We spent a wonderful evening hearing Hal’s views on the uses of single tail whips. He feels that you get good at Single Tails the same way you get to Carnegie Hall - PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE. When Hal first took up Single Tails, he practiced 10 hours a day for three days.

Using a Cat takes a lot of room therefore because you must be sure no one is involved in any non-consensual play, single tails are often not practiced in play spaces. The care of a single tail is easy. Hal cleans his whip with alcohol and retires them for two weeks unless a specific cat is reserved for a specific player (he has a lot of Whips and wouldn’t we all like to be able to afford that).

As with all whipping scenes, we do not want to wrap the cat around the body as this can cause injury and the area of the neck and spine should be avoided also. To practice your aim, Hal recommends that affixing a towel or three strands of rope at various positions, you, however, should maintain the same position. This will allow practice at various angles and heights. Hal stands at a right angle to his target holding the cat out parallel to his body at the height at where he wishes to strike, making a simple snapping action just as you would snap a towel in the locker room. The loud crack we all love so much actually produces a less painful strike; the energy being used up producing the sound.

After the break Hal demonstrated on several willing victims, giving a good illustration of the pain and release cycle which is very well described by Race Bannon in "Learning the Ropes." It was a good program and I wish to thank Hal for giving the program.

Posted with permission from Society of Janus
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