Yesterday was our archery club's final outdoor shoot of the season. To finish the season off it was a barebow (no sight allowed) competition shooting a Portsmouth round (5 dozen arrows over 20 yards with a 60cm target face).
Yet more firsts for me - first Portsmouth, first barebow attempt and first club competition. Also a first for Henry who joined in and shot his first 'proper' round.
I was advised beforehand that instead of pulling the bowstring back to a point under the chin I should draw it to my cheek so that I could look along the arrow to aim. A couple of misses with my sighters showed me how different, and hard, this was going to be.
Then we got underway and every one of the first dozen scored, which was pleasing, and there was even a nine in amongst my score 54. My second dozen was slightly better (55) and included a 10, but also a couple of misses. The final three dozen were better still (64, 73 & 68) and included three more 10s and only the one more miss. My final score then was 314 (with 57 hits out of 60). This placed me second of 4 on my target, but I have no idea how the scores were on the others - much better I suspect.
Henry didn't fare so well. He struggled a lot with drawing to his cheek and after the first two dozen (with no hits) reverted to his usual draw and was rewarded with two scoring arrows in the next set of 3. The smaller target face and no sight made it much harder than he was used to, but he enjoyed himself which is the main thing.
Afterwards we decided to stick around for a bit to practice. Another club member offered me his flatbow to try (45lb to pull compared to the 28lb I'm currently using on the recurve). Obviously there were a good number of misses in the dozen arrows I shot, but also a 10 amongst them!
Adding the sight back to the recurve to practice in preparation for the indoor season took a bit of getting used to. The mornings habit of drawing to the cheek was hard to shake, but after half a dozen completely useless arrows I managed to shoot a dozen that were reasonably well grouped, leaving me looking forward to the indoor season. It had been a glorious morning weatherwise, and a great finish to the outdoor season, even though for us it only started a couple of months ago.
Monday 28 September 2009
Friday 18 September 2009
Going for Gold
Back in the summer, at the local carnival, Henry and I had a go at Archery. It was a stand that Henry kept wanting to go back to, and the members of the club running it were quite impressed with him, for a 7 year old.
As he had enjoyed himself so much I thought I'd look for a club that we could go to. Due to the nature of the sport, and it's potential for danger if you don't know safety procedures, etc. you have to do a 'beginner's course' before you can join a club. To cut a long story short this is an 8 hour course (usually over a period of weeks) where you are taught the basics of both safety and technique.
It is quite difficult to find a club that will start anyone under 9 years old, so although there are clubs nearer to home we ended up having to travel about 40 minutes to find one that would allow Henry to take part. Anyone wishing to take up the sport in the UK should look at the GNAS website to find an affiliated club.
We did our beginners course throughout August and joined our chosen club 3 weeks ago on completing the course. We have been to club shoots on each of the three weekends since we joined, although only practicing at shorter distances to those shooting recognised rounds. We are both using club equipment and will continue to do so for a while yet, although I have to say I'm itching to get my own!
Anyway, on Sunday morning there was a good turnout of around 20 or so. Whilst I asked for a boss (a target for the uninitiated) to be set out at 20 yards for Henry to shoot at, I felt that with so many there I should join in and shoot my first proper round rather than ask for another boss to be set out for me to practice on.
As I said I'm using a club bow, which comprises of a wooden Samick handle and Samick Polaris limbs which are 28lb to pull the bowstring back. Also I'd never shot more than 40 yards before (and only then for a couple of hours). Oh, well. "In for a penny...." I thought and decided to shoot a Short National round (4 dozen arrows at 50 yards followed by 2 dozen at 40 yards). I was pleased to be hitting the boss with my sighters and when one of them landed in the gold (the centre of the target face), I thought perhaps it wouldn't be as hard as I thought to hit a reasonable (yes I know that's relative) score at 50 yards.
Being my first 'proper' club shoot and my first time (other than the beginners course) sharing a boss I didn't think to keep my own score for reference, but wish now I had. I do know, though, that my final score was 356 and was the highest on my boss, which I shared with two other newcomers and someone shooting longbow after not shooting for some time. At 50 yards I hit a handful of golds (about 4 I think, worth 9 points each), although also as many whites (1 point)! I hit more 5s (the blue ring) than anything and the fact that my average score per arrow was 5 suggests that I hit as many blacks (3 points) as reds (7 points), but I don't remember it that way! I guess it's the same as cricket in that you remember the good shots.
