Right to be wrong - Joss StoneOutdoor Competitions 2007
14 October 2007 - Swan Archers Western
Now playing:
Right to be wrong - Joss Stone
I'd been invited over to Swan archers in Kent some time ago to shoot at their Open Western, and as it was a fairly big shoot but not particularly taxing I was happy to go along. Little did I know how far out of my comfort zone today was going to take me. Up until now, I've only ever shot in Middlesex, Herts, and Surrey shoots, and always known at least a third of most of the people along the shooting line - and as a result always felt totally comfortable chatting to those that I've met and shot with before. With the exception of my 'host', I'd only met one other archer there today, and they were both at the other end of the shooting line. So to have to spend the entire day shooting with strangers was a new feeling for me. It's fair to say that I felt lonely and quite nervous at the start of the shooting.
Sighters went OK, and I was feeling a little more settled once the whistle went to commence the actual scoring. Then arrow number 1 went down the range in a spiralling pattern, and found itself in its namesake spot on the target, in the 1. Just what I needed to settle my nerves! The next end it did exactly the same thing again - arrow 1, score 1. This I do not need! It was unceremoniously dumped back into the box and I used a spare for the rest of the day which flew OK thereafter. But I lost myself at least 15 points from that arrow, and on only an eight dozen round, that's a lot to make up. So, with a starter dozen of 80, they were promptly followed by 90, 94, 98. I'd made up some ground by the end of the 60 yard distance but I was grateful for the lunch break at this point. It's a really strange feeling shooting with total strangers though, and much like the Herts County shoot earlier in the year, the atmosphere felt very sterile and there was almost no banter all.
50 yards was the second distance, and things gradually went downhill here - starting at 100 which was good, then 96, 92, and 90. I have no idea why things deteriorated to such a degree, but I have a strong feeling that a lot of it was my mental approach, and feeling very isolated from my normal environment. I don't think I realised how much I rely upon the support and good feeling I usually get from my club mates and other familiar faces, and this clearly has an effect on my confidence. My host did all they could to make me feel comfortable too, but ultimately they were busy with their own shooting (and doing remarkably well at it). So, a total of 740 for the day - the best you can get from a Western round is a Second Class, but it's a handicap rating of 38, so about on par with what I'm shooting at the moment. I finished up in 11th position for the day - and it's interesting to see my differing emotions from finishing 11th today, and finishing 11th last week at Aquarius. It's been a day of discovery for me today, and I think I'll try doing more shoots where I won't know anyone, simply so I can get the mental side of my game in the right place - because it isn't at the moment! Being out of my comfort zone, whilst not much fun, will (in theory) make me more capable in the long term when it comes to more serious tournaments.
It's the last outdoor tournament of this year, so I shouldn't feel too down heartened as I've made a lot of progress in my archery this year, and I hope I can take a few lessons from today, and from all the shoots I've done this summer and be even better next year.
Now onto the indoor season!
7 October 2007 - Aquarius Double American
Now playing:
Let me love you - Tim McGraw
This was the first tournament I’ve entered for the second time, AND actually shot the same round as I did last year (the previous tournaments that I’ve entered before were shorter rounds at both Cranford and Woking, so I wasn’t really comparing like for like) so it was a good indication of how much progress I’ve made over the past year. Last year this shoot was subject to the most awful weather conditions imaginable. Today was a total contrast - we had a mild balmy day, almost no wind, and very good conditions for shooting. Teamed up with many of the same people I shot with last year, we definitely seemed to have the "fun" end of the shooting line, although I was a long way from the rest of my club members.
The Double American is more a test of stamina than most other shoots, as it's 7½ dozen at three distances before lunch, followed by the same 7½ dozen again after lunch. 15 dozen is extremely tiring!
I wont bore the reader with all the individual dozens scores, as there are quite a lot of them, so I'll simply go to the total for each round. Before lunch total was 702 (a 40 h'cap) and after lunch was 718 (a 38 h'cap). I'm reasonably happy with that, and ended up about 100 points off the leader. So from a total of 1420 for the day, to be only 100 points adrift is quite pleasing. Although it just goes to show how much I need to improve by to get into the reckoning!
