Skyaak caught live on Radar!

Skyaak caught live on Radar!

As promised, we hooked up with the Watrous detachment of the RCMP on Friday evening at 7-ish. Gene Angers ( the guy who first came up with ‘The Angers’ Effect’, which is the throwing technique that maximizes the spinning motion of the Skyaak on its axis in flight. This gyroscopic effect adds more stability and even appears to boost the acceleration.), Wayne Reifferscheid ( one of the latest Skyaak enthusiasts), Dylan Cooke ( one of the truly great early Skyaak champions!), Dylan’s Grandpa Blake Cooke ( who has been a big fan since day 1) and myself all met up at the Cenotaph Park in Watrous at the appointed hour.

I strolled over to the RCMP Watrous detachment right next door to see if they were busy. I was informed that there was a one-car roll-over just east of Renown, and there was a counterfeit 20-dollar bill in the office, and... well, I asked the constable to stop. Too much information. While it was interesting to get an inside glimpse of the goings-on in the police station, I felt at that point that ignorance was bliss. I thanked the constable for the head’s up, and also said that I appreciated his explanation that he was basically up to his eyes in work. He replied that there was no way that he could get out of the office to do our radar speed check, BUT his partner was coming on duty in about ten or fifteen minutes and that he just might be able to carry through with my plan. I thanked him again, and left the station with only a faint glimmer of hope.

I went back to see my buddies and gave them the scoop. We already knew that the RCMP could only do this if they could fit it into their schedule. All we could do was hope for the best. Then we headed over to the football field at Winston High School. I had gotten permission to use the facility from the Phys-Ed instructor earlier.

At the football field we discovered an over-abundance of killer mosquitos, so everyone lathered on the bug dope. We formed a circle and proceeded to toss our Skyaak units ahead in a clock-wise direction. We had four units with us, so there was a little gap in the Sky-aaction that compensated for any incomplete CATCHes. This was major FUN, as everyone got an equal number of THROWs and CATCHes, and it was quite fast-paced. A nice work-out for everyone. Blake Cooke, Dylan’s grandpa, is about eighty I would imagine. He is really good at THROWing his Skyaak. He likes the underhand (rolls off the fingertips ) spinning THROW best. It is the gentlest on the wrist, elbow and shoulder joints. Nearly effortless with superior technique. The introduction of the Angers’ Effect into the delivery by Blake’s technique lets him keep going without getting tired.

Wayne Riefferscheid has naturally picked up a killer technique that holds MUCH PROMISE to be a SERIOUS CONTENDER for future Skyaak meets. Wayne is blowing me away with some of his THROWs. He has managed to come up with a THROW that looks totally effortless. It’s a hybrid javelin/finger-flicker THROW. Wayne is close to MASTERING this technique. He has really zoned in quickly on the MUSCLE MEMORY of his THROW, and he is replicating himself spot on. This so important for consistent execution!

Gene has a lot of experience with his Skyaak of course. But like everybody else, he flubs a few shots. You really have to be focused very clearly on your technique. When you try to brute-force it, Skyaak usually flounders. Unless you have absolutely perfect technique. Then you are a double threat.

Dylan carried on in the upper 5 percentile with his polished THROWing technique.

My favorite THROW is a whipping side-arm with a last-second finger flick. For me, this is the best THROW for consistent speed, distance and accuracy. All three. Again, the MUSCLE MEMORY thing.

We’d been there for about twenty minutes before I reined everybody in for a group photo.




I figured we better get a picture in any event, whether or not the RCMP showed up. It was beginning to look doubtful after this much time, but we were all really enjoying ourselves anyway, just as a fun get-together!

Then we saw the police cruiser pull up a ways across to the far east side of the field. The officer evidently spotted us, as he quickly executed a u-turn and sped away to come around the block to our side of the field. We all let out a big cheer when we realized that the cruiser was heading in our direction.

It looked like we were going to get a RADAR SPEED CHECK after all!

The RCMP cruiser pulls right up to the Skyaak-ers.

After the RCMP arrived, Cst. Brent Vandesype explained where the ‘sweet spot’ is. That is the exact trajectory that the Skyaak must trace in order to enter the path of his RADAR SPEED-DETECTOR.

The officer said that the best position to get a reading would be coming STRAIGHT AT the CRUISER. So we were obligated to aim our THROWs directly at the police car in order to get a reading. This was a bit unsettling to say the least. The officer told us that we might also get a reading when the Skyaak travels straight AWAY from the cruiser. So we threw it back and forth directly towards and away from the police car:

We started to get readings at a certain point. I scored a 27 KPH on what I thought was a practice THROW. Not that fast. So I was tantalized by my score. I knew I could go MUCH FASTER. A few minutes later, the officer announced my score of 43 KPH. I had broken the speed-limit of 40 KPH! Ya-hoo!

The constable decided to try to get a reading with the RADAR outside the cruiser:

Dylan stepped in and requested that the next speed recorded of over 40 KPH be locked in on the monitor so that he could photograph it for the record. His wish was granted and then Wayne scored a speed of 41 KPH. The officer locked in the ‘violation’ so that Dylan could take the picture.

Before he was allowed to go into the police car, the officer advised Dylan in no uncertain terms, "Don’t touch anything in there!" Dylan nodded compliantly and swooped in to get the shot:



Cst. Brent showed a genuine interest in our project, and patience with our fiddling to not only register on the RADAR, but also to document the whole thing as we went along. Sincere thanks go out to Sgt. Sutherland and Cst. Brent Vandesype of the Watrous Detachment of the RCMP for their exemplary spirit of community goodwill and moral support of Canadian enterprise.

Dylan gets gi-normous credit for fleshing out the details of the documentation.

After we got the photo of the locked-in RADAR reading, I asked Cst. Brent if he’d be willing to pose with us for a photo. He very graciously agreed, and we have this splendid photo as a result:

Participants in the official Skyaak ‘air-speed trials’ in Watrous on June 30th, 2006 (left to right): RCMP Cst. Brent Vandesype, Michael Gaudet, Gene Angers, Blake Cooke, Dylan Cooke, Wayne Reifferscheid. Wayne’s air-speed of 41 KPH was locked in on the RCMP radar, while Michael’s duly noted 43 KPH remains the number to beat.

This was a great day in the life of Skyaak. It was a tremendous honor to be supported by the Watrous Detachment of the RCMP in this way. It is a wonderful feeling to be able to get out the good word to the world at large, bit by bit, that SKYAAK is HERE!

Later, Michael.