The MACH ONE Blog

A LONG overdue review: Kooniu Pocket Whip

2/26/2017

Coiled up pocket whip by Andrzej "Kooniu" Jasztal

More months ago than I care to admit, I got a message from Andrzej Jasztal, a Polish gentleman living in Ireland. Andrzej is a martial artist who makes and uses whips in sparring and martial practice. He asked for my address because he had something he wanted to send me.

I've known "Kooniu" somewhat distantly for years on a number of whip-centric internet forums; Club Obi-Wan's bullwhip forum, The Whip Basics forums, Facebook groups, etc. etc. etc. and as long as I can remember, he's been sharing the results of constant tinkering with new designs of flexible weapons for fast deployment; whip belts, his own version of the intimidating Urumi steel whips of Indian martial arts, etc. etc. One of my favorites he shared many moons ago was a "Universal Whip" That had a removable/replaceable handle that could quickly convert between being a bullwhip, a stockwhip, and a snake whip, (for definitions of these three types of Supersonic Whip, read here.)

Andrzej visited my website a couple years ago, read some of my experiences, and found we had a lot in common in terms of philosophy of whip-based martial arts. I however tend to be a bit more internally focused...almost meditative in my whip practices. Andrzej is much more focused on application, and is focused on where the rubber meets the road. Kooniu is a very "Do it Yourself" kinda fellow, and is constantly developing new variations of those self-made whips, throwing on some padding and a mask and "Field Testing" them with fellow martial artists, and then going BACK to the workbench to fix the problems he's found in his designs. You can find more about that at his website.

His personal style, dubbed "The Vagrant Whip" utilizes a lot of spontaneous flow and requires a lot of speed and skill. The whips Kooniu prefers have somewhat longer handles than the whips I use, which makes carrying them around a bit complicated. Hence this design. I'll just shut up and post the video now.

So as you can see, it delivers, though it is a bit of a compromise, (in fact, a brief conversation with Andrzej just today, he described it himself as a "Compromise" whip.)

The small size makes it light and VERY quick, but its "punch" is somewhat reduced as a result.The lightweight "selfie stick" does keep it from weighing down your pants pocket, but as I mention in the video, it rotates easily and can throw the whip completely out of alignment

But in the intervening months it's taken me to get off my butt and actually DO this review, Kooniu hasn't been idle. He recently sent me some pics of his newer design that uses a small tactical baton as the handle foundation. This give it more mass, (and more use if you need to actually USE it as a blunt trauma weapon in close quarters,) and the aluminum sections lock more tightly together, preventing the swiveling side effect of the torque, therefore the thong of the whip stays in alignment.

image courtesy of Andrzej Jasztal

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New 7' HolyOak Whips Review Pt. 2

2/19/2017

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7 Ft. Bullwhip in the Surf Image courtesy of Jennifer Trout

And now onto Part 2 of the new whips review. This one features a 7 foot, 14 plait acid green and black whip with a brass ferrule.

This whip is just sublime Hands down. I'll let the video and still images below tell the rest!

7 ft. 14 plait Sonic Alignment bullwhip. Image courtesy of Jennifer Trout

Ferrule Detail. Etching by Tyler Blake of ExoWhips.com Image Courtesy of Jennifer Trout

14 plait birds-eye pattern detail Image courtesy of Jennifer Trout

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New 7' HolyOak Whips Review Pt. 1

2/18/2017

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Image Courtesy of Jennifer Trout

I've been a drummer a hell of a lot longer than I've been a whip artist, and I have some very distinct opinions about cymbals. Cymbals are the punctuation marks in the language of drums. It's a common thing for drummers to have at least two identical crash or splash cymbals mounted on either side of their set, (so they can easily reach them depending on which side they are facing.)

I never did that. If I'm going to take up the "real estate" around my drum kit with cymbals, I want as much diversity as I can get. Two identical cymbals create redundancy and limit the variety of punctuation I can use. If I want THAT sound, I'll hit THAT cymbal...I don't need a second.

