Issue #44 Page

Issue Number 44 An International Boomerang Newsletter December 1997

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1997 FALL BOOMERANG AUCTION

See auction highlights on page 7

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Across America, as well as sug-gested illustrative and promotionalmaterials, please write to Betsy-lew Miale-Gix at the address be-low. The 1998 Toss AcrossAmerica Packets will be mailed inMarch, 1998.

Betsylew Miale-Gix3351 236th Street SW

Brier, WA 98036

The USBA has officially an-nounced the three teams that willcompete in the 1998 World Cup.

Team RedGary Broadbent

Mike DicksonJohn FlynnRob Parkins

Chet SnoufferMark Weary

Team BlueJohn KoehlerJohn Gorski

Chicago Bob LeifeldBetsylew Miale-Gix

Adam RuhfGregg Snouffer

Larry Ruhf (coach)

Team WhiteTony Brazelton

Eric DarnellSpike Frazier

Will GixDennis Joyce

Steve Kavanaugh

It should be noted that because ofthe USBA Team selection proce-dure, there may be changes toteam rosters if a thrower is unableto participate. In that case, allthrowers rated below the decliningthrower move up one position. Beverly Wachtel writes for thescience radio series Earth & Sky.The program answers listeners'questions on the air. Earth & Skyis planning to answer the question"How do boomerangs work?" inthe near future. Listen for it andlet BN know if you hear it.

News From The:

he 1998 USBA rankingshave been compiled by ChicagoBob and posted on the internet.For those of you who are not onthe web, the top 15 throwers are:

1 - Gary Broadbent2 - Chet Snouffer3 - Mike Dickson

4 - Michael Girvin5 - Rob Parkins6 - Mark Weary7 - John Flynn

8 - Gregg Snouffer9 - John Gorski

10 - John Koehler11 - Chicago Bob12 - Eric Darnell13 - Adam Ruhf

14 - Betsylew Miale-Gix15 - Steve Kavanaugh

Note that the top 3 throwers and5 of the top 10 are from Ohio!Could Ohio have sent a viableteam to the 1998 World Cup? Betsylew Miale-Gix emailedrang-list the following update onUSBA activities: The USBABoard is exploring the possibilityof participating in a Foster’s ad-vertising campaign that would begeared toward the 2000 Australi-an Olympics. The board is at-tempting to establish a two wayrelationship that advances publicawareness of the USBA, the art,science and sport of boomerangthrowing in addition to utilizingthe novelty and athleticism of ourboomerang athletes. The USBA Toss Across Ameri-ca boomerang demonstration andteaching event has been occur-ring once a year in May since1990. The 1998 Toss AcrossAmerica will take place on 16May 1998. To obtain a TossHost Packet containing informa-tion on how to hold a Toss

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Tony Brazelton is working onan article about pets and boome-rangs for the Winter issue ofMany Happy Returns. If youwould like to share your experi-ences with Tony (even one-liners), please send him the mate-rial as soon as possible. Photosare most appreciated. Mail to:

Tony Brazelton2405 Lawndale DriveChampaign, IL 61821

Richard Pollock-Nelson plansto ring in the new year with aRocky Mountain BoomerangNight Throw at Village GreenPark. Bring your own night-rangsor use night-rangs that Richardwill have for sale. Throwing willstart at 8 PM and end with a tossat 5 sec. before midnight so every-one can throw in 1997 and catchin 1998. There will be prizes andtrophies. There will also be heat-ers to keep warm. For more infor-mation, call Richard at (303)-368-5933 or write to:

Richard Pollock-Nelson2530 So. Ouray Way

Aurora, CO 80013

Does anyone have plans tothrow in 1998 and catching in1997? Here is how you can do it.Time moves from east to west.You can position yourself in astate or country on the easternside of a time zone change. Afterthe eastern time zone has changedto midnight 1998, you can throwand then step back into the west-ern time zone and make yourcatch! You amy need to throwwith extra layover so that yourboomerang lands behind you. Ihope the winds are with you. LetBN know if you do it successful-ly. You have a whole hour to tryand complete this difficult throw! It is with great sadness thatMichael Girvin has announcedthe permanent closing of GelBoomerangs, due to his chronic

