WHIP MAINTANENCE

     SAFETY is a serious production when it comes to being a whipster.  Once you become accomplished, the safety issue should be well and truly embedded within the heart of the whip itself as well as your mind. Being safety conscious must include having sufficient area in which to manoeuvre your whip.
    As mentioned in other articles, you will undoubtedly whip yourself many times at the start of your whip learning.  Your back, your legs, the back of your head and neck, many owies and it might seem like a torture chamber to begin with.  But, as they say, it comes with the territory, until you become experienced.  Even then, you might get nipped once in a while.
    An absolute no-no is aiming your whip at people.  Remember your thumb is the compass point and where it points, the whip doth go.  So, never, ever point your thumb at people, even in jest when that hand holds the whip.   The cracker will zap things through the air faster than light, so imagine that – ouch!  
    When you are using your whip, you will need two times the length of your arm and the whip in diameter to be safe.  Then you will be in the centre of a circle – if your whip is ten feet long inclusive of handle and fall, and your arm is two feet long, then you need a diametric circle of twenty-four feet.
    Take notice of what is around you, especially behind as the whip will travel backwards before coming forwards, any snag might cause serious damage to you and the whip, or others.  Watch for long hanging branches, cables, any obstacle that could be in the way of your circle. 
    Welts and blisters will become a part of your lifestyle and health regime when you begin learning the whip, one way to help decrease that syndrome is swing the whip easily, and some say it is the timing.  The harder your swing the more of a crack you will get, but take your pick, gentle swing or welts and blisters.
    Ever been fishing?  Throwing a whip is not unlike throwing a fishing line, holding the whip is not different from the way you hold a fishing pole.  Thumb straight along the pole on top when you are holding the handle.  The safety issue here is how you hold your thumb.  Remember how you point your thumb so the whip doth go.