I tend to feel the same way about "Matched Pairs" of whips, (for those not yet in the know, matched pairs of bullwhips and stockwhips are whips that are as close to being identical as the maker can get them. They are typically made simultaneously so that the maker can get their weight, flow, and particular behaviors as identical as possible. When you're talking about something ENTIRELY handmade, and in the case of leather whips out, made out of natural materials, that's a LOT harder than it sounds! They are popular with whip artists who do complex double-handed "Australian Competition" style routines. For some AMAZING examples of this, check out YouTube videos of Adam Winrich, Todd Rex, and many others.)

While I admire not only the craftsmanship required in producing matched pairs of whips, and the incredible skill required of double handed routines, neither have ever really EXCITED me as something that I wanted to focus on myself. If I am going to invest in a whip, or have it take up space in my whip bag, I want it to have a very tangible difference to the whips around it.

That said, I'm still VERY picky, and look for SPECIFIC things in my whips. So, when Bobbi HolyOak and I were talking about two new bullwhips for me that would have much the same mechanical stats, (both 7 foot, 14 plait with 10" handles,) I had some very distinct characteristics that I was looking for in each one separately.

I don't know how Bobbi managed to weave my mad ramblings and desires into these two amazing bullwhips, but she amazed me as usual. These two whips are twins, but fraternal rather than identical.

This is a full review of the first of these two whips. The second review is already shot, and coming down the pipe soon! (Special appearance at the end of this video by my lovely wife, Jennifer...who graciously provided the still pictures below this review!)

Image Courtesy of Jennifer Trout

Brigid's Cross pattern braiding on handle. Image Courtesy of Jennifer Trout

Tiger's Eye stone in heel knot. Image Courtesy of Jennifer Trout

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Tibetan Wave Whip Review part deux

2/13/2017

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So, about three years and four months ago, I received a very special little tool that ended up being the catalyst by which EVERYTHING I'd done with a whip for almost 10 years by that point.

That tool was a Tibetan Wave bullwhip from Bobbi Holyoak, designed by the esteemed Sr. Grandmaster Ron Lew.

At the time, I shared a brief review of this whip with a few choice people that I have recently made available to the public, (and you can view that review if you scroll down a bit on the link provided above.)

My intention was ALWAYS to produce a longer review of the whip once I got to know it a bit better, but that review was NEVER meant to take three years. Some pretty transformative things have occurred in my approach to the whip since then, (which you can read about in my blog entry from May of 2015)

Well, as promised a few days back, I hauled my whips, my camera gear, and my carcass down to Fort Fisher to shoot some whip reviews. Here's the long overdue one. The others will follow in the coming days.

Please, feel free to comment here, email me privately, join the Mach One forums and lets talk about it! OR find us on Facebook!

Thanks much, and Happy Crackin!

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Vlog Entry #1

2/11/2017

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A bit about where I've been and what I've been up to...And what's coming down the pipes...

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Welcome Home!

11/23/2015

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I thought that with the change of scenery from the hills of Appalachian Ohio to the beaches of North Carolina, it was time for the site to get a facelift, some revised/new content, and a general kick in the posterior to jump start my newly relocated supersonic ventures. So, here we are on the all new MACH ONE Whip Artistry Page!

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Long time...no post...followed by a long post.

5/21/2015

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A very brief announcement followed by a lengthy post about changing things up, (well, the announcement is about changing things up too, but that's neither here nor there.) First of all, I wish to announce that after spending most of my life growing up in Southeastern Ohio, and most of my adult life either in or orbiting around Athens, Ohio, my wife and I have decided to move to Wilmington, North Carolina.

People tend to ask “So, are you moving for a job?” Well, a job WILL BE in the offing obviously, but...well...The Beach was really the deciding factor.

We fell in love with the area when we vacationed there a couple years ago...The history, the vibe, the people...and then there's also the beach...

Wilmington is also home to the largest Television and Film studio system in North America outside California, and if you happen to go to the “About Me” page and read about my other passion and profession, you'll see why that would be appealing. Speaking of appeal, did I mention the beach?

Consequently, MACH One Whip Artistry is moving with us, so look out Cape Fear!

