Boomerang Fun

Boomerang Fun

Steve and I were hanging out at his house, watching TV one summer afternoon in 1968. We had jumped on a trampoline in the morning until heat set in. A commercial came on promoting a boomerang.
“Have you ever thrown a boomerang?” Steve asked.
“My cousin had a wooden boomerang. I tried throwing it once, but it was too heavy. He could get it to return, but it hurt his hand every time he tried to catch it.”
We watched the commercial with interest. It showed a thin, light plastic boomerang that returned to its thrower and dropped into his hand.
“That looks cool,” Steve said.
“Hmmm,” I replied.
After watching the commercial several times, we decided we needed two of them. I talked Mom into taking us to Walmart a few days later. Steve and I came home with new, red toys. Not kid’s toys. These were interesting toys. Right off the bat, I saw improvements over standard wood boomerangs. First was the thin (1/8 inch) plastic being much lighter than wood. It took far less energy to throw and was safer to catch. The slim shape was more aerodynamic, allowing more speed and distance with minimal effort. Last but not least, one wing had a noticeable vertical bend that must have made it fly better.
After returning home, we ran to a nearby schoolyard to play with our big boy toys. I read brief instructions telling me which end to hold onto and no more. We started throwing our curved plastic. As I expected, throwing a boomerang was not as easy as shown on TV. We pitched and pitched the bent plastic. For several days we chased our plastic toys that spun and fell 30 to 40 yards from us. I gradually learned that certain horizontal and vertical angles caused my boomerang to return somewhat close to me. Throwing at a slight angle into the wind, like an airplane taking off, caused an excellent return with only a short walk to pick it up. Also, a flick of my wrist, instead of a straight wrist like a baseball, caused faster spin and distance. Little by little, after maybe one hundred tries, I learned to make my boomerang return to me.
Catching a fast spinning toy became my dangerous next step. Initially, I hurt my hand, over and over. I finally figured out that grabbing a boomerang in its curved middle, instead of the straight ends, was the secret to no pain. One day, after many attempts to mimic the TV commercial, it came back to me close enough to grab as it passed by. Yes. Again, I threw a return with a catch. Another week of practice enabled me to throw my boomerang, watch it rise high, and return over my head. Then it stopped to slowly drop into my hand without moving my feet. Steve and I had conquered another sport.
Next, I practiced seeing how close I could send my boomerang to a pole or tree without hitting it. Eventually, I could control every aspect of the bent plastic’s flight.
Not being one to quit an endeavor, I watched a flight of migrating birds pass over one winter day. Hmm. Aborigines in Australia hunted with this simple weapon. So could I. Initially, I threw into large groups of passing birds to no avail. Many times. Then I tightened my focus by throwing at only one bird at the correct distance and speed. Again, and again. Closer and closer I came. The day I picked out a flying blackbird, sent my boomerang on a perfect path, and knocked the bird to the ground, I knew I had finally mastered a weapon, not a toy.
About that time, I moved on to motorcycles for new challenges. I put my boomerang in a closet and did not throw it again.