A
boomerang is a flying tool with a curved shape used as a weapon or for sport.
Description
A boomerang is usually thought of as a wooden device, although historically boomerang-like devices have also been made from bones. Modern boomerangs used for sport are often made from
carbon fibre-reinforced plasticsCarbon-fiber-reinforced polymer or carbon-fiber-reinforced plastic , is a very strong and light fiber-reinforced polymer which contains carbon fibers. The polymer is most often epoxy, but other polymers, such as polyester, vinyl ester or nylon, are sometimes used...
or other high-tech materials. Boomerangs come in many shapes and sizes depending on their geographic or tribal origins and intended function.
An important distinction should be made between returning boomerangs and non-returning boomerangs. Returning boomerangs actually do fly and are examples of the earliest heavier than air man made flight. A returning boomerang has two or more
airfoilAn airfoil or aerofoil is the shape of a wing or blade or sail as seen in cross-section....
wings arranged so that the spinning creates unbalanced aerodynamic forces that curve its path so that it travels in an
ellipticalIn geometry, an ellipse is a plane curve that results from the intersection of a cone by a plane in a way that produces a closed curve. Circles are special cases of ellipses, obtained when the cutting plane is orthogonal to the cone's axis...
path and returns to its point of origin when thrown correctly. While a
throwing stickThe throwing stick or throwing club is one of the first weapons used by early humans and cultures all around the world. In essence, it is a short stave or wooden club thrown as a projectile to hunt small game such as rabbits or waterfowl. In flight, it rotates rapidly cracking the target with one...
can also be shaped overall like a returning boomerang, it is designed to travel as straight as possible so that it can be aimed and thrown with great force to bring down game. Its surfaces therefore are symmetrical and not uneven like the airfoils which give the returning boomerang its characteristic curved flight.
The most recognisable type of boomerang is the returning boomerang, while non-returning boomerangs,
throwing stickThe throwing stick or throwing club is one of the first weapons used by early humans and cultures all around the world. In essence, it is a short stave or wooden club thrown as a projectile to hunt small game such as rabbits or waterfowl. In flight, it rotates rapidly cracking the target with one...
s (or shaunies) were used as weapons, returning boomerangs have been used primarily for leisure or recreation. Returning boomerangs were also used as decoy birds of prey, thrown above long grass in order to frighten
gameGame is any animal hunted for food or not normally domesticated. Game animals are also hunted for sport.The type and range of animals hunted for food varies in different parts of the world. This will be influenced by climate, animal diversity, local taste and locally accepted view about what can or...
birds into flight and into waiting nets. Modern returning boomerangs can be of various shapes or sizes as can be seen in a photo in the
Modern use section.
Historical evidence also points to the use of non-returning boomerangs by the ancient
EgyptiansEgyptians are nation an ethnic group made up of Mediterranean North Africans, the indigenous people of Egypt.Egyptian identity is closely tied to geography. The population of Egypt is concentrated in the lower Nile Valley, the small strip of cultivable land stretching from the First Cataract to...
,
Native AmericansNative Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
of
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and
ArizonaArizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
, and inhabitants of southern
IndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
for killing birds and rabbits. Indeed, some boomerangs were not thrown at all, but were used in
hand to hand combatHand-to-hand combat is a lethal or nonlethal physical confrontation between two or more persons at very short range that does not involve the use of firearms or other distance weapons...
by
Indigenous AustraliansIndigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
.
Boomerangs can be variously used as hunting weapons,
percussive musical instrumentsA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
,
battleGenerally, a battle is a conceptual component in the hierarchy of combat in warfare between two or more armed forces, or combatants. In a battle, each combatant will seek to defeat the others, with defeat determined by the conditions of a military campaign...
clubsA club is among the simplest of all weapons. A club is essentially a short staff, or stick, usually made of wood, and wielded as a weapon since prehistoric times....