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back problems and the potentialmajor surgery that lies ahead. Allof Gel’s remaining stock ofboomerangs will be sold directlythrough Gel Boomerangs untileverything is gone. Furthermore,the phone number, (510) 658-2469, is now the only contactnumber for Gel Boomerangs. Thefax line and 800 number havebeen disconnected. Michael isone of the top few innovators ofAmerican competition boome-rang equipment. Collectors andcompetitors would be wise topurchase as many of Michael’sboomerangs as possible beforethey are all gone. The value ofeach is certain to go up sharply inthe near future. Write Michaelfor a catalog today:

Gel Boomerangs2124 Kittredge Street #61

Berkeley, CA 94704

Another sad note for Ameri-can boomerangers: Brad Penka-la of Eye of the Storm Boome-rangs has decided to pull hisinternet site off of the WWW dueto a lack of sales. However,Brad’s beautiful lap joint boomsdid well in the auction. For thosewho do not own one of Brad’slap joint booms, you are trulymissing out on a very fine qualityboomerang, both in constructionand flight. You can call Brad at805-692-4987 or write to:

Brad Penkala4090 La Barbara Drive

Santa Barbara, CA 93110

John Weigel is holding aworkshop at the San Diego Navybase between Xmas & NewYears for all the guys stuck in thebarracks during the holidays.John will donate the blanks(made out of 1/4", 5 ply euro-birch). Abo Steve has even of-fered to help. This is a great wayto entertain Service Men duringthe holidays.

Kendall Davis found an adver-tisement in the Tiger Direct cata-log for a software product called“Photo>Graphics” where the “>"character is a boomerang. Thegraphics application costs $80.

Rosemary Thomson recentlywitnessed one of Bruce Carter’spopular school demonstrations.She relates the following: “On a beautiful summer eve-ning, a big crowd watched asBruce Carter and his two sons,Craig and Trent threw theirboomerangs in an exhibition thathad everyone gasping. The head-master of the Cowes PrimarySchool on Phillip Island, Victoriatold me that the crowd was be-tween 450 to 500. Bruce demon-strated with a variety of boome-rangs. 10 year old Craig and 8year old Trent were able to thrilltheir peers with their ability tothrow AND catch - Oohs andAahs and lots of applause. Watchout for these under 17 champs atthe World Championships in St.Louis next year ! By the end ofthe evening, the youngsters (notonly boys but the young girls too)had mastered their plastic light-weight three armed boomerangsand had a eye to their future inboomerang throwing when Brucebrought out Doctor Death and thenight boomerangs !

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Ed Caldwell of Plant*Speakhas entered into an agreementwith John Flynn to provide afree Aussie boomerang to anyonewho purchases Kelly Sagert’sbook, `Bout Boomerangs, Ameri-ca’s Silent Sport at a cost of notless than 20% below the retailprice. USBA members are alsoentitled to a 30% discount. You can also purchase `BoutBoomerangs, America’s SilentSport. for only $10/copy(+shipping) if you order at least 5copies before 1 January 1998.Both John Flynn and GaryBroadbent have taken advantageof this special offer. They pro-vide copies of the book to schoollibraries as part of the presenta-tion fee when they do boomerangdemonstrations at local schools. Plant*Speak will be providingan update of sports boomerangingnews items and updates in a“freebie” package that accompa-nies book orders. Ed encouragesboomerangers to send him infor-mation for possible inclusion. Contact Plant*Speak at:

Ed CaldwellPLANT*Speak Publications34100 Center Ridge Road

North Ridgeville, OH 44039

Darryl Patton is the neweditor of Wilderness Way, an ex-cellent magazine that contains ar-ticles about primitive technologyand survival skills. Darryl is in-terested in reviewing articlesabout primitive boomerang andthrowstick construction technolo-gies. Do any of the readers makebooms or throwsticks with stonetools? You can contact Darryl at(205) 523-5300 (evenings); emailat: dpatton@peop.tdsnet.com orby writing to:

Darryl PattonWilderness Way Magazine

P. O. Box 8481Gadsden, AL 35902

Photo>Graphics Software Box

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The DBC Info has a new edi-torial staff that includes: AxelHeckner, Michael Siems,Thomas Scartowicz, DietmarReinig, Günter Möller and Oli-ver Thienhaus. The DBC is so-liciting other clubs to participatein a newsletter exchange pro-gram. Each club should contactDietmar Reinig who managesthe newsletter distribution pro-gram for more details. Dietmar’scontact information is below:

Dietmar ReinigHohlweg 7

64686 LautertalGermany

Tel.: + 49 (6254) 1593Fax: +49 (6254) 842

email: rediboom@rediboom.com

After the exchange is estab-lished, newsletters should be sentto:

Günter MöllerTAPIR Sport-Bumerangs

Wilhelm-Busch-Strasse 2841541 Dormagen

Germany

Tel./Fax: +49 (2133) 40523Guenter_Moeller@T-Online.De

With 3 German teams plannedfor the 1998 World Cup in St.Louis, the DBC has issued a listof 20 throwers who are commit-ted to participate on the 3 Ger-man teams. The last 2 names arealternates and will move up to fillin vacancies. The teams will notbe composed of throwers in se-quential order by rank. Instead,all three teams will be optimizedto take advantage of individualthrower strengths to insure thatGermany remains a potent forcein the upcoming World Cup.This strategy gave Germany avictory in New Zealand, 1996.

My impressions were thatBruce had encouraged and pro-moted the sport in a positive man-ner. The entourage create an im-pression with the brightly paintedBoomerang Bus and I was verypleased to have coincidentallybeen at the same country town onthe same night and heard about thedemo that the Carter family wasdoing at the local school.”

The Third National BulgarianBoomerang Championships washeld on 9 November in almostideal weather conditions. Eightmembers of the Bulgarian Boome-rang Club (ranging in age from 12to 40 years) met at their traditionalthrowing field in the South Park inSofia. This included Stephen Ho-ward of Santa Barbara, Californiawho currently works in Sofia. Ste-phen has been throwing since1970 and has about 200 boome-rangs in his collection. Therewere five events: Endurance, FastCatch, Accuracy, Trick Catch andMTA100. The top 3 throwers in-cluded:

1. Georgi Dimantchev1. Marin Karavelov3. Alexander Genov

John Cryderman is construct-ing a 1.5 metre X 1 metre woodenplaque, labeled with the name/state/province/country of 63 sup-porters who purchased a Cryder-man Catalogue. The amount of$1.00 from each catalogue salewas donated to benefit the 1998World Cup. The plaque will beraffled at the 1998 Champion-ships. A Herb Smith Sussex Hookwill be mounted at the top of theplaque with lettering inscribed:THE 1998 WORLD BOOME-RANG CHAMPIONSHIP SUP-PORTERS'. For those who purchased theCryderman catalogue and are puz-zled about the lack of pricing in-

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formation - a price sheet was com-pleted in mid-November. The list-ing is currently being held up by aCanadian postal strike. Until thestrike is settled, you need to call(519)-354-3984 or email: cryd-show@kent.net for more info. Eric Promislow announcedthat there are two vacancies on theCanadian team for the 1998 WorldCup. If you have a connectionwith Canada, such as “Were youborn or lived there?”, then theremay be a spot on the Canadianteam for you. Please contact Eric(email: aj064@freenet.carleton.ca)or write Stéphane Marguerite assoon as possible:

Stéphane Marguerite4031 St-André

Montréal (QC) H2L 3W2Canada

A Long Distance Competitionwas held on 25 October 1997 inTroyes. The top 5 throwers were:

1. Lorenz Gubler 132.2m (Swiss)2. Ingo Frantz 131.8m (Germany)3. Manuel Schütz 124.2m (Swiss)4. Michel Dufayard 120.0m (Fra.)5. Tibor Horvath 118.1m (Swiss)

Yves Caze announces thenames of the throwers on the 3French Teams. They are as fol-lows:

Team 1 : Julien KERJAN, BenoitVINCENT, Eugene CINAL, YvesCAZE, Christophe DAUTRICHE,Jerome ROYO.

Team 2 : Didier BONIN, FranckDOUETIL, Jean luc VILLANI,Yann GIRAULT, Pascal GAG-NIERE, Stephane GIGON.

Team 3 : Loofy BOITEUX, Se-bastien GUIHEUX, LaurentCRASSA, Christian HECKMAN,Michel DUFAYARD, PhilippePICGIRARD.