Once the move is complete and we're relatively settled, I plan on really ramping up the work that I do with MACH One, the services I offer, and the marketing of my services, and generally just totally overloading the area with supersonic goodness. I also hope to add some videos, (demo and instructional,) to the website. I'm going to try to be more involved with the larger US Whip performer community in general, and writing more on this blog about my exploration of whips, (which is often problematic for me. If I'm writing about some aspect of whips, my hands invariably begin to get twitchy, and I have to go throw a whip around for a few minutes. It makes getting whip articles written almost impossible. To get just a LITTLE meta on you, I just came back to my chair to write this after putting down a whip.)

I've been rather quiet of late and for that I apologize, but I had a “Back to the drawing board” moment with my whip work a few months back, and that was a VERY very good thing.

My other passion/profession mentioned above took me out to Silicon Valley in September of 2014 to do some corporate training video for a large software firm, (and between the boring subject matter and the non-disclosure clause, that's all you need to know,) and while I was there, I had the amazing honor of going down to San Jose and working very briefly with Maestro Ron Lew, (**Master Lew's website is on my links page, but is currently down. Therefore I will not link to it here.)

This was a REALLY big deal for me...Like meeting a favorite celebrity..and to put that into perspective, I need to explain my personal exploration of the whip in more detail than I've ever publicly divulged.

I've loved bullwhips for about 35 years now, ever since I saw that 12 plait beauty made by David Morgan flash across the big screen in the opening scenes of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” (seriously...Go back and watch it...The whip gets its close-up before Harrison Ford does), but I really began my obsessive exploration of the bullwhip 11 years ago.

In May of 2004, I took a weekend bullwhip workshop with Gery L. Deer, owner and proprietor of The Whip Artistry Studio in Jamestown, Ohio. Gery was immediately a great teacher who became a great friend and collaborator. Through Gery, I got to work with a great number of whip makers and whip performers. I learned a bunch really quickly within that first couple years.

But there was still a big difference between me and the folks I worked with.

Now, I don't mean this as a slight against them in ANY way. They're absolutely fantastic at what they do, and I cherish every moment I had to work with them. But there was an immediate difference of focus.

There was a difference of priority.

There was something elusive that I desperately needed to define and explore that no one else seemed to respond to, (or at least give the primacy to that I did.)

Before I picked up that whip in 2004, I had tried my hand at a number of things: Various martial arts, kendo, sword fighting, (both stage combat and competition/sparring with longsword and rapier,) target shooting, etc. etc. etc. I still enjoy a few of these things, but I never committed as much diligence, time or attention to them as I did the whip, and it took me a LONG time to figure out why.

Gery, and most of the other guys I had the opportunity to work with, were performers. THAT was their focus. The goal of practice is to cut the target...nail the routine...rehearse the show...get it perfect.

At first, I thought that was my focus too. I have a LONG history as a performer as well. All through elementary and high school I did shows, plays, and sang. I performed off-broadway in New York my Freshman year of High School. I started college as a Theater Major. One of my favorite toys as a kid was a cassette tape recorder, on which I spontaneously performed sketches, did impressions, sang songs, etc. To this day, there are very few accents or character voices I can't do or pick up very quickly if I try, (and I credit the “playing as training” I did with the tape...recording...listening back...self-critiquing...re-recording...and getting better and better for that. I was doing it for fun, but I know professionals who wonder how I do it today.)

But the whip was different.

The whip wanted more from me.

I WANTED to cut targets and learn routines, but THAT wasn't the goal...That was a byproduct.

When I first cracked one of Gery's whips, (I remember it well. May 8th, 2004...My 30th birthday. The whip was a 6', 12 plait “Indiana Jones” style bullwhip made by Joseph Strain that Gery'd had for years as his “work whip,” pulling equal duty snagging fallen branches from the electrical fence on his parents farm during the day and cutting targets from the fingers of his performing partner on stages at night,) my immediate reaction was “HOLY SHIT!”

All of those cool things I'd taken up and dropped...martial arts, rapier combat, target shooting...all that stuff I thought at first “This is IT” but left me cold somehow...This WAS it. That deep connection I was looking for was THERE, I just had to find it.

There will soon be a subsequent blog post to REALLY discuss IN DETAIL what that deep connection was about, though at the time I couldn't put it into words, and couldn't really even conceptualize it. But to summarize, I wanted to develop whip skills NOT so I could cut targets or do routines.

