How To Throw The Boomerang Guide

Boomerang Anatomy

Are you a right-hand thrower or left-hand thrower, and do you have a right or left-handed boomerang? Yes, there is a difference. Make sure you have the correct boomerang.

Boomerang throwing instructions

Yes, boomerangs do in fact return, and don’t let anyone tell you differently. There isn’t any magic incantation we need to know; even as magical as these sporting weapons might seem at first. The most important thing to learning how to really throw is following expert instruction.

The real truth is that without expert instruction you’re going to look awfully silly.

In order for a boomerang to come back to its thrower, it absolutely must be expertly crafted and bowed correctly. There are quite of few “sticks” floating about which may look like a proper boomerang and they even may be called boomerangs, but throw one and see if it comes back to you.

If you pick up a boomerrang, and after carefully following this instruction it will still not return to you, then chances are you’ve got yourself a “stick”. We do not sell “sticks”, the only boomerangs we sell are rigorously tested and are reliably able to return, when thrown properly.

Please try to understand every detail of these instructions before attempting a throw. Also, pick a large enough area to test things out. Of course, it’s ideal to test when there aren’t a whole lot of people about. Choose a nice gentle day, with little breeze.

Rule number one is do not take your eyes off of the boomerang while it is the air. If for some reason you lose sight of the ‘rang while it’s airborne, simply turn away and cover your face with your arms, next, count to fifteen. Now, perk up your ears and listen for its landing. Once you’ve heard it land, follow your ears to where you heard it drop. (Many boomerangers do wear protective eye wear when throwing for added safety measures.)

Where and how to grip

When holding your ‘rang, use either of the following grip styles. And remember it doesn’t matter which arm you hold the ‘rang in as long as you’re sure that your thumb is placed on the painted side.

Direction of throw

Ask yourself, which way is the wind blowing? One method that we’ve all seen is pulling up some grass and tossing it into the breeze – it works, just like in the movies.

Position yourself so that you are facing the wind. A right handed thrower will throw to the right of the wind, and as you’d expect, a left-handed thrower will throw slightly left of the wind. The angle is at roughly at forty five degrees, tilted away from the wind. Again, the right-handed will throw to the right, and left-landed will throw to the left.

Elevation

The truth is that the majority of boomerangs do not take kindly to being thrown high into the sky. Remember that and throw within the 'window' of elevation for best results.

Layover

Ready? Well, hold on just one minute now.

The layover angle is the most important thing to a proper flight. Don’t throw your ‘rang with a sidearm motion, as you would a disk. That dangerous mistake might likely cause your ‘rang to brake, or even worse you could hurt somebody.

In your mind, picture a big, fat round clock. A right hander will set to layover their boomerangs just to the right of twelve o’clock, between 12:00 and 1:30, the lunch hour. Left-handed throwers like their lunch a bit earlier, between ten thirty and noon time.

Getting the correct spin is crucial to a good ‘rang throw. Imagine snapping your wrist exactly at the second that the ‘rang releases out of your hand. Spin is vital to proper technique. And, don’t despair -- of course it’s going to take a little time to get it exactly right.

How hard should you throw?

The honest answer is that it’s a bit hard to explain. But, if you’ve thrown a baseball, you have what it takes to throw a boomerang. A lot of folks begin by throwing way too lightly. However, you do not have to throw with maximum force either. Now, if the ‘rang comes way over your head and drops a field away, and on a calm day, you’re throwing it with a wee bit too much force. And, if your boomerang consistently drops in front of you, then give it a bit more gasoline.

Give it a whirl, put everything we’ve talked about together and let her fly. Please don’t feel bad if you’re having trouble in the beginning, Boomeranging is an ever improving adventure – and as you might have guessed, practice is essential to becoming a good thrower.

Accelerating Your Learning Curve with the Boomerang

Like all sports, Boomerang throwing is a skill this learned patiently over time. The lucky ones will have some natural talent, to be sure, but most of us, like myself, will have to work hard at it. It’s important to shrug off frustration when you throw your ‘rang and it doesn’t come right back to you, don’t let it get to you. Do you think a major league pitcher threw a 95 mile per hour fast ball the minute he picked up a baseball? As with anything, the key to mastering your boomerang is to practice and progress slowly.

