Monday 31 July 2017

Archery Update


Me with members of my club shooting at a competition together, and clearly we are the rabble because none of us are wearing club shirts (left-to-right, Reg, Tom, me, and Lazlo).

It has been a year since I did the last post here on archery, and it has been an interesting year of shooting that would probably bore you all to tears if I went into the finer details of how to shoot an arrow.

I have not only achieved my first class archery award, but also bowman, which is as high as I can go unless I start attending record status shoots.  Quite frankly I'm not sure I have the energy and commitment to do this.  For a start it would mean travelling around the country to get to enough events to be able to shoot three or more rounds, while getting enough points to qualify, and then having to do it all again the next year.

Also, I have had to change my arrows again because my draw length increased.  The nice arrows I had borrowed from my beloved had become too short for me, and as a consequence hazardous to use–accidents can happen if you pull the arrow off the rest and let it loose. The longer arrows we had to hand are too stiff for me, and as a result my scores have dropped precipitously because I've lost confidence in them.

After much deliberation and worry an order was placed with Merlin Archery, and in due course the package arrived with the parts to make up a  set of ten arrows.  My first ever set of brand new arrows that I've bought, which are not hand-me-downs or secondhand acquisitions.

Thirty inches long, they're like rails that go on forever.
  
Having now used them, and with help from Sailesh, my club coach, I've been able to tune my bow to match them and I'm hopeful I will be able to improve my scores.
   

6 comments:

  1. Congrats on the improvement! If you're not sure about the commitment to achieving the next ranking, is mastering another type of bow to the same level an option?

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    1. My rheumatoid arthritis means that shooting a longbow is out of the question because of wrist shock, which would otherwise have been my first choice. A Mongolian horse bow falls into the same category as I already shoot, as does a Japanese Yumi.

      This only leaves me with full on Olympic recurve with a sight and all the the other doodads that I'm not keen on, or a compound bow with all the doodads ditto likewise.

      I rather like the simplicity of a bow with nothing on it.

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  2. Congratulations...I never managed above 2nd class!

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  3. I just want to say that I've been following your archery for a while now. Nothing beats a day at the range. Congratulations on your gains and many good times out there. :-)

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    1. Thanks for the feedback, most appreciated.

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