, fire-starters,
decoyA decoy is usually a person, device or event meant as a distraction, to conceal what an individual or a group might be looking for. Decoys have been used for centuries most notably in game hunting, but also in wartime and in the committing or resolving of crimes.-Duck decoy:The term duck decoy may...
s for hunting
waterfowlWaterfowl are certain wildfowl of the order Anseriformes, especially members of the family Anatidae, which includes ducks, geese, and swans....
, and as
recreationRecreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure and are considered to be "fun"...
al
playPlay is a term employed in ethology and psychology to describe to a range of voluntary, intrinsically motivated activities normally associated with pleasure and enjoyment...
toyA toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable and cuddly to both young and old...
s. The smallest boomerang may be less than 10 centimetres (4 in) from tip to tip, and the largest over 180 centimetres (6 ft) in length.
TribalA tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
boomerangs may be inscribed and/or painted with designs meaningful to their makers. Most boomerangs seen today, are of the
touristTourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people "traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes".Tourism has become a...
or
competitionCompetition is a contest between individuals, groups, animals, etc. for territory, a niche, or a location of resources. It arises whenever two and only two strive for a goal which cannot be shared. Competition occurs naturally between living organisms which co-exist in the same environment. For...
sort, and are almost invariably of the returning type.
Etymology
The origin of the term is uncertain, and many researchers have different theories on how the word entered the
EnglishEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
vocabularyA person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge...
. One source asserts that the term entered the language in 1827, adapted from an extinct Aboriginal language of
New South WalesNew South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, but mentions a variant,
wo-mur-rang, which it dates from 1798. The boomerang was first encountered by western people at
Farm CoveFarm Cove is a tidal inlet and shallow bay in Sydney Harbour, separated from Sydney Cove by Bennelong Point . Known to the indigenous inhabitants of Sydney as Woccanmagully, Farm Cove was used by them as an initiation ground and for the "Kangaroo and Dog Dance".The land immediately adjacent to Farm...
(
Port JacksonPort Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge...
), Australia, in December 1804 where its use as a weapon was witnessed during a tribal
skirmishSkirmishers are infantry or cavalry soldiers stationed ahead or alongside a larger body of friendly troops. They are usually placed in a skirmish line to harass the enemy.-Pre-modern:...
:
David CollinsColonel David Collins was the first Lieutenant Governor of the Colony of Van Diemens Land, founded in 1804, which in 1901 became the state of Tasmania in the Commonwealth of Australia.-Early life and military career:...
listed "Wo-mur-rāng" as one of eight aboriginal "Names of clubs" in 1798. A 1790
anonymousAnonymous works are works, such as art or literature, that have an anonymous, undisclosed, or unknown creator or author. In the United States it is legally defined as "a work on the copies or phonorecords of which no natural person is identified as author."...
manuscriptA manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
on
aboriginalIndigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
languageLanguage may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
s of
New South WalesNew South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
reported "Boo-mer-rit" as "the Scimiter".
In 1822 it was described in detail and recorded as a "bou-mar-rang", in the language of the
TuruwalThe Turuwal people were an Aboriginal sub-group of the Dharuk language nation based in New South Wales, Australia. The word boomerang comes from their language.-References:*...
people (a sub-group of the
DharugDharruk is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Dharruk is located 46 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Blacktown and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region....
) of the
Georges RiverThe Georges River is a waterway in the state of New South Wales in Australia. It rises to the south-west of Sydney near the coal mining town of Appin, and then flows north past Campbelltown, roughly parallel to the Main South Railway...
near Port Jackson. The Turnawal used other words for their hunting sticks but used "boomerang" to refer to a
returningIn retail, returning is the process of a customer taking previously purchased merchandise back to the retailer, and in turn, receiving a cash refund, exchange for another item , or a store credit...
throw-stickThe throwing stick or throwing club is one of the first weapons used by early humans and cultures all around the world. In essence, it is a short stave or wooden club thrown as a projectile to hunt small game such as rabbits or waterfowl. In flight, it rotates rapidly cracking the target with one...
