Talk:Caber toss

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Cleanup[edit]

I started a little cleanup to try to remove things like "You should do this" etc, and replace "you" with "the athlete" and things like that. Didn't finish though. Should be done. I'm Swedish and I hate sports, so someone should check the language and the facts. :) Pipatron (talk) 09:56, 28 February 2008 (UTC)[reply]

History and Rules[edit]

This article seems to be a bit flawed, in that it states that the caber should land with the top oriented nearest the thrower, and the bottom away. As I understand it, this means the caber should be horizontal, however, it then goes on to state that the ideal position is 12:00 on a clock, which is vertical. If I'm simply being stupid and missing something, it would be nice to have clarification. If I'm correct, however, it would be nice to have the article corrected or pruned. Thank you.

You are right. I is a bit confusing. Additionally, the article states, "The game originated in Scotland some hundreds of years ago. . .", later adding that "The history of the caber toss is not known. The present form of the toss came into existence in the early 19th century. . .". So it does seem a bit of a touch-up is necessary. I'll get to it in the next couple of days if someone else doesn't. JFPerry 15:21, 25 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Imagine the clock face laid-out on the ground, with the person tossing the caber standing at 6:00 (and facing towards 12:00 some distance away). Once tossed, the caber then pivots in the air, its former top landing at the center point of the dial (from which the clock hands would extend). The caber than pivots further, ideally coming to rest with what used to be its bottom end now pointing towards 12:00 (and precisely away from the person who tossed it). In the process, the caber rotates vertically through a total of 270 degrees, 180 degrees in the air and 90 more degrees as it falls over towards 12:00.

Atlant 16:39, 25 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

I think the first step is to create a photo gallery depicting the caber toss in a sequence of photos, each at a particular stage in the toss (the run-up, the release, in flight, about to strike the ground, striking the ground, and turning). The history comments need to be re-worked. First it says "the history of the caber toss is not known" and then it goes on to make statements about the history. I will get the photos up later today. JFPerry 15:26, 26 September 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Should I upload caber tossing movies?[edit]

Scarecrow Repair 21:17, 4 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

I have some movies I could upload for this article if that is reasonable. They are .mov files from the Pleasanton 2007 games, from 6 to 24 MB, and 13 to 49 seconds. They are also sideways :-( and need rotation conversion which I don't know how to do offhand.

I don't know Wikipedia's policy concerning movies. Are these so big as to cause bandwidth worries? They are pretty good movies for illustrating a complete caber toss, from raising to the vertical to the bounce on landing, of varying zoom and duration.

I'm not even sure .movs can be uploaded... I've only ever seen them converted to gif. --Falcorian ^(talk) 23:02, 4 September 2007 (UTC)[reply]

.ogv files are movie files accepted by Wikipedia. – Kerαunoςcopia^◁_galaxies 23:31, 2 May 2011 (UTC)[reply]

Typo?[edit]

"caber off the group" = "caber off the ground"? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.150.78.6 (talk) 14:01, 13 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Yes it is, fixed it. --Falcorian ^(talk) 16:05, 13 September 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Missing Data[edit]

There needs to be some comment about the length/height, diameter and weight of cabers and standards or rules, if any exist. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.226.57.224 (talk) 19:13, 26 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed. Is there a standard for caber length and weight? It would be unfair for contestants to toss cabers of different lengths and weights. What if one guy's caber is longer, heavier, and stronger than another man's? The man with the smaller caber could throw conniption fits and get all testy without recourse to refereeing. SCFilm29 (talk) 18:25, 24 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Don't be silly; the exact siza can vary from contest to contest but all competitors throw the same caber. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.233.152.221 (talk) 21:50, 3 March 2012 (UTC)[reply]

Rules Discrepency[edit]

Whilst at all world-class contests caber toss is done for accuracy, at the Brodick Highland Games the caber toss is simply done for distance. I suspect this is the case at other smaller games, does anyone know more?

Tossing / masturbation[edit]

Removed comment about masturbation, which, while properly referenced, was not justified by relevance to the topic. Ché (talk) 22:50, 6 September 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Measurements[edit]

I'm trying to find a source for the dimensions of the caber, and so far the only sources that say the caber is as heavy as 175 lbs use the exact same measurements as in the article. The two books (The Scottish Highland Games in America by Emily Anne Donaldson; Sports and Games of Medieval Cultures by Sally E. D. Wilkins) I've found say 90-150 lbs, with one of them specifying that a caber the article describes (19ft 175lbs) is considered a challenge caber (specifically that a 19ft 160lbs caber is a challenge caber). The height of the caber seems more realistic though (Donaldson says 16-20, Wilkins says 12-15) CiphriusKane (talk) 11:54, 1 December 2020 (UTC)[reply]

Balancing[edit]

Is it true that balancing with the smaller end at the top is easier? In my experience with brooms it is easier to balance with the heavy end at the top. 155.4.132.220 (talk) 14:02, 20 December 2023 (UTC)[reply]