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German (3 Team + 2) List

Rank Name of Thrower1 Harald Steck2 Fridolin Frost3 Oliver Thienhaus4 Axel Heckner5 Gerrit Lemkau6 Guenter Moeller7 Oliver Rau8 Juergen Rode9 Michael Siems11 Torsten Fredrich12 Thomas Szartowicz13 Georg Bauerschmidt14 Alexander Opri16 Heinz-Willi Dammers18 Dennis Bittner21 Torsten Gruendel22 Paul Gajski23 Lothar Haase- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -25 Hans-Georg Hoffmann37 Michael Blanquett

Congratulations to Earl Tuttywho had a [non-competition]MTA throw and catch of 2 min-utes and 22.71 seconds using anAxel Heckner Quirl MTA . Itwas caught 110 meters fromwhere Earl threw it. Earl is in the process of puttingtogether a proposal for a boome-rang event to take place on NewYears, 2000. New Zealand is thefirst major country to see the lightof the new day in the new Millen-nium. Some lucky thrower maybe the first person in the world tothrow a boomerang in the 20th

century & catch it in the 21st cen-tury? Earl plans to organize an In-ternational South Island NZboomerang tour around or aboutthe same time. For more informa-tion about this grand event, writeto:

Earl Tutty17 Truscotts Rd.Heathcote ValleyChristchurch 2New Zealand

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cording to the instructions on theweb page: http://users.aol.com/tbrang2/World_Cup98.html Allteam organizers should commu-nicate with Tom Fitzgerald.Tom plans to have email shortly.Until then, you can call Tom at(314) 839-1604 or write to:

Tom Fitzgerald1159 Holly River Dr.

Florissant, MO 63031

Chicago Bob has posted aweb page with the 1998 rankingsfor all throwers who competed inUSBA sanctioned tournaments :http://www.htc.net/~chibob/97ratings.html Don Sagert has posted TheSomething Catchy Homepagewith various boomerangs,boomerang jewelry, helmets, andKelly's book plus more. There isa special priceon the boomerangjewelry for Xmas only. Visit:http://members.aol.com/smthgctchy/catchy.htm Richard Pollock-Nelson hasposted his boomerang web pagewith information specifically tail-ored to Rocky Mountain throw-ing events: http://members.aol.com/pollocknel/index.htm Chicago Bob has posted the1997 USBA National Ratings at:http://www.htc.net/~chibob/97ratings.html MOTHERS AGAINSTBOOMERANGS!!! is a new webpage created by Dallan Reese tosupport throwers at the Universi-ty of Texas at Austin: http://www.utexas.edu/students/mother/ Dallan Reese has also postedsome photographs of the Egyp-tian boomerangs and throwsticksthat a friend took on a visit toEgypt: http://www.utexas.edu/students/mother/pics.htm Ben Tesch has posted a smallpage with his WBA logo design

On October 19, a tournament,organized by Rene Vonlanthenwas held in the town of Dietikon.There were 16 (all Swiss) throw-ers. The overall winners were: (1)Thomas Stehrenberger (Accura-cy: 48 P., Endurance 66 P.); (2)Manuel Schuetz (TrickCatch 84P.); (3) Juerg Schedler (AussieRound 79 P.). The 66 points inEndurance was a new Swissrecord! Also, congratulations to Lo-renz Gubler who set a SwissLong Distance record at 132.20min Troyes. Lorenz Gubler and TiborHorvath are working on a (Eng-lish) publication about Long Dis-tance boomeranging. They willtake the material from their webpage and extend it even further.There will be lots of plans, tech-nical info, troubleshooting, etc.The publication will be completeon 15 June 1998. If you have anylong distance material (pictures/plans/articles, etc.) that may besuitable for this publication, Ti-bor would like to hear from you.They would also like to include alist of all throwers who havethrown for more than 100 metresin an official competition. Pleasesend your name, distance, dateand competition event informa-tion to:

Tibor HorvathRebhalderstraße 12

8173 NeerachSwitzerland

Twenty teams have signed upfor the 1998 World Cup: AustraliaI, Australia II, Brazil, Canada,England, France I, France II,France III, Germany I, GermanyII, Germany III, Holland, Italy, Ja-pan, Scandinavia, Switzerland I,Switzerland II, USA I, USA II,and USA III. A deposit of $1,000/team was due on 1 December, ac-