. They were also mistakenly referred to as a woomerang, in confusion with the spear-thrower
woomeraA woomera is an Australian Aboriginal spear-throwing device used for when there is a greater distance to be overcome. It is highly efficient and made of wood. Similar to an atlatl, it enables a spear to travel much further than by arm strength alone...
.
History
The oldest
Australian AboriginalAustralian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...
boomerangs are ten thousand years old, but older hunting sticks have been discovered in
EuropeEurope is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, where they seem to have formed part of the
stone ageThe Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
arsenal of
weaponA weapon, arm, or armament is a tool or instrument used with the aim of causing damage or harm to living beings or artificial structures or systems...
s. One boomerang that was discovered in Jaskinia Obłazowa in the
Carpathian MountainsThe Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc roughly long across Central and Eastern Europe, making them the second-longest mountain range in Europe...
in
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
was made of mammoth's tusk and is believed, based on
AMS datingAccelerator mass spectrometry differs from other forms of mass spectrometry in that it accelerates ions to extraordinarily high kinetic energies before mass analysis. The special strength of AMS among the mass spectrometric methods is its power to separate a rare isotope from an abundant...
of objects found with it, to be about 30,000 years old.
King TutankhamenTutankhamun , Egyptian , ; approx. 1341 BC – 1323 BC) was an Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty , during the period of Egyptian history known as the New Kingdom...
, the famous
PharaohPharaoh is a title used in many modern discussions of the ancient Egyptian rulers of all periods. The title originates in the term "pr-aa" which means "great house" and describes the royal palace...
of ancient
EgyptEgypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
, who died over 2,000 years ago, owned a collection of boomerangs of both the straight flying (
huntingHunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
) and returning variety.
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 stickThe throwing stick or throwing club is one of the first weapons used by early humans and cultures all around the world. In essence, it is a short stave or wooden club thrown as a projectile to hunt small game such as rabbits or waterfowl. In flight, it rotates rapidly cracking the target with one...
, still used by the
Australian AboriginesAustralian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...
and some other tribal people around the world, including the
Navajo IndiansThe Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...
in America. A
huntingHunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
boomerang is delicately balanced and much harder to make than a returning one. Probably, the curving flight characteristic of returning boomerangs was first noticed by
stone ageThe Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
huntersHunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
trying to "tune" their throwing sticks to fly straight.
In 1909 the Ngarrindjeri inventor
David UnaiponDavid Unaipon was an Australian Aboriginal of the Ngarrindjeri people, a preacher, inventor and writer. He was the most widely known Aboriginal in Australia, and broke stereotypes of Aboriginals...
patented an invention for a rotary wing aircraft based on his study of boomerang aerodynamics.
Modern use
Today, boomerangs are mostly used as sporting items. There are different types of throwing contests: accuracy of return; Aussie round; trick catch;
maximum time aloftMaximum Time Aloft is a type of boomerang competition involving specially engineered boomerangs. They are launched high, and enter a stable hover. In the official USBA competition throwers get five throws, and the times of the best three attempts are scored. Normally, the catch must be made for...
; fast catch; and endurance (see below). The modern sport boomerang (often referred to as a 'boom' or 'rang'), is made of
FinnishFinland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
birch
plywoodPlywood is a type of manufactured timber made from thin sheets of wood veneer. It is one of the most widely used wood products. It is flexible, inexpensive, workable, re-usable, and can usually be locally manufactured...
,
hardwoodHardwood is wood from angiosperm trees . It may also be used for those trees themselves: these are usually broad-leaved; in temperate and boreal latitudes they are mostly deciduous, but in tropics and subtropics mostly evergreen.Hardwood contrasts with softwood...
,
plasticA plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...
or
composite materialComposite materials, often shortened to composites or called composition materials, are engineered or naturally occurring materials made from two or more constituent materials with significantly different physical or chemical properties which remain separate and distinct at the macroscopic or...
s and comes in many different shapes and colours. Most sport boomerangs typically weigh less than 100 grams (3.5 oz), with MTA boomerangs (boomerangs used for the maximum time aloft event) often under 25 gram (0.881849052627799 oz).
