Herb Smith is regarded by many to be the father of Long Distance throwing. He was one of the first designers to come up with the modern hook shaped boomerang and the first to add weights to the wings in an attempt to make his boomerangs fly further. Herb was also responsible for other firsts as well. In the early 1980's Herb was the first to attempt to use composite materials to shape boomerangs. His early compounds consisted of plywood-fiberglass composites.
He eventually moved on to Paxolin, a paper/cotton laminate (commonly used in modern circuit boards) which is very tough, flexible and heavier than plywood. Herb was the first person to ever throw past the 100 meter mark and even in his old age was able to throw over 120 meters. During the mid 1980's Herb was successfully able to throw a boomerang around the Washington Monument, using his weighted "Sportsmen" model! Herb was a huge influence on Volker Behrens (Blue Star Boomerangs) and taught Volker about using Paxolin for boomerangs. Herb incorporated some of the ideas behind Volker's "Challenger" model into his own designs and in return allowed Volker to make adaptations of some of his models including the "Marathon", "Tornado" and "Sussex Hook" models. Many regard Herb's boomerangs as some of the most elegant boomerang shape designs ever.