Look for a flight path that is like your own and learn the steps to correcting the common mistake.

Too much into the Wind

Too much off the Wind

Too much layover (sidearm)

Not enough power behind throw

The Perfect Throw

Tune Up Your Boomerang the Right Way

A lot of beginners don’t know this but a boomerang’s flight can be immensely improved by simply tuning the boomerang. Slight changes in the angles of attack as well as the negative or positive dihedral will impressively change the path of the boomerang, but these are advanced methods.

Because tuning is a quite advanced method that shouldn’t be implemented by rank beginners. Nevertheless, the most important method of tuning a boomerang is to heat the ‘rang up – this will loosen up the glue and create a more flexible boomerang. This might sound strange but one of the best ways to heat your boomerang is to use the microwave. Warning: the heating of your ‘rang in this way will definitely have an impact on the finish of your ‘rang. But what’s more important to you the finish or perfect flight? It is a worthwhile compromise in my book. Never ever put a boomerang which has been weighted into the microwave. And use your head with attempting to handle a boomerang fresh out of the micro…it will be quite toasty.

When tuning your boomerang only tune for one flight characteristic at a time. And remember small changes can and often do lead to huge changes in flight. Below you will find some tuning changes that affect a boomerang’s flight.

(Here is a quick note on possible warping and tuning. Many of the boomerangs that I make will be pre-tuned for a desired flight pattern. However, never mistake a tuned boomerang for one that is warped. The only real way to determine is your boomerang is warped or if it is tuned is to know the boomerang intimately. Practice yours often, and if one day it begins to fly drastically differently than in past days there is a good chance it’s been warped.)

Positive attack – shortens the flight of the boomerang overall.

Negative attack – increases the flight of the boomerang overall.

Positive dihedral – produces a loftier flight, and adds lift to the boomerang.

Negative dihedral – produces a less lofty flight, and decreases lift to the boomerang.

The best advice is to tune certain boomerangs one way and others another. Craft them towards your throwing style and to specific wind conditions. Never think that one boomerang will fly perfectly in every condition, it’s not possible or practical.

Tips on Boomeranging

Many don’t know it but drag can often have a very significant effect on the flight pattern of our boomerangs. Drag slows down a returning boomerang on its swing back towards the thrower. Windy days are ones in which we want to add some drag to our boomerang in order to ensure that it doesn’t blow past us on every darn throw. If, by chance, you have a ‘rang that is coming in too fast you may add some drag so that it comes into the bulls-eye with a bit less fury, making it much easier to haul in.

Drag is added to boomerangs in several different ways. One old favorite is to add drag by using tape to make flaps. A typical flap is around an eighth of an inch high, and may be positioned just about anywhere along the boomerang. I prefer to put maybe one or two flaps on top of the dingle arm and then one on the bottom on the dingle arm, but it’s just my preference.

You may use rubber bands as well in order to add drag, can may wrap a rubber band around one or both of the arms, and the drag will increase. Both rubber bands and flaps are effective if your boomerang bag does not happen to be busting with boomerangs that day. And, you may remove the flaps and the rubber bands at any time that you wish.

You may have a lot of boomerangs and want to make some permanent changes to them. You may do this by drilling holes. Start with just one hole (about one quarter inch in diameter) at each tip of both arms of the boomerang. Now, give it a try, test it out.

If you would like to add more drag, well then add yet another hole roughly two inches in from the first two holes you made. To give you an example I own several boomerangs with eight holes in them! If the wind changes on you and it’s not coming all the way back to you then cover the holes with tape and you will alter the flight. Have fun with it, experiment and make the most of different hole combinations, bands, and flaps. When you have your boomerang all trashed up and flying just as you like you’ve got yourself a boomerang that is perfect for strong wind conditions.

In addition to the things mentioned adding weight can also alter flight. If you add small weights you will increase range and noticeably change the flight path. Always have a roll of duct tape in your bag, as you can see it comes in handy in so many situations.

