- when the autumn darkness begins to settle in
At this time of year, you never quite know how things will go with knife throwing—at least when you’re still an outdoor thrower and, consequently, at the mercy of the weather. The final session of the month—which also happened to be the last day of the month—began with temperatures slightly below freezing, but ended at around eight degrees Celsius in brilliant sunshine. This meant the targets were somewhat frozen to start with. When it gets even colder at night, they end up turning into more or less solid blocks of ice, making it impossible to throw at them at all.
Still, the training continues, and the trials and tribulations of the past month played out as follows.
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| Refilling on sports drink—in the form of coffee. The most-used knives of the month. - Throwingzone Pathfinder |
The bright side of all this is that I no longer have to do all the throwing myself; there is now a small but truly excellent group within VXO Sportkastning —a group that is really dedicated. I suppose I should admit that I’m still the one who spends the most time at the practice field, but perhaps that’s just how it should be.
As things are shaping up, it looks like it will become a solid group—one that might even be interested in some competition next season, including the Swedish Championships. But that’s getting a bit ahead of ourselves; first, we have to make it through the winter. During this time, the goal is to fit in as much foundational training as possible. Last year, it was completely impossible to train for months on end. The year before that, however, it was possible to throw for almost the entire winter. So, I’m looking forward—with a certain sense of anticipation—to seeing what the weather gods have in store for us this season.
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| Another set of knives that has been used is this one. - Acejet Merlin Kiridashi |
As has become customary by now, the month’s performance is summarized in figures. They are as follows:
- 55 hours, distributed among
- 19 sessions, which resulted in approx.
- 19 000 throws
Given both my ongoing studies and the weather conditions, I have to be satisfied with the time I managed to spend at the throwing field. While I’m not the type of thrower who only practices in perfect weather, it’s simply not possible to train when it’s raining too hard, too cold, or—as is the case right now—too dark. For this last reason, we’ve had to cancel our Monday training sessions, so for the time being, organized training only takes place on Saturdays.
Here is an example of both throwing with the "Nazgûls" and throwing a Philippe and a Commemorative Dagger from their sheaths.
The most used knives of the month were:
- Throwingzone Pathfinder: 3755
- Zitoon Knives Philippe: 1644
- Zitoon Commemorative Dagger: 1319
- Acejet Appache: 1230
- Zitoon Knives Le Rafale: 1037
- Zitoon Knives Le Primitif NS: 1037
- Zitoon Knives Big NoReload: 1037
- Zitoon Le Primitif Rotation: 930
- Throwingzone Ceratops: 914
- Bodomar Throwing Knives Chef: 857
As for the knives, it’s safe to say that I’ve done a fair amount of "no-spin" throwing. This is evident in the number of throws made with the Pathfinder—my most-used knives overall—as well as with the three smaller Zitoon sets I use for "volume training." By throwing the Le Rafale, Le Primitif NS, and Big NoReload models simultaneously, I get a total of nine knives per round instead of three. Because of this, I dubbed them the "Nazgûl"—the Nine. Simply put: more throwing, less walking. It also helps develop an "instinctive feel"; while the knives are roughly the same size, they each possess distinct characteristics that set them apart.
Regarding my personal progress, I’ve noticed that since the World Championships, I’ve taken a step up—specifically in the quality of my aiming. The knives land exactly where I want them to much more often. It’s a welcome development. Now, I just need to keep working on raising my "floor" (my baseline performance) and, in particular, improving my long-distance throwing. Furthermore, my throws executed directly from the sheath have improved. In fact, that is the only way I’m currently throwing the "Philippe" model; all 1,600 throws in this instance involved drawing the knife from its sheath. The same applies to the "Commemorative Dagger"—of which I only own one. I usually carry them just as shown in the video clip above.
As for long-distance throwing, things will get easier once our club manages to get hold of some lumber to build a larger, more substantial target. It remains quite tricky to attempt long-distance throws while simultaneously trying to hit a standard-sized target—which is only about 50–60 cm wide. It’s possible, but half the focus goes into aiming.
But now we’re heading into November—let’s see what that month might have in store.
/ J - the knife thrower
