I
started slinging seven years ago during a boring summer
vacation at the seaside. The back of the beach was full
of smooth stones of all sizes and I thought I’d
make a rudimentary sling and to have fun throwing stones
out to sea. A few vacationers became interested after
seeing the great range of the projectiles splashing into
the water. The weapon has always fascinated me and I have
practiced from an early age to shoot accurately with firearms,
mainly the pistol. Perhaps the hard training of competition
with these weapons, so meticulous and stressing, made
me immediately to grow fond of the simple sling and its
intuitive shot. I soon developed a strange passion and
submerged myself in the sling and its history. Afterwards,
I encouraged myself to spread this knowledge and to revive
this wonderful weapon for the world of sport. It was a
difficult and long task that I have never left, by means
of direct initiatives or collaborating with the initiatives
of others. The results of this passion were two books
(a history of the sling and a handbook of use and construction),
and also a Web site I like to think as a virtual school
of Sling. All is written in Spanish, my native language.
English and French are my second languages, but a little
arduous for me to use.
Something that caught my attention when I was examining
classic texts related to the sling was the extraordinary
accuracy that was attributed to it, as if it was a magical
weapon equipped with secret powers. Nevertheless, not
having been recognized as a modern sport, like the bow,
it seems to have lost that extraordinary mastery and precision
that it had in ancient times. Therefore, the data we have
at the present time is only from historical literary references,
anecdotes and indirect testimonies coming from the last
centuries, but not a source of registered and trustworthy
data.
In classic times, accuracy of the Balearic and Achaean
slingers was praised. Achaean slingers were said to have
been able to hit their enemies not only in the head, but
in the part of the face that they wanted.
The accuracy of shepherds and cowboys is also notable,
often existing in anecdotes from several areas and time
periods. The are said to have remarkable skill and the
ability to aim for a particular horn of their bulls to
separate them when they fought. In
the 18th century, the slingers of the island of Menorca
(Balearic Islands) were famous for their extraordinary
accuracy. Slingers joined a society or union, and acquired
the title of "foner" (slinger) if they passed
the following test: fire nine shots hitting each of
the crossbars of a traditional gate. (see picture to
right)
You
might consider the question: how does one gain precision
with the sling? What is its limit? And the answer is:
it does not have a limit, in spite of its simplicity.
The sling has comparable accuracy to the bow, and even
close to that of a firearm, especially given the simplicity
and degrees of freedom of its mechanics. With a well-made
sling and projectiles of good ballistic design, everything
is left in the hands of the slinger, whose ability is
the only limit.
Nevertheless to develop that skill is not an easy task.
After intense training, that can last years, one probably
will have developed respectable accuracy and the automatism
of the firing. The sling will become one with our body,
like an arm, and just like how we do not focus on our
arm when we throw a stone by hand, we would not concentrate
on the sling either. Instead, our focus shirts to the
objective and we "sharpen our aim" and automatically
shoot.
The accuracy of a sling cannot be controlled in the
same way we can with firearms or modern bows. One visualizes
the target and knows that he must aim and immobilize
the sights on it, to tighten the trigger very slowly,
and so forth. It is a static shot, where the precision
and care of movements are fundamental. Casting a rock
with a sling is a dynamic exercise that is developed
to high speed, and where the slinger doesn't control
voluntarily the moment of release and the exact alignment
of the trajectory with the target. All these tasks have
to be given to the unconscious, with their hidden mechanisms
of precision. Consciously, we must only take care in
listening to the voice of the unconscious to guide us
to a successful release.
The
things that influence us are usually very simple, but
they reach inside of us with greater impact. I believe
that the Biblical story of David and Goliath, transmitted
like an archetypal message, has pierced us and has become
a way of feeling. David, a shepherd boy touched by divine
grace, defeats the gigantic and frightful Goliath with
his slinging ability. David’s humility, fortified
by the security inspired by his religious spirit, wins
over the pride of the giant. What boy will not feel
touched in the most intimate way by this story? Perhaps
we all have a forgotten slinger boy inside.
The fascination of that inner inspiration that guided
the hand of David, removed from its religious context,
is what I believe that attracts to me towards the sling.
Being the simplest weapon, it is equipped nevertheless
with the magic of the accuracy. To take it without hindrance
in my pocket and because of the abundance of projectiles
makes it an attractive weapon to me. The power of its
firing would not be noteworthy if it could not be accompanied
by accuracy.
My fascination of the sling is the fascination of the
naked aim; naked of artifice, mechanisms of precision,
technique. Modern weapons, and the old ones that have
survived the passing of time, like the bow, are full
of diverse mechanisms, systems of aim, sensitive triggers,
counterbalances, etc. Our culture is pushed to constantly
improve and push things to the limit; but we have lost
sight of the way to use these items, making of the discipline
of the shot a set of procedures and techniques that
when applied with a meticulous control is guaranteed
to hit its target. On the other hand, these weapons
are based on the static accumulation of the energy;
the gunpowder or tension in a bow carries the energy
that will be released in the firing. Sophisticated systems
of aim "hunt" the target before shooting;
it is only necessary to control our pulse, our body,
not to lose the sights and to smoothly operate the delicate
trigger mechanism. Everything becomes control, a conscious
effort, will. In the sling there is no accumulated energy:
it is necessary to generate it in the moment of the
firing. There are no aim systems: only the eye that
penetrates the objective (see picture to left). Any
meticulous control of our body is impossible, because
the motion is so dynamic; it requires relaxation, naturalness
and fluidity of our movements.
What is the mechanism for using a sling accurately?
The answer was given to me as a child, hidden in the
story of David. The mechanism of precision in the sling
is in the interior of the slinger. It was within David,
and his religious inspiration. These "religious"
feelings, or perhaps mystical, like the one of perfection,
veneration, or delivery to a historical destiny, mobilize
a series of internal resources that extend our natural
capabilities. These are interior to the slinger, who
is equipped with that wonderful capacity of precision,
which escapes to his conscience. This capacity is too
subtle and quick to be controlled. It is only necessary
to know how to communicate with it. That communion between
the man’s conscience and the magical background
of his unconscious provides a joyful and enriching experience:
knowing that we have something extraordinarily perfect
and intense inside all of us.
This it is the way of the sling, the one of communication
and harmony with our unconscious. It is a longer way,
but their profits are very worthwhile; more intense,
but less tired; more difficult, but simpler. And mainly,
it is a rewarding, joyful and magical way.
-
Jesús Vega
|