I wanted to make the whip such an extension of my own body and mind that reaching out and wrapping a persons wrist or neck, OR cutting a target from their fingers became as simple a process as reaching out and flipping a light switch. Cutting the target was a byproduct of that skill, just as turning on the light is a byproduct of neuro-motor skill development we did as infants and toddlers.

But I'm getting ahead of myself. This took me a while to figure out. In the mean time, I was hanging out with cowboys, developing skills, doing the occasional performance or demo, but never really developing an ACT, and I couldn't figure that out. As I said, I have a long history as a performer, so exactly why did I have such little interest in performing?

I couldn't figure out why I seemed to be focusing on a more personal INTERNAL approach to the whip, as opposed to the more presentational EXTERNAL approach that my colleagues and instructors had.

Then, not quite two years AFTER I began my journey, I read a very singular book: The Filipino Fighting Whip by Tom Meadows *** Tom's book outlined his own exploration of the bullwhip, starting as a young child, and then rediscovering the bullwhip as a student of Filipino Martial Arts legend, Dan Inosanto. Filipino Martial Arts utilize a great many weapons and weapons styles, (all centered around techniques developed with the escrima stick and moving out to include ropes, flails, coins, shirts, hats, etc. Weapons were outlawed in the Philippines for centuries during Spanish colonialism, and the Filipino people made VERY good use of whatever they had.) Tom began to develop his own system, based upon traditional stick, sarong, and whip techniques, but utilizing a more modern Australian style bullwhip and a knife or a stick in the off-hand. Tom shared and collaborated with various other martial artists and developed a quite unique and effective system known as “Latigo y Daga” (Spanish for “Whip and Knife”) which he outlined quite eloquently and precisely in the book.

***I should point out that the Paladin Press edition of this book, linked above, is out of print. In recent conversations with Tom, I have learned that he is putting it BACK in print via Amazon CreateSpace, and will be available soon as both a paperback and a Kindle download. I CANNOT recommend this book enough, HOWEVER I would wait for the new edition, as you will pay less than the extortion prices they have on used or like-new copies at Amazon, AND the author will be paid royalties that he would not otherwise get. I will keep folks updated on the state of the new release when I learn things, and will no doubt partner with Amazon in selling it through this site as well. In those conversations I've have with Guro Meadows, I've learned a bit of what he's got planned for Latigo y Daga. If you're reading this blog, then you're the kind of person who will want to fund what Guro Meadows is up to. Trust me.***

In Tom, I found a kindred spirit who had begun his own journey down the road I was on back when I was in diapers, (and subsequent recent extended phone conversations and lengthy e-mail exchanges have just convinced me more how much this man's philosophy mirrors my own.)

Most of the photographs illustrating the techniques in the book feature Maestro Ron Lew, a Chinese American martial artist who has taught Tai Chi, Ki Gung, Kung Fu, and various Filipino styles for a great number of years, (longer than I've been alive anyway.) Master Lew trained with Guro Meadows for a while, and began to develop his own “Tibetan Wave” whip form by applying Tai Chi energy flow/redirection principles to the Latigo y Daga whip techiques.

So, I worked on my own...Not necessarily attempting to learn Latigo y Daga from a book, but I DID finally have a clue what I was after in my whip exploration, and I had a bit of a map and a lot of inspiration from the book.

Flash forward to September of 2014. I had recently acquired a “Tibetan Wave” bullwhip from Bobbi HolyOak in February. I'd purchased it without ever handling one of her whips before. This is VERY unusual, as whips are obviously a very personal thing for me. The quality of two whips by two makers can be almost identical. They can use materials from the same suppliers, and almost identical techniques and tools, but their whips will behave very differently. The quality of the whips are not in question here, but the qualitIES are. Whip makers tend to make whips that follow their own preferences. It's like the difference between a Bugatti and a Lamborgini. They are both fine vehicles that are built for high-performance. But there are aesthetic... not qualitative or quantitative...differences that make the TRUE aficionado pick one over the other. There are no wrong answers here, only preferences. And most whip enthusiasts have as wide a sampling from many different makers as they can manage. I'm picky, so just BUYING a whip from someone I had no experience with was really weird. BUT, Bobbi's whips are the official whips of both Tom Meadows and Ron Lew now. They give her rave reviews, (as did every far-flung whip performer I knew who's opinion I considered worth a damn.) So, I took the plunge, but not first without asking LOTS of questions that resulted in very lengthy conversations.