The modern boomerang is often CAD designed with precision airfoils. The number of "wings" is often more than 2 as more lift is provided by 3 or 4 wings than by 2.
In 2008,
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese astronaut
Takao Doiis a Japanese astronaut and a veteran of two NASA space shuttle missions.Doi holds a doctorate from the University of Tokyo in aerospace engineering, and has studied and published in the fields of propulsion systems, and microgravity technology...
verified that boomerangs also function in
zero gravityWeightlessness is the condition that exists for an object or person when they experience little or no acceleration except the acceleration that defines their inertial trajectory, or the trajectory of pure free-fall...
as they do on
EarthEarth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
.
He repeated the same experiment that German Astronaut Ulf Meerbold performed aboard Spacelab in 1992 and French Astronaut Jean-François Clervoy later performed aboard MIR in 1997.
Hunting
It is believed that the shape and elliptical flight path of the returning boomerang makes it useful for hunting. Noise generated by the movement of the boomerang through the air, and, by a skilled thrower, lightly clipping leaves of a tree whose branches house birds, would help scare the birds towards the thrower. This was used to frighten flocks or groups of birds into nets that were usually strung up between trees or thrown by hidden hunters.
Non-returning boomerangs (termed "throwsticks") for hunting larger prey, such as
kangarooA kangaroo is a marsupial from the family Macropodidae . In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, especially those of the genus Macropus, Red Kangaroo, Antilopine Kangaroo, Eastern Grey Kangaroo and Western Grey Kangaroo. Kangaroos are endemic to the country...
, were used for small prey as well. These throwsticks fly in a nearly straight path when thrown horizontally and are heavy enough to take down a kangaroo on impact to the legs or knees. For hunting
emuThe Emu Dromaius novaehollandiae) is the largest bird native to Australia and the only extant member of the genus Dromaius. It is the second-largest extant bird in the world by height, after its ratite relative, the ostrich. There are three subspecies of Emus in Australia...
, the throwstick is aimed toward the bird's neck, in an attempt to break it.
Design
A boomerang is a rotating wing. Though it is not a requirement that the boomerang be in its traditional shape, it is usually flat. A falling boomerang starts spinning, and most then fall in a spiral.
When the boomerang is thrown with high spin, the
wingA wing is an appendage with a surface that produces lift for flight or propulsion through the atmosphere, or through another gaseous or liquid fluid...
s produce
liftA fluid flowing past the surface of a body exerts a surface force on it. Lift is the component of this force that is perpendicular to the oncoming flow direction. It contrasts with the drag force, which is the component of the surface force parallel to the flow direction...
.
Larger boomerangs are used in hunting, thus they drop on the ground after striking the target. Smaller ones are used in sport, and are the only boomerangs that return to the thrower. Because of its rapid spinning, a boomerang flies in a curve rather than a straight line. When thrown correctly, a boomerang returns to its starting point.
Returning boomerangs consist of two or more arms, or
wingA wing is an appendage with a surface that produces lift for flight or propulsion through the atmosphere, or through another gaseous or liquid fluid...
s, connected at an angle. Each wing is shaped as an
AirfoilAn airfoil or aerofoil is the shape of a wing or blade or sail as seen in cross-section....
, so air travels faster over one side of the wing than the other. This difference in air speed creates suction or
liftA fluid flowing past the surface of a body exerts a surface force on it. Lift is the component of this force that is perpendicular to the oncoming flow direction. It contrasts with the drag force, which is the component of the surface force parallel to the flow direction...
along what is roughly a plane which intersects the aerofoil at a near right angle along the long axis of the wing.
These wings are set so that the lift created by each wing opposes the lift of the other, but at an angle such that the flight pattern is constantly shifted as the forces of lift, drag,
rotational inertiaIn classical mechanics, moment of inertia, also called mass moment of inertia, rotational inertia, polar moment of inertia of mass, or the angular mass, is a measure of an object's resistance to changes to its rotation. It is the inertia of a rotating body with respect to its rotation...