Issue #44Page

and a link to WBA web page. Benwon the logo design contest lastyear: http://www.waste.org/~irq5/design99/wba.html Whether you want a single boxor a dozen, you can get greatwholesale discounts for tri-Fly,pro-Fly and Air Dancers by Safe-Sport at: http://users.aol.com/tbrang1/SafeSport.html The Cleveland BoomerangSchool has a new web page withinformation about the groups ac-tivities and products. If you go toany CBS throws, make sure youbring a bottle of Valium: http://www.clevelandboomerangschl.com/ Etienne Sourd has posted aweb page with photos of the 1996World Cup in New Zealand. Thepage is in French, but the photoscan be read in every language:http://www.dsuper.net/~etsourd/world_boo.html Laurent Froment has aboomerang page with links to lotsof boomerang plans at: http://services.worldnet.net/booman/myboos.htm Olivier Duffez has changed theURL for his web page, which haslots of boomerang plans: http://www.mygale.org/07/duffez Heikki Niskanen has posted aSecond Hand Boomerang Shopweb page where you can buy andsell one of a kind items at: http://www.uku.fi/~hniskane/bs.html Heikki Niskanen also has aweb page with information aboutthe 1998 Arctic Sun Throw whichwill be held concurrently with theInternational Prehistoric WeaponsGames in Kilpisjärvi, Finland on19-21 June 1998: http://www.uku.fi/~hniskane/bmm.html Martins Ierags from Latviahas a new boom page. You canfind great traditional booms at su-per low pricing. This site has pho-tographs of pre-historic Latvianboomerangs and throwsticks:http://www.open.lv/home/aivars/ Edward Cadman of The Brit-ish Boomerang Society has posteda web page for the BBS with great

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information on everything fromboomerangs to throwsticks. Visit:http://www.rangsoc.demon.co.uk/bbs.htm Ulf Valentin of Denmark hasbeen working on a Java basedflight simulator for the WWW.He is getting pretty close to com-pleting his project. The most re-cent update allows you to make asimple design of a two wingboomerang and see a graphicalrepresentation of the boomerangwhile the different design valuesare changed. This includes thelength of the two wings and anglebetween them, the density of thematerial, a lift coefficient, etc. You can see the center of gravi-ty, the approximate width, heightand weight of your boomerang de-sign. You can adjust the windspeed and direction, change thethrow angle, tilt/layover, inclina-tion, velocity, etc. You can thenput your boomerang in flight andsee how it performs when it isthrown. The simulator is a littleslow, but it does work well, con-sidering you need to use it on theWWW. If you want to try it outyourself, select “new projects” at:http://www.image.dk/~valentin

The Fall 1997 Auction is histo-ry. A summary of the top auctionbids is listed on page 7. A collageof all the boomerangs in thisyear’s auction is shown on thecover. There will be a specialSpring Auction to benefit 1998World Cup Teams. To view theAuction Web Page, set your webbrowser to: http://users.aol.com/tbrang2/auction.html I was asked by one of the sub-scribers to give the readers abreakdown on where subscribersare located. I will do this for BN#44 only.

Overseas: Total - 65France - 13Australia - 9Germany - 8Canada - 8

Japan - 5Switzerland - 3

United Kingdom - 3Belgium - 2Finland - 2Holland - 2Bulgaria - 1Colombia - 1

Italy - 1New Zealand - 1Philippines - 1Scotland - 1

Singapore - 1Spain - 1

Sweden - 1Turkey - 1

USA - 168California - 29Michigan - 13

Ohio - 11Washington - 11

Illinois - 9Pennsylvania - 9

New York - 7Oregon - 7Texas - 7

Arizona - 6Florida - 6

All Others - 53

This publication is producedmonthly. Every issue is packedwith 8 pages containing all the in-formation you need to know tokeep current with the ever chang-ing world of boomeranging. Thedistribution of BN currentlystands at 161 USA and 65 over-seas subscribers. Eight issues of“Boomerang News” costs only$10 in the USA; $12 in Canadaand $20 overseas. You can sub-scribe by sending payment (makecheck or M.O. out to Ted Bailey)with your name, address & phonenumber to:

