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Mort · January 19, 2002, 06:01 AM

Not my first choice or my tenth, but I've dabbled in the area.

Bear in mind that this is a skill well past the point of "diminishing returns", but many arts teach flexible weapons, one of which could be a whip. I'm not talking about a 12' bullwhip or stockwhip--those are for making really loud noises--more like a 3' quirt or 4' snake.

Most things that apply to the whip apply to a lot of really bendy things, like bicycle chains.

Couple of things:

Latigo y daga: Filipino methods of using a short whip in one hand and a blade in the other. In a hand-to-hand context (of course, contexts are fluid and you never know what will happen next), you can cover different ranges in this fashion. Guy either retreats--in which case, great--or charges, in which case your blade comes into play.

As far as deployment speed, all the supersonic cracks are best ignored--as Sam pointed out, cracking a whip is slow. But keeping a short whip in constant motion--sinawali weaving patterns, figure-8, double-o, redondo (these are some of the names I learned for techniques practiced by a hundred cultures)--this can be very fast and present a "wall" that, again, the bad guy must flee or charge.

At the closest range the short whip becomes a garrote, a two-handed weapon. It takes plenty of skill to make sure that it's your garrote and not his garrote.

Here's an article by James Keating. He has studied this, and all things martial, way more than I have.

In conclusion, utterly impractical, and thus entertaining to consider.

January 19, 2002, 06:01 AM	#9
Mort Senior Member Join Date: December 17, 1998 Posts: 479	Not my first choice or my tenth, but I've dabbled in the area. Bear in mind that this is a skill well past the point of "diminishing returns", but many arts teach flexible weapons, one of which could be a whip. I'm not talking about a 12' bullwhip or stockwhip--those are for making really loud noises--more like a 3' quirt or 4' snake. Most things that apply to the whip apply to a lot of really bendy things, like bicycle chains. Couple of things: Latigo y daga: Filipino methods of using a short whip in one hand and a blade in the other. In a hand-to-hand context (of course, contexts are fluid and you never know what will happen next), you can cover different ranges in this fashion. Guy either retreats--in which case, great--or charges, in which case your blade comes into play. As far as deployment speed, all the supersonic cracks are best ignored--as Sam pointed out, cracking a whip is slow. But keeping a short whip in constant motion--sinawali weaving patterns, figure-8, double-o, redondo (these are some of the names I learned for techniques practiced by a hundred cultures)--this can be very fast and present a "wall" that, again, the bad guy must flee or charge. At the closest range the short whip becomes a garrote, a two-handed weapon. It takes plenty of skill to make sure that it's your garrote and not his garrote. Here's an article by James Keating. He has studied this, and all things martial, way more than I have. In conclusion, utterly impractical, and thus entertaining to consider. Last edited by Mort; January 21, 2002 at 09:07 PM.