(and so on.) 'attempt' to reach equilibrium. In simple terms, this means that one side of the boomerang is different from the other. If both wings were identical, then the boomerang would spin, but fly in a straight line.
Gyroscopic precession is what makes the boomerang return to the thrower when thrown correctly. This is also what makes the boomerang fly straight up into the air when thrown incorrectly. With the exception of long-distance boomerangs, they should not be thrown sidearm or like a Frisbee, but rather thrown with the long axis of the wings rotating in an almost-vertical plane. When throwing a returning boomerang correctly, it is important to follow the correct instructions to achieve a successful return.
Some boomerangs have
turbulatorA turbulator is a device that turns a laminar flow into a turbulent flow. Turbulent flow can be desired on parts of the surface of an aircraft wing or in industrial applications such as heat exchangers and the mixing of fluids.-Airfoil turbulators:...
s—bumps or pits on the top surface that act to increase the lift as boundary layer transition activators (to keep attached turbulent flow instead of laminar separation).
Fast Catch boomerangs usually have three or more symmetrical wings (in the
planformIn aviation, a planform is the shape and layout of a fixed-wing aircraft's fuselage and wing. Of all the myriad planforms used, they can typically be grouped into those used for low-speed flight, found on general aviation aircraft, and those used for high-speed flight, found on many military...
view), whereas a Long Distance boomerang is most often shaped similar to a question mark. Maximum Time Aloft boomerangs mostly have one wing considerably longer than the other. This feature, along with carefully executed bends and twists in the wings, help to set up an 'auto-rotation' effect to maximise the boomerang's hover-time in descending from the highest point in its flight.
Art boomerang renaissance
Beginning in the latter part of the twentieth century there has been a bloom in the independent creation of unusually designed art boomerangs. These often have little or no resemblance to the traditional historical ones and on first sight some of these objects often do not look like boomerangs at all. The use of modern thin plywoods and synthetic plastics have greatly contributed to their success. As long as there are somewhere in the object several airfoil contoured surfaces, whether wing shaped or not, these boomerangs can be thrown and will return. Designs are amazingly diverse and can range from animal inspired forms, humorous themes, complex calligraphic and symbolic shapes, to the purely abstract. Painted surfaces are similarly richly diverse.
Throwing technique
A right-handed boomerang is thrown with a counter-clockwise spin causing a counter-clockwise flight (as seen from above). Conversely, a left-handed boomerang is constructed as a mirror image with the aerofoils' leading edges on the left side of the wings, as seen from above, causing it to produce lift when circling clockwise. Although appearing symmetrical from a plan view, the leading edges are on opposite edges of the wings (leading and trailing) so as to present the leading edges of the aerofoil to the wind when spinning.
Most sport boomerangs are in the range of about 70 to 110 g (2.5 to 3.9 oz). The range on most is between 20 and 40 m (21.9 and 43.7 yd). Boomerangs are generally thrown in treeless, large open spaces that are twice as large as the range of the boomerang. A right- or left-handed boomerang can be thrown with either hand, but the flight direction will depend upon the boomerang, not the thrower. Throwing a boomerang with the wrong hand requires a throwing motion that many throwers may find awkward.
For
right-handed boomerangs, throwers first establish the wind and launch direction by first facing into the wind, slowly turning their head left to right. They then turn between thirty to seventy degrees clockwise to the right, depending on wind speed (turning farther for stronger winds). The correct launch orientation makes the boomerang's flight begin by flying into the wind, then having its flight take it through the "eye of the wind" and finally returning downwind using the wind's speed to help complete its flight back to the thrower.
The thrower stands sideways with feet-apart, left foot forward, so as to point in the direction of flight. Holding the right (or left) wing tip, flat side down, using the thumb on top and one to three fingers below, they tilt the boomerang out at a ten to thirty degree angle from vertical. This angle is called "layover." Different boomerangs have different flight characteristics, and the bigger the layover the higher the boomerang will fly.
