From whip expert Robert Dante's column in the newsletter of the
Wild West Performing Arts Society (WWPAS),
affiliate of the Single Action Shooting Society (SASS)

I heard someone say, “The Executive exists to make intelligent exceptions to the rules.” I agree.

Whip cracking requires a lot of Executive Decisions. This is inevitable where there is no single right way to do a specific thing. We can’t even agree on our terminology.

A whip's lash is AKA a popper is AKA a cracker is AKA a snapper, etc, depending on who you ask. And a straightforward Circus Crack is AKA a Gypsy Crack – you get my point.

Some Australians have tried to codify a repeatable combination of cracks (called a "Flash") with descriptive titles, such as Mike Murphy's “Mad Coachman.” But even the Sidney Flash and the Victoria Flash are essentially the same with only one minor difference: one begins with a Circus Crack and the other begins with an Overhand Flick. Other than that, they are the same crack.

Replacing a cracker on your whip requires a series of Executive Decisions. What material do we weave the cracker from, how many strands do we put in, how long is the fuzzy part supposed to be? The arbitrariness of it all continues when we try to tie the cracker onto the whip, because although this knot is basically a self-tightening hitch, there are still several different ways to tie it.

So, with all this subjective reality and chaos swirling around what is supposed to be an uncomplicated activity, how do you decide what is right? Well, I can't tell you what's “right” – you have to make that Executive Decision for yourself. But I can at least share with you the benchmark that I use when I am deciding which way to go.

That test is this: “Does it work?”

The highest compliment I can give someone is to say, “That worked!” And yes, there may be several different methods of doing something so it works. They all could be right and correct. Just like us, with all our variations, differences and unique qualities.

The only unshakeable constant in whip cracking is Newton's Second Law of the Conservation of Angular Momentum. But even when we apply this formula to the whip, it is, like Life itself, always moving, never exactly the same.

(For information about the SASS/WWPAS, Write to P.O. BOX 7123 GOODYEAR, AZ 85228 or send email to DRBuc@cox.net.)