Choptober 24, for me, was a nearly 100% magical experience. I managed to avoid (most) of my social anxiety, I got to meet people from all over the world, and I had a great time (even if, you know, my throwing wasn't all that great. But when is it ever, right?).
I write "nearly" because there was truly only one experience that was less than ideal, and it came at the hands of a Filipino resturant just outside of Choppers. Now, I don't want to lay the blame solely on the proprietors of the establishment - they were busy, and we were axe throwers, but our war party of Lancaster throwers didn't really get a single thing we ordered, and waited for an extra 30-ish minutes to get the check after requesting it. Wasn't the end of the world by any stretch, and truthfully that experience being the "worst" part of my Choptober experience says a lot about how great of an experience it was, overall.
But the extra time in waiting and ordering meant I could wrangle two other throwers who happened to be in the restaurant at the same time, Noz and Snodders of UK-throwing fame, and seeing as they couldn't escape me, I took the opportunity to interview them both.
Fair warning: I try to identify who is speaking out of the two, but this was my first time meeting either, and to my untrained American ear, they sounded fairly similar in my voice recording of them. So I apologize to either/both of them if I miscredit answers. Then again, they are far enough away from me, now, that I'm kinda whatever about it.
When did you get into the states?
Snodders: Thursday afternoon. We flew from Newcastle to Heathrow, then to JFK. So by the time we hired the car from JFK and got down to the hotel, we'd been travelling twenty-two, twenty-three hours. We went more or less directly to the Philly Space closing party, rolled into bed around midnight and then woke up to go straight to the doubles event.
And is this your first Choptober?
Snodders: It's my first.
Noz: And my second.
Reader: I was wrong from the very start. Snodders just pointed out it was his second, and Noz’s first. A train wreck of identification from the get go.
I've heard from some people that this Choptober feels smaller than in years past, do you agree with that?
Noz: Yeah, I do. I think last year with it being advertised as the "final" Choptober challenge, it was a full bracket. The atmosphere was very full.
Snodders: Joey the Hat said to us that he felt, this year, the competition was stacked.
Was there anyone you were excited to throw against that you otherwise wouldn't have an opportunity to throw against in the UK?
[Dear reader: it is at this point in the recording that I stupidly moved my phone to make sure I was recording them equally. And I couldn't figure out who was who. So from this point on, I'm going to refer to them as Nozzers].
Nozzers: I played Rander before with much the same result as today, but all the people I threw against - a lot of them I didn't know, but I'm glad to know them now. You have your usual people like Cycon and people like that, they'd be great to play - but there are so many people coming through now that are at that level, and it's great to play against them.
I would have liked to play against Austin, I haven't ever played against him. But honestly so many people throwing now are at such a high level it's great to play against anyone.
Also Nozzers but different: For me, my kind of thing in doubles is to find random partners, as I don't have a standard doubles partner. So I threw with Robert Applebach there, he posted up that he wanted a doubles partner and I took that spot. And then when I saw we were drawn as the first game on Saturday, I was like "shiiiiit," - I really didn't want to throw against him. But we had a hell of a game, a slog.
I played against T-Man, Cameron, Ziggy and I faced each other at IATC and he put me down into the B Bracket there, so it was a bit of a revenge here. It was a really fun game.
Something I noticed with the UK throwers here at Choptober: when you throw, you kind of bring your whole body to the point of your full step, completely extend your throwing arm and then flick your wrists hard.
Nozzers: We have to give props to Carl Howe from our venue. We affectionally call it the "UK Roll." Everyone was doing the pinch and the "Canadian Flick" and Carl figured that out and taught all of us, and it stuck.
Everyone started by throwing the same way everyone does, you know, throwing overhead with two hands - but once we started getting serious, Carl took us aside and said "listen, this is how to do it."
And of course everyone has their nuances and differences, but you've hit at the core of it, and that all comes from Carl.
Another Nozzers: We describe it, in the UK and because of the Pub culture, as darts -
Yes! Exactly right! That's how I was talking about it with Rob.
Nozzers No. 1.: Yeah, when we coach as well, that's how we describe it when we're coaching people in our venue. We tell them to imagine they are throwing a big dart. Because what you do is you extend your arm, point to where you want it to go, and then flick your wrist.
Does that mean, in theory, your axe handles are shorter? To account for that kind of extended arm movement?
Nozzers No. 2.: It depends on the thrower. Because your snapping your wrist, like. I've always settled with [a handle that's] between 14-14.5.
Nozzers No.1: I think mine is somewhere around 14.5-15?
Nozzers No.2: I think it depends on how much snap you get, and how much you drop back when you're throwing or stay upright. It all affects what handle length is best for you in particular.
It just occured to me that when I interview people from other countries, I ask a lot of questions about the things I notice they do that seem different than what I see around the states. I'm curious if either of you have noticed things that Americans or Australians or whoever do that aren't typical where you're from?
Nozzers the Second: One of the things I really like about traveling to tournaments is just watching how people do what they do. How they set up, how they throw, all of it. It's so much more than the throw, you know? The set up and the shoulder position, cross shots, holding the axe high or low - there are so many variations that happen in this sport.
I think the biggest one is that Canadian Flick. The pinch grip and the flick.
Nozzers the First: It's in the equipment as well. At our venue at least, because we all learned from Carl, most of us start out as one-axe throwers. We learn to toe-in for bulls and land flat for clutches. But a lot of us - at least I have - picked up using two axes. Just from talking to people from IATC, you know, talking to Rander, talking to Vin. I found it really worked for me.
I would be cautious about an axe maker telling you that you need more than one axe. Just sayin'.
Nozzers, in tandem, like some eldritch beast of two mouths: Yeah, you know that's true.
I throw two axes now, as well, and that came from seeing what other people are doing. I think seeing axe throwers from different regions does help, for better or worse, kind of standardize the mindset of equipment in the sport, depending on what's available of course.
Nozzers 1: Another thing to consider is that we're stuck throwing on pine. Americans and Canadians who came over for the UK open struggled because it's so hard. We had to learn on that. It can be a detriment on cottonwood - I threw things that would be solid bulls on pine, but on cottonwood my axe sunk so deep that it bled into the three.
A lot of the axes that are popular over here aren't popular in the UK, because it's harder to get them to stick in our pine boards.
Nozzers 2: Consider Shopros for instance. Over here they are pretty much a stock profile, whereas in the UK we really have to profile them to stop the axe from bouncing out of the boards. Even things like the handle profiles: we all pretty much throw with straight handles in the UK. American makers will sometimes put a curve in there.
It was at this point that Noz and Snodder's order was ready, so we ended the conversation there. But It was a fun, nice interview, and I appreciate both of them taking a minute to talk with me about their adventures and thoughts!
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