Cocking the boomerang back to ensure a good spin and stepping sharply forward with the left foot, the thrower follows through with their right arm and leg as they throw the boomerang overhand in a similar way to throwing a spear or pitching a baseball, aiming the boomerang by pointing with their left arm at or just above the horizon. Launching is performed crisply using a whip-like flick with their index finger, at the end of the throw, to cause quick counter-clockwise spin (seen from above). It is the spin that makes the boomerang return. The strength of throw and spin must be varied according to the speed of the wind — the stronger the wind, the less power is required to provide lift enough to make the return journey. In other words, the stronger the wind, the softer the boomerang is thrown.
The boomerang initially should curve around to the left, climb gently, level out in mid-flight, arc around and descend slowly, and then finish by popping up slightly, hovering, then stalling near the thrower. Ideally, it should hover momentarily, to allow the catcher to clamp their hands shut decisively and firmly on the horizontal boomerang from above and below, sandwiching the centre between the catcher's hands. In other words, it is possible to avoid painful wing strikes to the hand by not sticking fingers directly into the edge of the fast-spinning wing rotor.
Contrary to what beginners think, a boomerang should never be thrown level sidearm like a flying disc, as it will turn abruptly upwards in the direction of the top of its airfoils. It will then climb very high vertically and at its highest point will quickly lose all lift and descend accelerating very fast like a dive boomer so that its landing will be vertical and with great force and probably cause damage, especially to wooden boomerangs which may break into pieces.
Wind speed and direction are very important for a successful throw. A right-handed boomerang is thrown with the wind on one's left cheek. The angle to the wind depends on the boomerang, but starting with a 45 degree angle is recommended. Depending on where the boomerang lands, this angle can be modified so that a closer return is achieved. For example, if the boomerang lands too far on the left, turn to throw more to the right of the wind the next time. If the return goes over one's head, then throw softer. If it falls short, then throw harder. As for the wind speed, a light wind of three to five miles an hour is ideal. If the wind is strong enough to fly a kite, then that's usually too strong for boomerangs.
Throwers can modify various actions to achieve a closer return according to the conditions; the throw angle to the wind, the tilt, the power, the spin, and the inclination can be adjusted to vary the return point so the catch point can be perfected. Facing into the wind, then turning the head slightly to either side to check for the cooling effect, allows one to assess the wind direction, and thus the throwing direction, more accurately. For consistency, return to the same throw point and then use a background target object on the horizon to throw in the same direction relative to the wind each time.
Competitions and records
In international competition, a
world cup is held every second year. , teams from
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and the
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
dominated international competition. The individual World Champion title was won in 2000, 2002 and 2004 by Swiss thrower Manuel Schütz. In 2006, Fridolin Frost from Germany won the title, with Manuel Schütz finishing third.
Competition disciplines
Modern boomerang tournaments usually involve some or all of the events listed below In all disciplines the boomerang must travel at least 20 metres (65.6 ft) from the thrower. Throwing takes place individually. The thrower stands at the centre of concentric rings marked on an open field.
Events include:
- Aussie Round: considered by many to be the ultimate test of boomeranging skills. The boomerang should ideally cross the 50 metres (164 ft) circle and come right back to the centre. Each thrower has five attempts. Points are awarded for distance, accuracy and the catch.
- Accuracy: points are awarded according to how close the boomerang lands to the centre of the rings. The thrower must not touch the boomerang after it has been thrown. Each thrower has five attempts. In major competitions there are two accuracy disciplines: Accuracy 100 and Accuracy 50.
- Endurance: points are awarded for the number of catches achieved in 5 minutes.
- Fast Catch: the time taken to throw and catch the boomerang five times. The winner has the fastest timed catches.
- Trick Catch/Doubling: points are awarded for trick catches behind the back, between the feet, and so on. In Doubling the thrower has to throw two boomerangs at the same time and catch them in sequence in a special way.
