Hot on the heels of Furnace, I had a team away day with work colleagues. My reporting lines have changed recently with people moving on, and presently I'm reporting through HR. This session was more about bonding the team rather than something more directed and there were a number of 'fun' activities. Now, despite being Head of Health & Safety, I'd not been shown any risk assessments in advance. I'm sure that they were lovely, as the venue was extremely professional, but there's that moment when you're responsible for safety in the business and you see the list of activities being quad bikes, shooting and axe-throwing, and you mentally swear quite loudly.
Anyway, we threw axes. It was the activity that seemed to most scare people. It certainly scared me when I was watching my colleagues. A key tip is not to swing the axe behind your head at an angle; if you have long hair, it snags wonderfully and then I have lots of paperwork to complete.
We had three types of axe to throw; hand axes, some mid-size ones and large ones (albeit smaller than your typical D&D battle-axe). I tried them all in the practice session. Thrown against tree trunks cut across the diameter to form targets like those for archery, I managed to embed a hand axe successfully. The medium-sized axes flew nicely, and hit the target, but didn't go in. The large axe was even harder to direct correctly.
Anyway, we're competitive; most activities scored points, and we wanted to win. I had four throws and opted for the medium axe despite the please from the rest of the team. I had four throws against the usual two because we were a person down, so I was nominated for the extra go. I got three of the axes into the target, which was a great feeling of satisfaction. One of my colleagues got another one in, and we doubled the points the closest team had.
Throwing the axe was pretty technical; it's a proper throw, and you're looking for momentum. You need to release with your hand at the target and then usually it'll hit. Whether it embeds is a different matter. There is something really visceral as the axe-blade embeds. You realise that if you had thrown it at a person, even the failed throw would do a fair bit of damage from the impact.
It got me thinking if Nali the Dwarf should carry a pair of these things; not too much weight to become fatigued, but scope to engage at range. Perhaps if we restart, we can work that through.
The thrill at succeeding at this was superb; it certainly gives a buzz. No-one hurt on this activity, which is a blessing. Medium axes are the way forward.
18 October 2019
Anyway, we threw axes. It was the activity that seemed to most scare people. It certainly scared me when I was watching my colleagues. A key tip is not to swing the axe behind your head at an angle; if you have long hair, it snags wonderfully and then I have lots of paperwork to complete.
We had three types of axe to throw; hand axes, some mid-size ones and large ones (albeit smaller than your typical D&D battle-axe). I tried them all in the practice session. Thrown against tree trunks cut across the diameter to form targets like those for archery, I managed to embed a hand axe successfully. The medium-sized axes flew nicely, and hit the target, but didn't go in. The large axe was even harder to direct correctly.
Anyway, we're competitive; most activities scored points, and we wanted to win. I had four throws and opted for the medium axe despite the please from the rest of the team. I had four throws against the usual two because we were a person down, so I was nominated for the extra go. I got three of the axes into the target, which was a great feeling of satisfaction. One of my colleagues got another one in, and we doubled the points the closest team had.
Throwing the axe was pretty technical; it's a proper throw, and you're looking for momentum. You need to release with your hand at the target and then usually it'll hit. Whether it embeds is a different matter. There is something really visceral as the axe-blade embeds. You realise that if you had thrown it at a person, even the failed throw would do a fair bit of damage from the impact.
It got me thinking if Nali the Dwarf should carry a pair of these things; not too much weight to become fatigued, but scope to engage at range. Perhaps if we restart, we can work that through.
The thrill at succeeding at this was superb; it certainly gives a buzz. No-one hurt on this activity, which is a blessing. Medium axes are the way forward.
18 October 2019
No comments:
Post a Comment