Bay Area Dart Enthusiast: DARTS: Sight Alignment and Sight Picture

Darts: a game where participants compete with one another by throwing small arrow like devices at a target that is round and has numbers and sections and an inner bull with an outer bull and so on. Darts now refer to the standard game with a specific bristle board design and a set of rules. Rules that are general to the game and rules that govern games like, “501,” “301,” and “Cricket.”

Darts is a traditional pub game that was and is commonly played in the United Kingdom as well as other places in Europe and across the pond here in the America’s.

Wikipedia tells hits history in a terse form, i.e., “The dartboard may have its origins in the cross-section of a tree. An old name for a dartboard is "butt"; the word comes from the French word but, meaning "target". In particular, the Yorkshire and Manchester Log End boards differ from the standard board in that they have no treble, only double and bullseye, the Manchester board being of a smaller diameter, with a playing area of only 25 cm across with double and bull areas measuring just 4 mm. The London Fives board is another variation. This has only 12 equal segments numbered 20, 5, 15, 10, 20, 5, 15, 10, 20, 5, 15, 10 with the doubles and triples being a quarter of an inch wide.”

There have been a variety of darts created over the years but the most common today is the tungsten dart. There are electronic darts but for this blog and for my efforts in tossing darts I remain a steel dart fan and enthusiast. I am recommending a book for novice darters but only because it appealed to me and my studies and rest assured most of the dart books out there are outstanding. In short, find one if this one does not fit your needs and get it. I can tell you when I started to play over twenty years ago, before I laid down my darts in 96, I tossed darts for several years without knowing some very important and critical mechanics, etc., of the dart game. As I take up once again my steel darts I have found a fountain of information to help make the game both enjoyable and competitive. Enjoy, diddle for the middle and let the darts fly!

Monday, June 26, 2017

DARTS: Sight Alignment and Sight Picture

Dart Arts Article/Post Caveat (Read First Please: Click the Link)

In the Marines we learned all about the rifle and one of the most famous of traits Marines have is the ability to learn to shoot and to develop deadly skills to hit what we aim at over long distances. This is how that translates into shooting darts well.

In marksmanship, Marine Style, we learn a skill called, “Sight alignment and sight picture.” This is shouldering the weapon, assuming a proper body position, then with a dominant eye we look through the rear aperture, sight, find the front sight blade and center it in that aperture and finally center the front sight on the intended target.

In the dart arts we approach the oche line, set our stance, position the body with proper structure and alignment for a solid stance and balance of the body. We then use the same principle by using our throwing arm like the rifle. Elbow down, forearm in a horizontal position, the hand holding the dart so the flight becomes the aperture, the shaft the extension of the rifle and the front of the barrel or point as the front sight blade. All of that aligns and we aim at the intended target. All that is left is to shoot.

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