- Consecutive Catch: points are awarded for the number of catches achieved before the boomerang is dropped. The event is not timed.
- MTA 100 (Maximal Time Aloft, 100 metres (328.1 ft)): points are awarded for the length of time spent by the boomerang in the air. The field is normally a circle measuring 100 m. An alternative to this discipline, without the 100 m restriction is called MTA unlimited.
- Long Distance: the boomerang is thrown from the middle point of a 40 metres (131.2 ft) baseline. The furthest distance travelled by the boomerang away from the baseline is measured. On returning the boomerang must cross the baseline again but does not have to be caught. A special section is dedicated to LD below.
- Juggling: as with Consecutive Catch, only with two boomerangs. At any given time one boomerang must be in the air.
World records
| Discipline |
Result |
Name |
Year |
Tournament |
| Accuracy 100 |
99 points |
Alex Opri (D) |
2007 |
ViareggioViareggio is a city and comune located in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. With a population of over 64,000 it is the main centre of the northern Tuscan Riviera known as Versilia, and the second largest city within the Province of Lucca.It is known as a seaside resort...
(ITA) |
| Aussie Round |
99 points |
Fridolin Frost (D) |
2007 |
ViareggioViareggio is a city and comune located in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea. With a population of over 64,000 it is the main centre of the northern Tuscan Riviera known as Versilia, and the second largest city within the Province of Lucca.It is known as a seaside resort...
(ITA) |
| Endurance |
81 catches |
Manuel Schütz (CH) |
2005 |
Milano (ITA) |
| Fast Catch |
14.60 s |
Adam Ruhf (USA) |
1996 |
Emmaus Emmaus is a borough in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is located five miles southwest of Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the Lehigh Valley region of the state.The population of Emmaus was 11,313 at the 2000 census...
(USA) |
| Trick Catch/Doubling |
390 points |
Manuel Schütz (CH) |
2004 |
Milano (ITA) |
| Consecutive Catch |
2251 catches |
Haruki Taketomi (JAP) |
2009 |
JapanJapan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
|
| MTA 100 |
139.10 s |
Nick Citoli (USA) |
2010 |
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
(ITA) |
| MTA unlimited |
380.59 s |
Billy Brazelton (USA) |
2010 |
RomeRome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
(ITA) |
| Long Distance |
238 m |
Manuel Schütz (CH) |
1999 |
Kloten -External links:* -References:...
(CH) |
Non-discipline record: Smallest Returning Boomerang: Sadir Kattan of Australia in 1997 with 48 millimetres (1.9 in) long and 45 millimetres (1.8 in) wide. This tiny boomerang flew the required 20 metres (21.9 yd), before returning to the accuracy circles on 22 March 1997 at the Australian National Championships.
Guinness world distance record
A boomerang was used to set a
Guinness World RecordGuinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
with a throw of 1,401.5 feet (427.2 meters) by David Schummy on March 15, 2005 at Murrarie Recreation Ground,
AustraliaAustralia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. This broke the previous record set by Erin Hemmings who threw an
AerobieAn Aerobie is a flying ring used in a manner similar to a flying disc , for recreational catches between two or more individuals. The Aerobie is a ring, rather than a disc. An Aerobie is also lighter, and is more stable in flight. It can be bent to tune it for straighter flight. Since it has very...
1,333 feet (406.3 meters) on
July 14, 2003July 2003: January – February – March – April – May – June – July – August – September – October – November – December-Events:-July 1, 2003:...
at
Fort FunstonFort Funston is a protected area within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area at the southwestern corner of San Francisco. It occupies windswept headlands along the Pacific coast, steep cliffs and the beach below...
, San Francisco.
