Saturday, April 11, 2009
A Study In Accuracy: The Slingshot Man
I was checking out funny videos on You Tube when I came accross a video on "The Slingshot Man." His real name is Rufus Hussey. He is a sixty-five year old man who appears to be the Phil Taylor of slingshooting. He lives out in the country near Asheboro, NC. In the video he displays remarkable feats of accuracy, including throwing up a walnut and then a quarter, and hitting each with his slingshot. Then he picks bugs off of his plants with his amazing slingshot skills. Check out the video on You Tube. It would be interesting to see what he could do with darts. While the skills are different, I find that people who are accurate with a gun or bow tend to be quick studies in darts.
Thursday, April 09, 2009
Catching Up On News
No, the blog has not gone to the dogs! Many events have conspired to keep me from posting lately, such as my new responsibilities as a dog owner. Here is a picture of the new member of the family, a Bassett Hound named Rainbow. The story of how he got the name is funny.
We picked him out at the Tri-State Bassett Hound Rescue. They were calling him Rambo, but my son thought he heard "Rainbow." Unfortunately there was no convincing him that Rambo was a more manly sounding name, and I suppose you have to pick your battles. So Rainbow it is. He's a good dog, quite content to curl up on the floor and watch me practice. The picture shows him in training for the upcoming 2009 New Jersey Boardwaddle, in which hundreds of Bassets will cruise the boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ together on April 17-18, 2009. If you're there be careful not to trip over all the big ears.
Back to darts. I was a bit bummed out that I had to miss the charity dart event in Philly because of a change of family plans. However, I am glad to see it was another huge success. Keith McCarthy reported on PhillyDarts website that 148 dart players showed up and raised $12,000.00 for charity...Great job Philly!
So how has my practice been going? I have been sneaking in some time on the board and had a very positive development recently. I found an old set of darts that I probably have not used in about eight years. They are fatter and heavier than the set I was using, with a fairly smooth barrel. I couldn't even tell you what brand they were. Just for laughs I picked them up and good things started to happen. My groups consistently tightened, and I felt like I had a lot more control over the dart.
I have a theory about why I am more comfortable with the old darts. I have big hands. To grip a thinner or smaller dart I have to close my hand tighter, creating a more crampy feeling that probably hinders my grip and release. I remember at an expo John Lowe talked about how he sometimes missed his big old darts because they had a better feel and he could control them more easily. We'll see if the old darts keep working for me.
I am taking off all next week so I will have no excuses not to post. I will be catching up on news and passing it along. Who knows, I might even sneak out to a LOD or two. Until then, good darts!
We picked him out at the Tri-State Bassett Hound Rescue. They were calling him Rambo, but my son thought he heard "Rainbow." Unfortunately there was no convincing him that Rambo was a more manly sounding name, and I suppose you have to pick your battles. So Rainbow it is. He's a good dog, quite content to curl up on the floor and watch me practice. The picture shows him in training for the upcoming 2009 New Jersey Boardwaddle, in which hundreds of Bassets will cruise the boardwalk in Ocean City, NJ together on April 17-18, 2009. If you're there be careful not to trip over all the big ears.
Back to darts. I was a bit bummed out that I had to miss the charity dart event in Philly because of a change of family plans. However, I am glad to see it was another huge success. Keith McCarthy reported on PhillyDarts website that 148 dart players showed up and raised $12,000.00 for charity...Great job Philly!
So how has my practice been going? I have been sneaking in some time on the board and had a very positive development recently. I found an old set of darts that I probably have not used in about eight years. They are fatter and heavier than the set I was using, with a fairly smooth barrel. I couldn't even tell you what brand they were. Just for laughs I picked them up and good things started to happen. My groups consistently tightened, and I felt like I had a lot more control over the dart.
I have a theory about why I am more comfortable with the old darts. I have big hands. To grip a thinner or smaller dart I have to close my hand tighter, creating a more crampy feeling that probably hinders my grip and release. I remember at an expo John Lowe talked about how he sometimes missed his big old darts because they had a better feel and he could control them more easily. We'll see if the old darts keep working for me.
I am taking off all next week so I will have no excuses not to post. I will be catching up on news and passing it along. Who knows, I might even sneak out to a LOD or two. Until then, good darts!
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