Ted E. BaileyP. O. Box 6076

Ann Arbor, MI 48106

email: tbailey@ic.nethttp://ic.net/~tbailey/Boomerang.html

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The table below summarizes the final results for the Fall 1997 Boomerang Auction. All winning bids includeconditional bidding adjustments. There were several bid ties. In all cases, the earliest bid won. There were 75bidders and 40 lucky winners. The average winning bid was $58. However, the median winning bid was only$36. An impressive $1,873 was generated to benefit 1998 World Cup teams. The amount of $1,189 will bene-fit the Scandinavian Team. There were 25 boomerangs with bids exceeding $100. Bids on the premium throw-sticks were between $180 and $300. The Janetzki boomerangs took top bid honors at $451 apiece. The HerbSmith boomerang bids varied from $105 to $291 with the Paxolin long distance models going for 2-3 times thatof the wooden art models. The Al Gerhards long distance hook sold for $321. The Cuartas hook and Cryder-man Raptor both went for $161. The special edition Romblad MTAs had winning bids between $181 and $222.No Bid Manufacturer Item74 $451 Janetzki Bros. The Admiral75 $451 Janetzki Bros. Bandicoot70 $321 Al Gerhards S/L Distance Hook106$300 Aboriginal Throwstick107$300 Aboriginal Throwstick20 $291 Herb Smith Paxolin Marathon177$222 Jonas Romblad Romblad MTA175$220 Jonas Romblad Romblad MTA176$210 Jonas Romblad Romblad MTA71 $199 Herb Smith Paxolin Duocurve109$188 Aboriginal Throwstick174$181 Jonas Romblad Romblad MTA108$180 Aboriginal Throwstick6 $161 Oscar Cuartas Lapped Hook21 $161 J. Cryderman S/L Raptor190$131 Bob Foresi S/L Throwstick72 $122 Herb Smith Hook73 $105 Herb Smith Traditional165$102 Siegfried StillerWolfe Art167$102 Siegfried StillerEagle Art168$102 Fred MalmbergLap Joint “V”169$102 Fred MalmbergLap Joint “V”17 $102 Ted Bailey Lapped "V"146$100 John Flynn Nat. Elbow Hook166$93 Siegfried Stiller Indian Art114$87 J. Cryderman Throwstick98 $85 Brad Penkala Lapped V Attack19 $81 Gerh. Bertling S/L VW-Kaefer15 $80 Ted Bailey Lapped "V"102$78 Neil Kalmanson Hammerhead I100$75 Neil Kalmanson X101$75 Neil Kalmanson Unicorn76 $72 Carl Naylor Large Hook16 $70 Ted Bailey Lapped "V"77 $67 Jack Byham Traditional81 $66 Bunny Read Traditional184$65 Bunny Read Wyche Hook55 $65 G. Dimantchev Vector MTA103$64 Neil Kalmanson Hammerhead II56 $63 G. Dimantchev Vector MTA

94 $63 Unknown Bent Elbow Hook85 $62 Lorin Hawes Silky Spinner61 $60 G. Dimantchev Advantage80 $60 Bunny Read WycheProof Hook128$60 John Cryderman Flat Top Hook145$60 Herm Peeters Maïdo L/D Hook11 $58 Leni Barker Lapped Omega8 $58 Leni Barker S/L Omega63 $57 G. Dimantchev Rotor Tri-blader43 $54 George Gray Distance Hook68 $52 Ben Ruhe Book1 $51 Dave Hendricks Lapped V65 $51 G. Dimantchev Masterpiece M173$50 Jackie Byham Traditional10 $49 Leni Barker S/L Omega97 $49 Brad Penkala Lapped V53 $48 "Sponge" Alberg Thing tri-blader171$48 Kendall Davis Tomahawk12 $48 Leni Barker Lapped V2 $48 Dave Hendricks Lapped V91 $47 Feng McCloud62 $47 G. Dimantchev Artistic Triblader52 $47 "Sponge" Alberg Lil' Mountain141$46 T. W. Smith Scythe II96 $46 Brad Penkala Lapped V58 $46 G. Dimantchev Micro Omega59 $46 G. Dimantchev Uli's MTA60 $46 G. Dimantchev Bailey Style MTA64 $46 G. Dimantchev Magic V/V66 $46 G. Dimantchev Paff II26 $46 G. Dimantchev Omega23 $45 Herm Peeters Distance Hook9 $45 Leni Barker S/L Omega18 $45 Erwin Brojan Natural Elbow111$45 Ben Ruhe Book47 $44 George Gray Gray Big "U"50 $44 Aboriginal Natural Elbow187$42 Steve Conaway Aboriginal Hook 2183$42 Bunny Read Traditional78 $42 Brian Thomas Hook93 $42 Steve Conaway Ninja Hook