I was disappointed when the distance dropped to 40 yards not to hit any more golds, but I did have quite a lot of near misses which landed in the red at 12 o'clock. My grouping was also much better at the shorter distance, but then again I suppose it should be! I was pleased that I only missed with 2 arrows (both at 50 yards). Those came when a more experienced archer gave me some tips about my release which, when I tried to put into practice in the next end (set of 6 arrows), resulted in the misses. But still I'd rather be doing it right early and getting better from there.
Archery is similar to golf in that it is essentially an individual sport where you try to improve your own ability. Competition against others can be 'levelled' by a handicap system (like golf again). I suppose most club members would regard 356 (equating to a handicap of 62) as a poor score, but we all have to start somewhere, and it gives me a benchmark from which to measure myself in the future.
As the outdoor season draws to a close I'll probably run out of time to get a handicap for this year (you have to shoot three recognised rounds), but I hope that having the whole indoor season ahead I can attain a half decent handicap by the end of that. I aim to build up my poundage (the weight of bowstring I can pull back comfortably) on club kit over the next month or two before getting some of my own. By then I hope to have a reasonable idea of what will/might suit me, as well as giving me time to learn what some of the things I've seen in catalogues actually do!
As he had enjoyed himself so much I thought I'd look for a club that we could go to. Due to the nature of the sport, and it's potential for danger if you don't know safety procedures, etc. you have to do a 'beginner's course' before you can join a club. To cut a long story short this is an 8 hour course (usually over a period of weeks) where you are taught the basics of both safety and technique.
It is quite difficult to find a club that will start anyone under 9 years old, so although there are clubs nearer to home we ended up having to travel about 40 minutes to find one that would allow Henry to take part. Anyone wishing to take up the sport in the UK should look at the GNAS website to find an affiliated club.
We did our beginners course throughout August and joined our chosen club 3 weeks ago on completing the course. We have been to club shoots on each of the three weekends since we joined, although only practicing at shorter distances to those shooting recognised rounds. We are both using club equipment and will continue to do so for a while yet, although I have to say I'm itching to get my own!Anyway, on Sunday morning there was a good turnout of around 20 or so. Whilst I asked for a boss (a target for the uninitiated) to be set out at 20 yards for Henry to shoot at, I felt that with so many there I should join in and shoot my first proper round rather than ask for another boss to be set out for me to practice on.
As I said I'm using a club bow, which comprises of a wooden Samick handle and Samick Polaris limbs which are 28lb to pull the bowstring back. Also I'd never shot more than 40 yards before (and only then for a couple of hours). Oh, well. "In for a penny...." I thought and decided to shoot a Short National round (4 dozen arrows at 50 yards followed by 2 dozen at 40 yards). I was pleased to be hitting the boss with my sighters and when one of them landed in the gold (the centre of the target face), I thought perhaps it wouldn't be as hard as I thought to hit a reasonable (yes I know that's relative) score at 50 yards.
Being my first 'proper' club shoot and my first time (other than the beginners course) sharing a boss I didn't think to keep my own score for reference, but wish now I had. I do know, though, that my final score was 356 and was the highest on my boss, which I shared with two other newcomers and someone shooting longbow after not shooting for some time. At 50 yards I hit a handful of golds (about 4 I think, worth 9 points each), although also as many whites (1 point)! I hit more 5s (the blue ring) than anything and the fact that my average score per arrow was 5 suggests that I hit as many blacks (3 points) as reds (7 points), but I don't remember it that way! I guess it's the same as cricket in that you remember the good shots.
I was disappointed when the distance dropped to 40 yards not to hit any more golds, but I did have quite a lot of near misses which landed in the red at 12 o'clock. My grouping was also much better at the shorter distance, but then again I suppose it should be! I was pleased that I only missed with 2 arrows (both at 50 yards). Those came when a more experienced archer gave me some tips about my release which, when I tried to put into practice in the next end (set of 6 arrows), resulted in the misses. But still I'd rather be doing it right early and getting better from there.
Archery is similar to golf in that it is essentially an individual sport where you try to improve your own ability. Competition against others can be 'levelled' by a handicap system (like golf again). I suppose most club members would regard 356 (equating to a handicap of 62) as a poor score, but we all have to start somewhere, and it gives me a benchmark from which to measure myself in the future.
As the outdoor season draws to a close I'll probably run out of time to get a handicap for this year (you have to shoot three recognised rounds), but I hope that having the whole indoor season ahead I can attain a half decent handicap by the end of that. I aim to build up my poundage (the weight of bowstring I can pull back comfortably) on club kit over the next month or two before getting some of my own. By then I hope to have a reasonable idea of what will/might suit me, as well as giving me time to learn what some of the things I've seen in catalogues actually do!
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