I've come to love Bobbi like a sister, though I haven't yet had the opportunity to meet her face to face. She gets the more “Far out” aspects of my approach to whip work that I'll probably NEVER divulge publicly, (or admit to if someone else does,) and she's told me some things about her approach and technique to whip making that she doesn't share too easily. Bottom line, she makes whips to use that way I want to use them, and I have NEVER handled...kangaroo or nylon...a whip that is more dynamic and responsive to the way I work with whips. I honestly didn't think that was possible with nylon, (for aesthetic, philosophical, and physical wave dynamic reasons,) but here we are.

Through Bobbi, I had some fleeting contact with Master Lew, and when I realized that he was located in San Jose...about 30-40 minutes from where I was staying during my week there doing corporate video, (remember that from WAY BACK at the beginning of this post?) I immediately contacted him.

It was last minute. I didn't even know if he'd be in the same COUNTRY while I was there, let alone have time to meet with me. I honestly didn't care. Even if I just had a chance to sit down for coffee with this guy, it was something I wanted to do.

We ended up meeting on a Tuesday evening. I met Master Lew at his martial arts school. I suppose now I should shift to calling him Ron, as when we met I greeted him as “Maestro,” to which he responded “Call me Ron...'Master' makes me feel old!” at which point he pulled off his hat to display his mostly bald septuagenarian head. Now, I had heard from a number of people about Ron's whip techniques, and I was determined to see them for myself, but somehow he managed to get me to crack a few whips before he did, (OK, I KNOW how he did it. He tempted me with a bunch of whips from his collection. But it was my intention to see his work before I touched a whip.) He was very kind and complimentary of my style, and I talked a bit about my approach and what I like to do as I did, (the memory itself is all a blur, but Ron had asked if he could videotape me while I worked. He sent those videos to me, and it's really the only way I can remember what I said.) Then, I handed Ron my Tibetan Wave whip from Bobbi for him to try.

Now, as I said, I had heard stories about Ron's style, and had seen still pictures in Tom Meadows' book, but I'd never seen him in motion. Ron took the whip from me, examined it briefly, and very non-chalantly began to move.

I have never EVER seen anything like it. The whip seemed to be orbiting him, cracking all around him in several directions at once, creating this cloud of flowing energy. There, in the middle of that cloud, was this smiling man doing these slow, flowing Tai Chi movements that at once seemed completely disconnected from the whirling explosive chaos of the whip, while at the same time flowing right along with it...providing the core for it...a methodic integral beat to the syncopation around it.

“So, what would you like me to teach you?”

I didn't know where to begin at all. But Ron started with a couple off-hand techniques, (manipulating the whip with the opposite hand, redirecting the flow of the energy as one does in most Tai Chi techniques.) And then I attempted what he was showing me. 10+ years of work, and feeling like I'd developed some skill and sense of control and elegance went RIGHT OUT the window. I actually gave myself the one and only scar I've ever got from a whip working on the skillset that he gave me. But he was patient, and generous, and gave me some great advice and techniques to practice that I've been working on ever since.

Afterward, we went to dinner and talked about martial arts, and whips, and Chi flow, and it ended up being one of those conversations that ends up transforming your approach to life.

I drove to San Jose exhausted, stressed-out, headachy and sore from two 8-hour days hunched over a camera, squinting into a viewfinder.

I was only with Ron for about 2-2 ½ hours.

I drove back from San Jose with the windows down, the Stereo blaring 80's tunes, (rental car had Sirius Satellite Radio,) smiling, pain free, and ready to go back to work behind that camera RIGHT THEN.

I've been working on the skill-set Ron taught me for about 9 months now, and I can honestly say that if you were to show Dan the Whip Artist from 10 months ago any footage of me today, 10-months-ago-Dan wouldn't recognize me.

My approach has changed, my style has changed..in visually subtle, but profound ways, and I'm getting closer and closer to my goal of meditation at mach 1. And that's something that I hope to share with many of you, both digitally and in person.

Thanks for reading...