99 $42 Neil Kalmanson Mini KR179$42 Dave Hendricks Lap Joint83 $42 Steve Glover Signature boom13 $41 Leni Barker Lapped "A" Frame3 $41 Dave Hendricks Lapped V49 $41 George Gray Throwstick135$40 T. W. Smith Spiro Gyro136$40 T. W. Smith Astrick137$40 T. W. Smith Whisper138$40 T. W. Smith Paradox II156$40 Dan Neelands Lapped Omega7 $39 Leni Barker S/L Omega170$39 Max Hoeben Lap Joint41 $38 George Gray G. Hook14 $37 Leni Barker Lapped "V"180$37 Harri Pietilä Phenolic Triblader181$37 Harri Pietilä Phenolic Triblader163$36 John Cryderman Throwstick57 $36 G. Dimantchev Magic Keyhole67 $36 G. Dimantchev Paff II95 $36 Brad Penkala Lapped V157$35 Dan Neelands S/L Paint Sticks39 $35 George Gray Hook25 $34 Doug DuFresne S/L Oregon Hat182$34 Harri Pietilä Phenolic Triblader147$33 Michael Girvin Tri-Blader F/C151$33 Michael Girvin Aussie Sunshine150$33 Michael Girvin Sunset 60149$33 Michael Girvin Weighted Sunset89 $32 Michael Girvin Bat Omega69 $32 Aboriginal Toy Set90 $31 Michael Girvin Madonna82 $31 Tony Butz V-omega162$31 Misc. Posters104$31 Willi Urban Comeback Sport186$31 Doug DuFresne Chinook Omega185$30 Doug DuFresne S/L Omega24 $30 Doug DuFresne S/L Outback II48 $30 George Gray Throwstick122 $30 J. Cryderman Natural Elbow148 $29 Michael Girvin Bellen Dancer

‘ Another boomerang auction will be held in the Spring, 1998. The primary purpose of this auction will be to raise money for the teams who willcompete in the 1998 World Cup which will be held near St. Louis in July 1998. The conditions are as follows: The total number of auction boomerangs will be limited to 100. Any individual can submit up to 10 boomerangs with a maximum of 5 boome-rangs by the same manufacturer. Boomerangs to benefit a 1998 World Cup team will have priority in auction selection. All boomerangs must behigh performance competition boomerangs or of a collectable nature: fine woodworking, fine art, historical, Aboriginal, etc. Out of print literatureand unusual paraphernalia is also acceptable. All Spring 1998 auction boomerang submittals must be approved by Ted Bailey in advance. Auction bidding rules will be similar to what was used in the Fall 1997 auction with conditional bidding and a winning bid limit of 20% higherthan the next highest bid. There will be an auction fee of 20% of the proceeds for boomerangs that do not benefit a World Cup team.

Spring 1998 Boomerang Auction Deadlines1: Photographs or detailed descriptions of proposed auction boomerangs must be received by Ted Bailey before Christmas Day (25 December 1997).2: Selection of 100 limit auction boomerangs to be made by Ted Bailey on New Years Day (1/1/98).3: Selected auction boomerangs must be received by 31 January 1998.4: Auction Bid Sheets will be mailed out after 28 February 1998.5: Final Auction Bid Sheets must be returned before 15 April 1998.6: Notification of Winning Bids on 1 May 1998.

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Issue #44Page 8

Boomerang News Calendar of EventsNorth America31 Dec.. 1997 New Years Eve Throw Rich Pollock-Nelson 303-368-5933 2530 So. Ouray Way; Aurora, CO 8001316 May 1998 Toss Across America Betsylew Miale-Gix 425-485-1672 3351 236th St. S.W.; Brier, WA 98036-842126 Jul-2 Aug ‘98 World Cup Championships Tom Fitzgerald 314-839-1604 1159 Holly River Dr.; Florissant, MO 6303112/13 Sept. ‘98 2nd Outer Banks Comp. John Koehler 757-437-1185 210 60th St.; Virginia Beach, VA 23451

