 USA and 70 overseas subscribers. Eight issues of "Boomerang News" costs only $10 in the USA; $12 in Canada and $20 overseas. You can subscribe by sending payment (make check or M.O. out to Ted Bailey) with your name, address & phone number to:

Ted E. Bailey

P. O. Box 6076

Ann Arbor, MI 48106

email: tbailey@ic.net

http://ic.net/~tbailey/Boomerang.html

Boomerang News Calendar of Events

This calendar is on the WWW at: http://ic.net/~tbailey/Boomerang/calendar.html

North America

16 May 1998 Toss Across America Betsylew Miale-Gix 425-485-1672 3351 236th St. S.W.; Brier, WA 98036-8421

16 May 1998 MI Toss Across America Norm Kern 248-645-9308 1640 Haynes St.; Birmingham, MI 48009-6819

17 May 1998 9th Toss Across America Keith Mullinar 203-568-1182 532 Forbes St.; East Hartford, CT 06118

24 May 1998 Gateway Classic Tom Fitzgerald 314-839-1604 1159 Holly River Dr.; Florissant, MO 63031

30/31 May '98 USBA Nationals Larry Ruhf 413-323-4340 31 Jackson Road; Belchertown; MA 01007

19 June 1998 Summer Solstice Throw Norm Kern 248-645-9308 1640 Haynes St.; Birmingham, MI 48009-6819

28 June 1998 4th West Seattle Open Betsylew Miale-Gix 425-485-1672 3351 236th St. S.W.; Brier, WA 98036-8421

19 July 1998 11th W. Oregon Roundup Dean Kelly 503-581-8050 1938 Fieldcrest Ct S; Salem, OR 97306

26 Jul-2 Aug '98 World Cup Championships Tom Fitzgerald 314-839-1604 1159 Holly River Dr.; Florissant, MO 63031

8 August 1998 Free Throwers Tourn. Chet Snouffer 740-363-8332 1868 Panhandle Road; Delaware, OH 43015

29 August '98 Emmaus Day & Night T1 Dr. Barnaby Ruhe 610-967-3683 4926 S. 5th St.; Emmaus, PA 18049

30 August '98 Emmaus Day & Night T2 Mike Barrett 610-282-4913 5067 Homestead Dr.; Coopersburg, PA 18036

6 Sept. 1998 4th Illinois Classic Comp. Tony Brazelton 217-352-6184 2405 Lawndale Drive; Champaign, IL 61821

13 Sept. 1998 10th Novice Tournament Norm Kern 248-645-9308 1640 Haynes St.; Birmingham, MI 48009-6819

12/13 Sept. '98 2nd Outer Banks Comp. John Koehler 757-437-1185 210 60th St.; Virginia Beach, VA 23451

27 Nov. 1998 Michigan Turkey Toss Norm Kern 248-645-9308 1640 Haynes St.; Birmingham, MI 48009-6819

Overseas

29 March '98 Eastern Suburbs Champs Br. Brian M. Thomas (02) 9369 0675 131 Birrell St; Waverley NSW 2024; Australia

26 April 1998 Old Warden Spring Throw Edward Cadman 44 (1449) 49 67 15 42 Thurlow Court; Stowmarket; Suffolk IP14 1HZ; UK

26 April 1998 Queensland Regional David Schummy (07) 3849 8164 18 Dalhousie Ct.; Rochedale So.; Qnsd 4123; Australia

2/3 May 1998 First Midlands Comp. Martin Laslett 0121 443 4783 6 All Saints Road; Kingsheath; Birmingham B14 7LL; UK

2/3 May 1998 2nd Bielefelder Maitreff Lothar Haase 49 (5221) 85 50 70 Kattenschling 24; 32049 Herford; Germany

2/3 May 1998 Aussie National Comps. Br. Brian M. Thomas (02) 9369 0675 131 Birrell St; Waverley NSW 2024; Australia

XX May 1998 4th Düren City Champs Heinz-Willi Dammers 49 (2421) 68 00 63 Am Wingert 84; 52355 Düren; Germany

9/10 May 1998 North Germany Comp Jürgen Küster +49 (5741) 12414 Linkestraße 3; 32312 Lübbecke; Germany

23 May 1998 Over 40 Competition Bruno Müller +49 (6232) 70494 Winterheimer Straße 27; 67346 Speyer; Germany

30/31 May 1998 Torneo Nazionale Roma B Maurizio Saba +31 (6) 653 8053 Via del trullo 122; 00148 Roma; Italy

30 M/1 Jun '98 22.nd Amstelveen Comp Erik Leferink +31 (70) 329 7857 Remmersteinstraat 157; NL-2532 AZ Den Haag; Holland

30 M/1 Jun '98 Rennes Team Comp F. Resmond-Richard ??? 99 84 61 48 17, Square A. Fergent, Appt. 93; 35000 Rennes; France

7 June 1998 Oxley Creek Comp. Dean Hopton (07) 3277 7889 33 Chalfont St.; Salisbury 4107; Queensland; Australia

7/8 June 1998 Travemünde Beach Cup Eckhard Mawick +49 (451) 70 51 81 Wakenitzmauer 64; D-23552 Lübeck; Germany

13/14 June '98 9th Torneo Italiano Boom Mario Crescimbeni (39) 45 80 090 80 Via Venturelli, 2; 38128 Verona; Italy

19/21 June '98 1998 AMSBC Heikki Niskanen +358 17 2633211 Tasavallankatu 10 a 1, 70620 KUOPI; Finland

27/28 June '98 British Nationals & Int'l Edward Cadman 44 (1449) 49 67 15 42 Thurlow Court; Stowmarket; Suffolk IP14 1HZ; UK

27/28 June '98 19th German Nationals Eckhard Mawick +49 (451) 70 51 81 Wakenitzmauer 64; D-23552 Lübeck; Germany

11/12 July 1998 1st Aalen Competition Peter Dürr +49 (7963) 1311 Eichenstraße 33; 73486 Adelmannsfelden; Germany

29/30 Aug 1998 DBC Birthday Party Eckhard Mawick +49 (451) 70 51 81 Wakenitzmauer 64; D-23552 Lübeck; Germany

29/31 Aug 1998 Trefriw BBS Competition Jay Butters 44 (1492) 64 10 09 Garmon View; School Hill; Trefriw; N. Wales LL27 0NJ; UK

XX Sept. 1998 7th Berlin Championships Gerhard Bertling +49 (30) 215 3008 Potsdamer Str. 150; 10783 Berlin; Germany

XX Sept. 1998 Old Warden Fall Throw Edward Cadman 44 (1449) 49 67 15 42 Thurlow Court; Stowmarket; Suffolk IP14 1HZ; UK

XX Sept. 1998 Blacktown Championships Peter Lewry +61 (2) 96 22 29 27 12 Burke St.; Blacktown NSW 2148; Australia

19/20 Sept. '98 12th Swiss Nationals Ruedi Salzmann +41 (3441) 11708 Bernstraße 28; 3324 Hindelbank; Switzerland

15 Nov. 1998 Blue Mtn. Championships Br. Brian M. Thomas (02) 9369 0675 131 Birrell St; Waverley NSW 2024; Australia

24/25 July '99 Boomerang Cup Eckhard Mawick +49 (451) 70 51 81 Wakenitzmauer 64; D-23552 Lübeck; Germany

December '99 Int'l Millenium Throw Earl Tutty +64 3 384 5405 17 Truscotts Rd.; Heathcote Valley; Christchurch 2; NZ

2000 World Cup Championships Rob Croll (03) 9887-5085 5 Tyson Ct.; Wantirna South; Victoria 3152; Australia