-Dan

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What are MACH ONE's goals, and why I use "Whip Artist" (or what I did on my weekend Vacation. An essay by Danny Trout, age 40)

4/28/2014

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As the real flagship blog entry, and not just a "Hey! We're open! Come on in!" post, perhaps I should establish a couple things about what it is I do, and why I use the term “Whip Artistry.”

I presented at a local comic book/sci-fi convention this past Saturday, and really had a lot of fun. I gave a 40 minute presentation on the whip, its design, and its history in Hollywood action, sci-fi and pop-culture, and then manned a table with brochures, whips, and books on whips laid out on it, answering questions and generally schmoozing. But there are lots and lots of barriers to really getting the point across.

“So, what exactly do you DO?”

Drawing comic books, selling collectables, doing cosplay, writing sci-fi, even telling people you're do sword fighting. People typically get that immediately.

“Whip Artistry” is a difficult thing to explain, which I feel I did with some skill, but people really don't get it until they see it. And that's not the easiest thing to demonstrate at a table at a convention with a bunch of other vendors and people roaming around you.

There is a quote that I find I use quite often by Tom Meadows from the introduction to his book, “The Filipino Fighting Whip.” Tom says “the whip is a fundamentally antisocial weapon,” (referring to his desire to train with a whip as a student of Martial Arts Legend Dan Inosanto, only to be sent out to the parking lot so as not to accost and annoy the other students) and I wholeheartedly agree. It's not something easily done in a crowded room, especially one with young kids too busy looking at all the cool stuff around them rather than where they're going. I can crack a whip in a very small amount of space, but it's not that impressive. To really demonstrate how pretty a rolling whip is, I need space to let the whip stretch out. Plus, whips make a lot of noise and can be intimidating. It's just not being neighborly toward the vendors at the tables around you to scare their potential customers away, which it does for some folks who are very timid or don't like the noise.

The opposite is also true. Whips also attract a lot of attention. During a lull on our end of the room, I went out into a clear area and did a couple brief combos and volleys with a short bullwhip, and that brought people running. But that also means they tend to crowd in toward your table, and you don't have the room to work anymore and have to stop for safety sake, (unless you've really had the chance to plan your space with the con staff, which I didn't get the chance to do this year. I did see an empty corner of the room that I plan on staking out as my own for next year.)

So, for folks that didn't make it to the demonstration, you just have to say “Well, we manipulate supersonic whips in an artistic manner in order to produce intricate dance and artistic kinetic motion patterns as well as percussive rhythmic cracks.”

Huh?

Anyway...

I've heard a few other whip professionals and performers kinda scoff or show some distaste at the term "Whip Artistry," but I prefer the term “Whip Artist/Artisty” to “Whip Cracker/Cracking,” or the ultimate in vanity "Whip Master"/"Mistress" (I've heard folks called "Whip Master" by announcers before, and they tend to accept the compliment and not be rude about it. But in conversation, the people I have met or interacted with that I feel are deserving of the title "Whip Master" tend to refer to themselves as "Students of the Whip," as they're still learning from this amazing tool every time they crack it.)

I have preferred "Whip Artist" since a handful of amazing whip performers and I began the Society of American Whip Artistry back in 2008. I don't lump myself in with those “amazing whip performers,” and still don't. They were earning some...if not all..of their living through the whip. Back then I was a college professor and a media producer who just was just working on taking his passion for supersonic whips to the next level, and felt fortunate and honored to be working alongside them.

It was our goal to establish an organization of professionals in which we would offer training certification and membership benefits, (discounts through certain whip makers, blanket liability insurance rates, etc.) in a way similar to how the Society of American Fight Directors certifies actors and stunt performers in stage combat. If you were a producer/director who needed a whip performer in a show (and there are lots of Wild West/Circus/Horror/Burlesque/Cabaret shows that do), and you saw the SAWA certification on a performers resume with their headshot, you would know beyond a doubt that they would have a certain level of skill, and would be aware of safety protocols one must be very conscious of to keep themselves, their fellow performers, and their audience/crew from harm.

Simply put, we wanted to raise the bar on the skill level and professionalism of the average whip performer the way that the Society of American Fight Directors brought a level of sophistication to stage combat in the American theater during the late 70's and early 80's.