I personally use duct tape to hold weight, make flaps, and so on. Try this, add a dime to the underside of the tip of the lift arm. It will increase the range. Now, add two dimes, one to each arm of your boomerang, about halfway in between its tip and its elbow -- this makes your boomerang a good bit more resistant to wind. When weight is put halfway up along the lift arm, then it will usually tend to fly much lower to the ground. But, if the weight is adjusted you will notice a high flying flight pattern. The key is to always be experimenting.

Boomerang Games

The fact is – boomeranging is fun! It really doesn’t matter whether you’re throwing by yourself or in a big group; it is always a great time. However, once you’re accomplished it can be a whole lot more than just a little fun, it can become competitive.

Fact: Surprisingly, since 1984 the U.S. Boomerang Team has finished first in each and every international competition held, with the exception of 1997. A good number of countries have their own national boomerang teams, for example – England, France, Italy, Switzerland, Japan, and Germany to pick out a few.

The following is a short list of fun international competition style games to peak your interest.

Accuracy

Let your boomerangs fly and see who gets the closest to a designated target. The closest score one point and the winner is determined in a best out of five structure.

Slap

Similar to Accuracy in nature, however a player can make up for a bad throw by “slapping” it up to the target. The player has to slap the boom for one point. Again, best out of five will win the game.

Suicide

Every contestant throws at the exact same time, and each member has to catch only their own boom. The winner will have the most catches out of five throws. Obviously the more people throwing the crazier this event will get. Probably not a good game for beginners, right?

Boom Golf

First position several holes on the field of battle (put a rag in each hole). Every player will tee off and try to get near the first hole. Every hole will have a par of 3 and each boomerang has to land within five feet of the target to count. Like in golf, the lowest score is the winner. Your score is determined by the total number of throws on each hole; it’s a wonderful game to increase knowledge in boom dynamics.

BOOM

This is just like the game PIG or HORSE. Players toss their rangs and for each time the rang is dropped they will earn a new letter. The player has to use a different catch for every different throw. The last one will win, very fun game!

It’s also great to invent your own games, if you do definitely drop me a line (australiasouvenir@gmail.com) and let us know about it. Thanks in advance.

For Advanced Competitors

This next list of events is sanctioned for competition. A playing field is created with concentric circles, with the bulls-eye in the middle (2 meters wide). Every layer or ring moves outward from the center of the bulls-eye at ranges of four, six, eight, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, and finally fifty meters.

Accuracy

Each boom must fly past the twenty meter marking, allow the ‘rang to land on its return.

Trick Catch

Each contestant will throw their boom in an attempt to travel past the twenty meter marking and return to the player. Every time a throw is undertaken a new catch must be attempted. The list of different catches is the following: foot catch, one hand eagle left, one hand eagle right, under the leg catch, behind the back catch, one-handed right hand catch, and finally one-handed left hand catch. (The eagle catch is a catch in which the player’s forearm must be above the plain of the boom at the moment it is caught.)

Fast Catch

The purpose of this particular game is to throw and catch your boom 5 times within as short as time as is possible. The boom has to fly past the twenty meter line. And every throw has to be from inside the bulls-eye, however the catch can be made anywhere. Here is the world record – 15.03 seconds. That’s for 5 throws and catches using just 1 boomerang. Pretty amazing.

Doubling

This game is tough. Two booms have to be thrown at the exact same time for the same hand of course. Each of the two booms has to be brought in with a completely different style catch. (See – Trick Catch for catch types)

Aussie Round

This is considered the ultimate boomerang game. Different points are assigned based upon three things – the distance of flight, the accuracy of the boom’s return flight, and the ability to make the catch.

MTA (Maximum Time Aloft)

(The world record for this event: one minute and forty seconds.) As you might guess the duration of the flight is what matters here. Flights into the minutes are very common.

Endurance

Here we find the exact same rules as Fast Catch, but now the players play for five minutes. The winner will have the most catches within the allotted time frame. Sweet event! World record is a whopping 73 catches.

Juggling

In this event two similar flying boomerangs are used. The object of the game is to toss your first one, and follow it with a second before the first one is reeled in. It keeps going until a player misses. World record is 503 consecutive flights and catches. This event is not longer sanctioned by the USBA but it is worthy of note.

We also recommend reading is the boomerang history article.