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[physboy2357]

Wow!!! so many heavy hitters coming to the depths of the physics department that never sees the light of day!!!  It makes me glad we all put in some serious time today working on the 2nd 8 tricks.  I'd say we are rounding 2/3rds there  . 

Anyone have any pointers on hop the fence??  Currently, it's a nice top launcher instead.

[the Earl of Whirl]

For one reason or another, this trick has always been a weakness of mine.  I'm interested in hearing others talk about this trick and giving some of their good tips.  I know the Dancing Queen.......er.......the Spin Queen has lots of good experience with this trick.

I'd love to hear others share their insights on hop the fence.  I'm not very good with those.

[agentsac]

Anyone have any pointers on hop the fence??  Currently, it's a nice top launcher instead.

the standard reply...practice. but really, i just had to get a feel for it. start slow and don't jerk the top around.being smooth counts here. once the top starts to roll over your hand then let the top take up the slack on it's own. keep in mind the the top will precess slightly as you do the trick and it will be more pronounced the slower you go. you may have to turn slightly to stay parallel with the top. look at the slow-mo video on the spintastics site. valerie lifts the top almost vertically but it lands slightly to her left.

i learned hop the fence and around the world around the same time. if you walked into my house back then you would be guaranteed to catch a top in the face at least once. these two tricks were similar to me. once you learn to "cradle" the top instead of just throwing it around, it all comes together. you can really see this in the other spintastics trick video - around the world. you start the motion and then your hand "follows" the motion of the top just enough to keep string tension but not enough to pull it. finesse is everything.

i hope that helps and i didn't confuse you. it worked for me but do what works for you...and practice. 

[SpinQueen]

Mike,
I suck at this trick     But one of my kids "Jacob" is a pro at it.  I always find it interesting how, each one of us  just naturally has a feel for a particular trick.
 
I know what I do wrong with this trick....I tend to swing over to much of the top and string rather than edging my up the sting w/my finger and then gently/smoothly flipping the top over.  I know this in my mind, and yet I still don't have a feel for it.  A trick that I do have a feel for is One Handed Lasso.  It has always felt natural to me since I started doing it.  I just feel comfortable with the motions I guess.

I'm curious to know what tricks came naturally to you guys?   I seem to have three lists going...

1) Tricks that I've mastered w/practice:   Drumbeat, Boomerang, RCS....
2) Tricks that came naturally to me:    One Handed Lasso, One H. Trapeze, Behind the Back Trap
3) Tricks that I totally suck at even with practice:    Hop The Fence, Burmuda Triangle

[agentsac]

boomerang was really easy for me. the first top i bought was a duncan imperial and with a basic understanding of how to wind and throw it i threw a boomerang on the first throw...first throw ever. somehow all the other tricks i know didn't come as easily as this. 

i know i've been threadjacking all over this board, buuuut....spinqueen, how do you do a one-handed lasso? i've seen it in your videos and never really thought about practicing it until now. i can't picture how it's done in my mind so i can't even begin to practice!

[SpinQueen]

Since I didn't really have to work at it, I may not be able to give a  great explanation because I do it more by feel, but I'll give it a go.  I throw a Boomerang and make it come back to me so that the crown is leaning away from me and the tip toward me.  Not on it's side like a trapeze but not as upright as a lasso (something in between).  This could just be personal preference.  As I pull back the boomerang I make sure that I have the string draped between my pointer finger and my thumb.  As the top comes back I line my hand up so that the tip of the top catches at that point of the string between my pointer finger and my thumb.  When it catches I let the top take some of the string with  it and then I close my hand to gather the two pieces of string.  At this point I make a Merry Go Round or something like it to keep the top from falling off the string.

Hope this helps.  Alan Gray is great at this trick and may have better advise for you.

[agentsac]

sounds more like a sideways/vertical one-hand trapeze. i'll give it a shot. thanks!

[poptop]

I can't do this trick to save my butt.  It seems like the tip is suposed to be pointing toward the throw hand before you hop away from you.  Anyone want to comment on the importance of tip direction relative to spin direction and/or the plane of "hopping" motion/rotation.  Seems like the same principle with "Suns" but I'm lousy with those as well...

[SpinQueen]

Do you have the same problem with Around The World as well?

[physboy2357]

  Anyone want to comment on the importance of tip direction relative to spin direction and/or the plane of "hopping" motion/rotation.

It seems we think alike.  I was playing with this very thing over the weekend.  I was having a lot of trouble keeping the top on the string.  Instead, I had made a very nice trebuchet .

So..my findings: for myself (a righty) as long as I start pulling the string as the top tip approaches 3 o'clock or 9 o'clock (so 3:30 and 9:30) it stays on the string and flops right over with the top parallel to my hand at the top.  (So for you lefty's our there, that would be 2:30 and 8:30.)  If the tip is at 12 or 6, it would be best not to stand in front of me but may come in handy if I ever to decide to storm the castle...especially with a QS in hand .

[Spinningray]

I find that it helps to have the string attached to your finger like you do with a yo-yo. This places the string away from your hand and gives you more space to allow the tip to pass over your hand as it catches the top tip.

[poptop]

I got a few last night--still struggeling tho.

I'll have to try the tied-on technique.  Tying 'em on is my speciality...

Alan, did you ever get my email?

[sixtoe]

Hop the fence and round the world were hard until I realized I needed to start the trick during a certain time of precess. ie. just after tip points in the direction the hop is going. so if you are hopping from 6 to 12 and the top is precessing clockwise the tip needs to point to just past 6 clockwise. Only problem for me after that was hesitation at the apex of the hop. Need to follow thru like when batting a ball or swinging a golf club. I think the tip is pointing in the direction of force and to go that direction during a hop is to use the tops precession to hold it in the string loop. If the top is precessing the other way because of handedness or throwing technique then change clockwise to counter clockwise.