Long distance boomerangs
Long distance boomerang throwers aim to have the boomerang go the furthest possible distance while returning close to the throwing point. In competition the boomerang must intersect an imaginary surface defined as an
infiniteInfinity is a concept in many fields, most predominantly mathematics and physics, that refers to a quantity without bound or end. People have developed various ideas throughout history about the nature of infinity...
vertical
extrudeExtrusion is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross-sectional profile. A material is pushed or drawn through a die of the desired cross-section...
of a 40 metres (43.7 yd) large line centred on the thrower. Outside of competitions, the definition is not so strict, and the thrower is happy whenever he does not have to travel 50 metres (54.7 yd) after the throw, to recover the boomerang.
General properties
Long-distance boomerangs are optimised to have minimal drag while still having enough lift to fly and return. For this reason, they have a very narrow throwing window, which discourages many beginners from continuing with this discipline. For the same reason, the quality of manufactured long-distance boomerangs is often non-deterministic.
Today's long-distance boomerangs have almost all an
S or
? - question mark shape and have a
bevelA beveled edge refers to an edge of a structure that is not perpendicular to the faces of the piece. The words bevel and chamfer overlap in usage; in general usage they are often interchanged, while in technical usage they may sometimes be differentiated as shown in the image at right.-Cutting...
ed edge on both sides (the bevel on the bottom side is sometimes called an undercut). This is to minimise drag and lower the lift. Lift must be low because the boomerang is thrown with an almost total layover (flat). Long distance boomerangs are most frequently made of composite material, mainly glass fibre
epoxyEpoxy, also known as polyepoxide, is a thermosetting polymer formed from reaction of an epoxide "resin" with polyamine "hardener". Epoxy has a wide range of applications, including fiber-reinforced plastic materials and general purpose adhesives....
composites.
Flight path
The projection of the flight path of long distance boomerang on the ground resembles a
water dropA drop or droplet is a small column of liquid, bounded completely or almost completely by free surfaces. A drop may form when liquid accumulates at the lower end of a tube or other surface boundary, producing a hanging drop called a pendant drop...
. For older types of long distance boomerangs (all types of so called big hooks), the first and last third of the flight path are very low, while the middle third is a fast climbing followed by a fast descent. Nowadays boomerangs are made in a way that their whole flight path is almost planar with a constant climbing during the first half of the trajectory and then a rather constant descent during the second half.
From theoretical point of view, long-distance boomerangs are interesting also for the following reason: for achieving a different behaviour during different flight phases, the ratio of the rotation frequency to the forward velocity has a U-shaped function, i.e. its
derivativeIn calculus, a branch of mathematics, the derivative is a measure of how a function changes as its input changes. Loosely speaking, a derivative can be thought of as how much one quantity is changing in response to changes in some other quantity; for example, the derivative of the position of a...
crosses 0. Practically, it means that the boomerang being at the furthest point has a very low forward velocity. The
kinetic energyThe kinetic energy of an object is the energy which it possesses due to its motion.It is defined as the work needed to accelerate a body of a given mass from rest to its stated velocity. Having gained this energy during its acceleration, the body maintains this kinetic energy unless its speed changes...
of the forward component is then stored in the
potential energyIn physics, potential energy is the energy stored in a body or in a system due to its position in a force field or due to its configuration. The SI unit of measure for energy and work is the Joule...
.TM This is not true for other types of boomerangs, where the loss of kinetic energy is non-reversible (the MTAs also store kinetic energy in potential energy during the first half of the flight, but then the potential energy is lost directly by the drag).
Related terms
Kylie is one of the Aboriginal words for the hunting stick used in warfare and for hunting animals. Instead of following curved flight paths, kylies fly in straight lines from the throwers. They are typically much larger than boomerangs, and can travel very long distances; due to their size and hook shapes, they can cripple or kill an animal or human opponent. The word is perhaps an English corruption of a word meaning
boomerang taken from one of the Western Desert languages, for example, the
WarlpiriThe Warlpiri are a group of Indigenous Australians, many of whom speak the Warlpiri language. There are 5,000–6,000 Warlpiri, living mostly in a few towns and settlements scattered through their traditional land in Australia's Northern Territory, north and west of Alice Springs...
word
karli.
Further reading
External links