This is why we decided on the term “Artistry” when we formed the SAWA. It is an art, just like any martial or physical art form, like dance, yoga, acrobatics, and juggling.

Any fool can swing a bullwhip around and make a big noise with it, (and there are a great many who do,) but it takes a special kind of person to do intricate cracking patterns, slow, sinewy routines choreographed to music, or be capable of hitting a particular target, on cue, on stage, every night without getting hung up in stage rigging, or posing a threat to others. Unfortunately, most people don't know the difference because they haven't actually seen a trained whip professional using a quality whip.

I met a guy this weekend who is a martial artist and a seasoned stage combat instructor. We got to talking and he said that he'd learned a little bit of whip work from a guy years ago, but asked me to show him a little bit to refresh his memory. He was quite surprised that I didn't pull back on the whip, and that it didn't look like it was cracking against the ground.

I immediately knew the kind of “Whip Cracker” he'd learned from, (who was probably quite skilled in other areas of stage combat or Wild West performance, and had not himself learned from a skilled instructor with a finely crafted whip.) I then showed him that I could place the crack anywhere I really wanted to, and that I didn't pull back because I wanted the whip to crack away from me, dispelling the energy away from myself and anyone around me in a safe but dramatic manner, then I handed him a whip and showed him how to do it.

I am pleased to say that he is sold on the beauty of a quality whip and proper technique, and we have plans to work together in the not too distant future.

All these years later, when the SAWA has gone from an organization with those lofty goals to a small group of us that still seem to unofficially stick to SAWA standards for our own individual work, (because it works,) I still use the word “Artistry” almost exclusively when referring to what my goals are with a whip, and what I try to instill in others.

It is a skill that takes far more practice hours to gain proficiency and demonstrate safety around others with than the bare basics of sword form for stage. Swords don't have as long a threat range and aren't flexible the way a whip is. When you stop the movement of your arm and wrist with a sword, it stops (unless it breaks, then you've got a whole other mess of problems to deal with). That does not happen with a whip. You can't just stop the whip from swinging by stopping your arm, and if distances are misjudged, it takes a lot of practice and experience to either prevent or minimize injury and "de-energize" the whip. Stage combat weapons are not sharp and are often made of aluminum or fiberglass (not AS dangerous as steel if done correctly) or even foam or rubber.

You can't exactly fake a whip. If the whip cracks, it's moving at the speed of sound, and that means it's dangerous. Subsonic whips (or supersonic whips that are being used subsonically) do not move in a predictable manner, and therefore become dangerous as an “unknown variable.”

I'm not saying "What I do is so much harder than swordsmen/women." because it is not by any means. I enjoy watching good fight choreography and am well aware of the hard work that goes into well done dramatic violence.

What I am saying is that if we as whip artists, enthusiasts and crackers truly want to elevate what we do to a recognized art form here in North America...If we want to see good whip work in more movies, TV shows, and live performances, (hell...If we want to get hired to DO those jobs,) then we need to collectively raise the bar and raise awareness that we've raised the bar.

That is what I continue to work toward in my own whip exploration.

That is what I teach and try to instill in my students.

That is what I love.

And that...is all for now.

Thanks! Feel free to comment here or in the forums.

-D

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April 25th, 2014

4/25/2014

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And We're Live!!!!

Heya folks! Forgive the mess...

We just went up. There may be the occasional hiccup, and things might shift around a little over the next few days, but thanks so much for coming to see what I'm trying to provide here with MACH ONE whips.

Please feel free to zap us a message either here as a comment on the blog, a comment on our "Contact" form, an email, or send a request to join our FaceBook Group, (link at the top right of the screen.)

So, excuse our dust...we're still under construction. If you see a problem or have a question, please let us know,
and I hope you will join me in the exciting exploration of Meditating at Mach 1

All the best, and happy cracking!

-Dan

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New 7' HolyOak Whips Review Pt. 1

Tibetan Wave Whip Review part deux

Vlog Entry #1

Welcome Home!

Long time...no post...followed by a long post.

What are MACH ONE's goals, and why I use "Whip Artist" (or what I did on my weekend Vacation. An essay by Danny Trout, age 40)

April 25th, 2014

And We're Live!!!!

Daniel Trout

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