Overseas1 Feb 1998 NSW State Titles. Br. Brian M. Thomas (02) 9369 0675 131 Birrell St; Waverley NSW 2024; Australia1 Feb 1998 Victorian Seamist Champs Bruce Carter (3) 93 00 23 74 21 Fran St.; Glenroy Melb. 3046; Victoria; Australia1 March ‘98 Central Coast Champs Br. Brian M. Thomas (02) 9369 0675 131 Birrell St; Waverley NSW 2024; Australia29 March ‘98 Eastern Suburbs Champs Br. Brian M. Thomas (02) 9369 0675 131 Birrell St; Waverley NSW 2024; Australia2/3 May 1998 Aussie National Comps. Br. Brian M. Thomas (02) 9369 0675 131 Birrell St; Waverley NSW 2024; Australia9/10 May 1998 North Germany Comp Jürgen Küster +49 (5741) 12414 Linkestraße 3; 32312 Lübbecke; Germany30/31 May 1998 Torneo Nazionale Roma B Maurizio Saba +31 (6) 653 8053 Via del trullo 122; 00148 Roma; Italy30 M/1 Jun ‘98 22.nd Amstelveen Comp Erik Leferink +31 (70) 329 7857 Remmersteinstraat 157; NL-2532 AZ Den Haag; Holland7/8 June 1998 Travemünde Beach Cup Eckhard Mawick +49 (451) 70 51 81 Wakenitzmauer 64; D-23552 Lübeck; Germany19/21 June ‘98 1998 AMSBC Heikki Niskanen +358 17 2633211 Tasavallankatu 10 a 1, 70620 KUOPI; Finland27/28 June ‘98 5.th Kiel Week B. Cup Eckhard Mawick +49 (451) 70 51 81 Wakenitzmauer 64; D-23552 Lübeck; Germany11/12 July 1998 1st Aalen Competition Peter Dürr +49 (7963) 1311 Eichenstraße 33; 73486 Adelmannsfelden; Germany14/15 Aug 1998 6th Bielefelder B. Meet Lothar Haase 49 (5221) 85 50 70 Kattenschling 24; 32049 Herford; GermanyXX Sept. 1998 7th Berlin Championships Gerhard Bertling +49 (30) 215 3008 Potsdamer Str. 150; 10783 Berlin; GermanyAug/Sep 1998 Blacktown Championships Peter Lewry +61 (2) 96 22 29 27 ???; Australia24/25 July '99 Boomerang Cup Eckhard Mawick +49 (451) 70 51 81 Wakenitzmauer 64; D-23552 Lübeck; GermanyDecember ‘99 Int’l Millenium Throw Earl Tutty +64 3 384 5405 17 Truscotts Rd.; Heathcote Valley; Christchurch 2; NZ2000 World Cup Championships Rob Croll (03) 9887-5085 5 Tyson Ct.; Wantirna South; Victoria 3152; Australia

The Boomerang World Ranking List (WRL) - by Oliver ThienhausFirst a I would like to thank all the national controllers and people who have helped me to create the World Ranking List (WRL).Also I would like to make some comments about Ted´s articleon the WRL in the last issue of BN. This WRL is UNOFFICIAL! Itdoesn't claim (or ever did) to be the only official WRL, it doesn't claim to be perfect. It is mainly my (and all the people who helpedme) point of view as to how to compare the throwers on the globe. The WRL is a preliminary and experimental Ranking List. Thereare several reasons as to why I have helped create this list:

1) I have fun doing the list

2) I want to push the discussion about international rules (i.e.: Trickcatch)

3) We should have a World Ranking List and someone had to make the first step

In January 1997 Guenter Moeller and I had the idea of a global Ranking List, something like a World Ranking List. We thoughtabout a way to compare throwers from all over the world.We started with a completely different system, which rated the scores with points depending on the weather conditions. 5 differentRating Levels for the weather conditions should be set right after an event has been finished. Then your score was to be transformedinto points out of a special list I made, one list for each Rating Level. I was talking about this system with a lot of people all over theworld and at the end, everybody said, that this system was too complicated. Then Didier Bonin (F) had the basic idea for the currentrating system. After a lot of comments again, I started to work on the World Ranking List with the system like it is now.Why should we have a system?Throwers from different continents normally do not meet each other at tournament, so it is not clever, to take the placings for thecomparison. We have to take the results. If somebody has another opinion, PLEASE let me know! Again: This is just a try and I'dreally like to hear a lot of discussion about this!OK, from each thrower I take the three best results in each event out of the last 12 months (so the WRL will be updated monthly) andadd them. This score is your score in my list and it will be compared with the other scores from the other throwers.So I get 6 lists in the 6 standard events, the sum of the placings in each list is your Overall-Score in the WRL.Big problem at the moment: The Americans do not use the Trickcatch 100 rules, like was used in New Zealand 1996. So they don'tget any points in one of the six lists! I know, that this might disappoint some Americans, but I think the Trickcatch 100 system,which is currently used in every single country outside the US, is the better one. Why is Eric not on the TOP in the MTA-WRL? Heis! On the day, Ted downloaded the WRL, the Portland tournament had not been integrated yet. Now Eric is on the TOP in theMTA-WRL and 5th Overall! Chet only had 3 tournaments, Rob Croll didn't have good results (maybe good placings). If you haveany suggestion to change to rating system or anything else, please contact me! (email: oliver.thienhaus@hamburg.netsurf.de)

Oliver ThienhausGut Stellmoor

22926 AhrensburgGermany