The Coachman's crack 2/4/17 to 2/13/17

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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Ron May
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  The Coachman's crack 2/4/17 to 2/13/17

Post by Ron May »

Here's where we will practice the coachman's crack.
It will start on the 4th and run through the 13th.

Robby has a nice slice of his Vol II showing, what I believe, is the proper way of doing this crack. It starts at 4:29 in the video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L88gjDaPf6g

Restita DeJesus has some tips you can incorporate with Robby's method.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqAX9BtgVbA

Happy crackin' whipsters.

Ron
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Robert Gage
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Post by Robert Gage »

Ron, I'd rather forgotten about Restita DeJesus. I've seen some of her videos before, and heard Robby speak highly of her - but she'd somehow 'slipped off the radar'. Thanks very much for the reminder! :)
'Less is often more!'
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Ron May
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Post by Ron May »

Mr. Robert, she does give good instruction in the mechanics of the throws and is, as we are, not so much into the power and muscling of the whip.

With Robby's Vol.II instruction and Restita's I was able to get a crack.
Robby's is more vertical and hers is more outward and up ward, but both work well.

Thank you for your participation Mr. Robert. :)

Ron
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Jesse Bessette
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Post by Jesse Bessette »

Not gonna lie. The name here threw me for a out to bit of a loop. Why is it that everybody calls all the cracks different things? I've heard the cattleman referred to as the coachman and circus. I've heard literally all of these names used interchangeably, when they aren't interchangeable.

That being said, I love this crack; but, I do need some work on this one. My question is, has anybody attempted this with a shorter whip? I have snow on the ground, along with a lot of mud, and don't want to ruin whips. The shorter ones won't drag through it as much.
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Ron May
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Post by Ron May »

Basically I think this will work with shorter whips.
The action / movement will obviously faster but the technique should be about the same.
Try it and see how it works out.
Using a nylon whip will help alleviate some of the concerns about cracking in a wet environment if you have one.

Ron
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Jesse Bessette
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Post by Jesse Bessette »

Most of the ones I have are nylon. But, they have leather falls that I use to perform. I need to do wraps in my performance, and since nylon doesn't bind, leather was the way to go. I might build one specifally for using in these conditions however.
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Robert Gage
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Post by Robert Gage »

Ron May wrote:Thank you for your participation Mr. Robert. :)
It's a pleasure, Ron. Even though I don't 'do' videos, I'm happy to join in with words....

Jesse, I've put leather falls on several of my nylon whips. On the whole, I think it improves the action - but I've recently got some new nylon crackers made by Rachel, and also one by Charlie, that might make me revise my opinion!
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Jesse Bessette
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Post by Jesse Bessette »

I need them for doing wraps so I can grab things. The nylon ones slip off. Not conducive for that kind of trick.
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Ron May
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Post by Ron May »

Jesse, maybe on your next build you could incorporate an English eye and have the flexibility to change falls as needed.

I now return you to your regularly scheduled coachman's crack channel.

Ron
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Matt Henderson
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Post by Matt Henderson »

Now this... this one is my bugbear. These next ten days will be pretty frustrating, I can tell already.
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Robby Amper
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Post by Robby Amper »

Jesse, I mentioned this in the intro of Vol. I. There are so many names for each single crack. Yer alone the Cicus crack: Target Crack, Vertical Crack, Cattleman's Crack, Gypsy Crack and so on.

Ron - the "classic" Coachman's Crack goes vertically straight up into the air. But you can do several varieties in different angles, too.
But I highly recommend to wear ear protection!

Robby
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Jesse Bessette
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Post by Jesse Bessette »

Robby, ear protection is something I definitely do agree with in this case. I realize that there are A lot of different names for the different cracks. It just gets frustrating at times. You hear somebody talk about doing a crack, and you do something different than they do. I knew this as the Circus crack.
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Ron May
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Post by Ron May »

Robby's right about ear protection.
The Victorian cutback is another one that cracks right by your ear.

Ron
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Post by Fritz Ehlers »

I learned the breakaway from Restitas videos.
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Ben Varsek
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Post by Ben Varsek »

Ron, thank you very much for posting those helpful clips - Happy crackin' to you too :) !!!

Robby, thank you very much for reminding us to wear ear protection (I'm glad I was wearing foam earplugs on todays practice) !!!

Jessie, I'm not familiar with this crack at all and therfore I haven't tryed it with a shorter whip but I'm pretty sure that it should work out fine with a shorter whip as long as the short whip that you're going to use doesn't have an extremely long transition.


Here is a short clip of my first coachman's crack practice. I apologize for the bad sound quality caused by the rain !!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Unck_Bg ... e=youtu.be


There is lots of room for improvement but it is what it is - the beginning of a learning process.

All the best
Ben
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Post by Robert Gage »

A good beginning, Ben! :)
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Ron May
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Post by Ron May »

Ben that's looking pretty smooth for the first time.
Thanks for sharing it.

It's rainy here and it will be some stick practice for me.
Did you find it difficult to do?

Ron
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Ben Varsek
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Post by Ben Varsek »

Thank you very much Robert :) !!!

Doing the coachman's crack fealt better today than on the few times on which I've tryed to do this crack in the past.
It fealt good to finish todays practice like that since the beginning had been terrible: I've shoot a "last day" video of the crossover on the beginnig of todays practice and it fealt worse than on any day during my 10/10 crossover practice (I'll upload the video in the crossover thread).

All the best
Ben
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Post by Ben Varsek »

Ron, I'm far away from gettin the hang on this one but I must say that both of the clips that you've posted have been extremely helpful (thank's Ron !!!) !!!

What helped me particualry was the "winding motion" to keep thong moving into the desired direction. This tiny "second impulse" helped me a lot to form the "coachmans crack loop" with the thong.
Before I tryed any cracking I just did a part of the crack without reversing it and payed close attention to how the loop is forming.

All the best
Ben
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Ron May
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Post by Ron May »

Thank you for that Ben.

Ron
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