Do you boomerang?
Milo Plurnbottom about 1 year ago | Sports & Leisure Other sports talk

The only boomerangs I ever had were toys as a child, and they never worked very good. But after stumbling onto Rob’s Real Boomerangs Do Come Back informational hobbyist site I just might have to give them another toss.

Rob says about buying a boomerang that will come back:

An expert can recognize whether a boomerang could work in principle, but only throwing it and fine tuning it before it is being sold, is the key of getting a great flyer as opposed to one that sort of works. With mass production boomerangs you could get lucky having one that works fine, but it is more the exception than the rule.

The whole concept of a boomerang is fascinating to me. A toy, a weapon, a sport, and a funny prop for cartoons. At the RANGS Boomerang site they claim that, “Boomerangs are probably the first heavier-than-air flying machine ever invented,” and that, “No one knows for sure how the returning boomerang was first invented, but some modern boomerang makers speculate that it developed from the flattened throwing stick, still used by the Australian Aborigines and some other tribal people around the world (eg the Navajo Indians in America).” They think that in attempting to tune their hunting boomerangs to fly straight someone discovered that they could also get it to return to them, and with it came the first recreational boomerang.

And who knew there was so much to know about making and throwing a boomerang. It is always amazing to me how much jargon and technical information surrounds specialty industries and hobbies (someday I’ll have to post the complete list of terms to describe the various parts of a shoe). For example the boomerang has an elbow, leading arm, dingle arm and a boomerang maker needs to create an appropriate center of gravity so that the airfoil profile has the right positive angle of attack. All this time I just thought I was throwing them wrong! Maybe my grip was bad (or perhaps U.S. toy companies weren’t doing it right :).

Anyway if you are interested in learning more about Boomerangs try some of these useful sites and pages to learn more, and maybe buy or try making your own.

Rob’s Real Boomerangs Do Come Back

• Home
• Tips and FAQ (Really useful)
• News
• Rob’s rangs (amazing and unique designs)
• Videos
• Boomerang Links
• Real Boomerangs company

RANGS Boomerangs

• Boomerang history
• Games and tips
• RANGS boomerangs

Organizations

• Boomerang Association of Australia
• Vermont Boomerang Association
• Boomerang Throwing Association of New South Wales
• British Boomerang Society
• Canadian Boomerang Throwers Association
• IFBA
• Kookaburra Boomerang Association

Images from Rob’s Real Boomerangs Do Come Back site

• Boomerang terms diagram
• Bloody Beauties image of some of Rob’s fine work
• Boomerang grip examples

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