The Fast Figure 8 from 1/5/17 to 1/14/17

At the request of the members, the 10/10 challenge has its own section now. Every 10 days a new thread will be opened for that particular exercise.
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Jesse Bessette
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Post by Jesse Bessette »

Ron, that I know. I'm just thinking that having a very short whip could be very useful also.
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Ron May
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Post by Ron May »

You are right.
A short will come in right handy.

Ron
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Michal Pylak

 

Post by Michal Pylak »

Here you have new video of Cracking in Slow motion.

Ep. 3 - Fast figure 8 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ojjgaS ... e=youtu.be
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Robert Gage
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Post by Robert Gage »

Very good, Michal! That looks wonderfully effortless - and the slow motion helps see exactly what you're doing! :)
'Less is often more!'
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Ron May
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Post by Ron May »

Very nicely done Michal.

Ron
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Tristan Foy

 

Post by Tristan Foy »

Today was actually my first full session with the fast figure 8, although I did some slow practice miming while watching the video Ron posted. Tomorrow I plan on doing more actual practice with my whip, but as usually, it's harder than it looks, so I am going to do some stick and mirror practice as well, to get the movements down and to catch up as well.
Tristan Foy

 

Post by Tristan Foy »

Wow, Michal, that is really cool! Thank you for those visual aids.

One question: on the backwards (second) crack you move the whip further away from your body. Does this still mean it's on the same plane? When I've heard of Robby and others talk about keeping the whip on the plane, I have been imagining it to be as if it were a spinning propeller or something, but that just doesn't seem to be what I've been seeing in the videos. Am I aiming for something phyiscally impractical?
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Robert Gage
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Post by Robert Gage »

Tristan, I noticed this too: Michal's arm moves away from his body on the backwards crack. When Robby does the fast figure eight, this doesn't happen - so you're not aiming for the impossible or impractical.

Michal is very impressive, but I still try to keep it all in one plane. I find it more elegant that way, even if I'm not that fast....
'Less is often more!'
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Matt Henderson
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Post by Matt Henderson »

Very nice stuff, Michal :). I'm thinking of joining in with the 10/10 this weekend, when I've finally got some light to record by. I just recently got my fast figure 8 down solid (I think) after a lightbulb moment when trying the volley.
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Michal Pylak

 

Post by Michal Pylak »

@Matt, Thank you :)

@Ron, Robert, Thank you for this question. I have never thought about it this way. The whip I use has a 16 inch handle and it is not so easy to keep it close to my body. I would like to see somebody doing "close to body" fast figure 8 (from the front and from the side) to see what the arm is doing, how it is keeping the plane. Maybe I will also try doing this crack with shorter handle whip and see if I crack it the way you do.
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Ben Varsek
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Post by Ben Varsek »

Michal, thank you for sharing this awesome video - very well done !!!

I've noticed that you tend to bring the handle of the whip to the "9 o'clock position" instead of the "12 o'clock position on the circus crack (= cattlemans crack).

Here is an example of a "close to body" fast figure 8 (at 1:58 minutes):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L88gjDaPf6g


All the best
Ben
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Ron May
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Post by Ron May »

Today's practice was interesting.
It's been super windy with sustained winds at 25mph and gusts up to 35 and 40 mph.
It wasn't the thong that was blowing around so much as me. If this keeps up I am going to have to find some sash weights somewhere.

Ron
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Matt Henderson
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Post by Matt Henderson »

Here's my contribution. My cracks are a little quiet because (unbeknownst to me) my cracker had almost completely ripped off on a shrub just before the take.

https://youtu.be/REg6xCagzPY
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Robert Gage
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Post by Robert Gage »

Hey, Matt - thanks very much for posting this! Not bad!

May I make some specific comments?

1) You hold the whip in the middle of the handle. You'll probably find that if you hold the heel knot in your palm, so that palm and knot act like a ball and socket joint, you'll have a lot more control, as well as better leverage.

2) Your circus crack, right from the beginning, doesn't follow through. It's almost as if you're (pleasantly) surprised to get a crack, and just stop. Try bringing the whip down and back after the crack, so it lies out behind, ready for the next crack. This should be one smooth movement.

3) The whip handle seems to wobble all over the place. Try to keep it in a single plane. The whip will do exactly what you tell it to. Iit looks to me as if you're often sending it rather confused signals. You can practise keeping things in a single plane using just with a whip handle (or stick) and no whip. Do you have WB Vol. I, where Robby talks about the clock face?

4) I think your videos will be clearer if you stand slightly farther away from the camera.

I hope that's constructive. Well done - and thanks so much for joining in!
'Less is often more!'
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Ron May
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Post by Ron May »

Thank you Matt for joining and sharing your video.

Mr. Robert's has been crackin' for a very long time and he's right about holding the handle by the knot in the palm of your hand.
Keeping the handle on plane with the thong will produce more reliable and accurate cracks.
Don't worry about the crack just get the form correct and the cracks will happen all on their own.
Good job.

Ron
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Matt Henderson
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Post by Matt Henderson »

Thanks very much Robert, I'll be sure to work on those points :).

By no means am I challenging you, just wishing to tell you that the decking I was cracking on wasn't too big and so I was a bit wary of where my whip was going, hence not following through on the circus crack and standing close to the camera. I'll take a whip or two to the park tomorrow morning and see if I can get some better results thanks to your advice :).
'Sic Parvis Magna'
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Matt Henderson
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Post by Matt Henderson »

I don't have any of the WB DVDs, unfortunately
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Ron May
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Post by Ron May »

Matt, you can find some samples in the video section and on Youtube.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWZkeGKToUo

The videos are very good at showing how to do them and how not to do them.
There are also videos in the 10/10 challenge thread by Robby showing them as well.

Ron
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Matt Henderson
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Post by Matt Henderson »

Thanks Ron :). After a bit of stick practice in the mirror and holding the whip on the heel knot, I can already feel a big improvement in control. Only time and effort will tell how it ends up.
'Sic Parvis Magna'
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Ron May
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Post by Ron May »

Today's practice went better, but I am going to slow down the action some.
I feel too rushed and hurried.
I will still do it faster than I had at the start but slower than I am practicing now.

Tomorrow will be the last day for this part of the fast figure 8 portion of the 10/10 challenge

I will post a new topic at that time for the next crack on the list in Vol.II.

Ron
It's ok if you disagree with me.
I can't force you to be right.
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