Ted Bailey is a retired Aerospace Engineer who has been making and throwing boomerangs since the early 1970s. The first boomerangs that he marketed were multi-bladers that he sold on the C.S.U. Sacramento campus in the early 1970s. In the late 1970s, Ted sold traditional boomerangs at the West Palm Beach Mall. In the early 1980s, Ted moved to Ohio and became active in competition. He developed a line of high performance miniature competition boomerangs. In the mid 1980s, new products included lap joint boomerangs made out of exotic woods and more high performance competition boomerangs, especially Fast Catch and MTA booms. Ted was active in the USBA and served as Secretary, President and as a board member in the 1980s. He was the editor of the USBA newsletter, Many Happy Returns, for two decades and also produced two independent publications: Boomerang Journal and Boomerang News. Currently, Ted is involved in internet marketing of boomerang products (this internet catalog) and teaching flight science is schools in and around Ann Arbor, Michigan. Find out more about Ted Bailey on the About Ted Bailey web page.

This Fast Catch boomerang was made in 1986. This was the second generation of high performance Fast Catch booms that Ted Bailey used to maintain a high USBA rating in Fast Catch and Endurance throughout the 1980s. The design was similar to that made by the New England throwers (Larry & Peter Ruhf, Eric Darnell, etc.), but new undercutting techniques were used to improve performance by adding optimal camber in just the right places. The idea was to reduce inertia and increase lift so that the turning torque increased substantially. The technique worked and this boomerang was one of the fastest and safest Fast Catch boomerangs in use before tribladers became legal to use in competition. This Fast Catch boomerang was used in competition a lot and the large number of stress cycles from use can be seen in the suface plies on both the under and upper surface. This battle worn Fast Catch was retired in 1988 and given to Larry Ruhf for his collection. Larry used this boomerang as a signature boomerang at the World Cup in 1988. the underside has signatures by many of the top competitors at the time: Mole Man, Mike Forrester, Eric Darnell, John Flynn, Ted Bailey, Adam Ruhf, Larry Ruhf, Peter Ruhf, Barnaby Ruhe, Dennis Joyce, Ron Tamblyn, John Koehler & more. I would prefer that this boomerang not be thrown. Instead, make a copy and keep this as a collectable.