One particularly pleasing event during the day was a "23 gold end" at 50 yards (out of a possible 24 arrows) from all the archers on my target. And the only arrow outside the gold was one of mine, which took a deflection on its way in (made a lovely clattering noise as it hit the target) and narrowly went into the red by about 1mm. No one had ever seen this occurrence before, so there were a few photos taken of it - I'll hopefully get hold of one if I can, and post it up here.
Last
year I was placed a lowly 40th, and just about managed to
squeeze my first ever Second Class score out of the day. Today was slightly
different, and I’m quite pleased to say that I managed to come 11th,
and both scores were a comfortable First Class equivalent which is very
gratifying indeed.
All in all, a good day's shooting, and although I know I can do better I'm fairly happy with the result.
30 September 2007 - Short Metric League Final
Now playing:
Nothing - I feel like shit!
Today was evidence, if it was ever needed, that shooting whilst feeling ill is a BAD idea! I had to attend though, seeing as it was the final and presentation shoot of the Middlesex Short Metric League, and I have been running our team's entry since we started the league back in April. In hindsight, not only from a health point of view, but also from an archery viewpoint, I should have just turned up and watched and let the others get on with it as my scores didn't make it into the top 5 anyway. Still, I now have the satisfaction of having a genuine reason for shooting so badly!
50m was decidedly average at 73, 95, 78 (total of 246). I was hoping for 250 here, as this would be inline with what I need to hit to get a 1000 FITA. But talk about erratic - a 73 followed by a 95? What's that all about?
30m was a little better, but again nothing spectacular with 99, 100, 103, making 302. Again, it's inline with a 1000 FITA score, but it all felt so crap, with hardly any 10's at all and way too many 7's. A total of 548 - It's a 40 handicap rating, which is well above what I've been shooting lately - so all in all I felt like crap, I shot like crap, and the only redeeming part of the day was collecting the medals and trophies for what we'd achieved earlier in the year.
Just two more outdoor tournaments left this year now, both over the next two Sundays (Aquarius and Swan), so I hope I feel well enough to shoot at them.
Note to self - if you feel ill, DON'T SHOOT!
16 September 2007 - Concord Challenge - Long National
Now playing:
I'm Henery the Eighth I am - Herman's
Hermits
The Concord Challenge, simply a 3-way club tournament between Greenwood Osterley, Laleham and Spelthorne. A bit of fun between three local clubs to start winding the outdoor season down (even though there are still at least two or three outdoor shoots left this year!) Simple rules - the best archer from each category from each team makes up "the team", which is taken from - gents recurve, ladies recurve, longbow, compound, and junior. We were fortunate that we were able to field at least one archer in each category today, so we were in with a good chance of winning. The fact remains though that there were some seriously good archers there today, so it was always going to be a test, and I have to confess that I was suffering with some nerves almost an hour before we started.
We started things off with the intention of completing a Long Western (4 doz at 80 & 4 doz at 60), but time and the weather had other ideas, and it was shortened to a Long National (4 doz at 80 & 2 doz at 60). It seems to be becoming my trade mark now, but my sighters were truly awful, and I was starting to wonder if the whole thing was a bad idea. Then we started for real, and my 80 yards dozens were about 6 points off where they should be, but to be fair, so was everyone else's as the wind was blowing a gale. They came in at 76, 76, 74, 94. I managed to redeem myself in the last dozen and the 94 ensured that my 80 yard average was bang on 80 per dozen. Three stupid 1's here, but I'll put that down to the cross wind that was blowing, and the general laid back (beer-fuelled) atmosphere. All in all, I was happy with that as 80 per dozen at 80 yards is Bowman level.
Then 60 yards came in on 98 and 90. Nothing outside the red here with the exception of one bad 3, which was a bad release and probably cost me 4 points, and had it not been for that I would have been extremely happy. Ended the day on 508 which is a 36 handicap rating, so I'm pleased with that. I came second in our club, which wasn't good enough to make the team, but overall Greenwood won (and retained) the trophy and I think everyone had a good afternoon's shooting.
9 September 2007 - Woking Open - Hereford Round
Now playing:
Happy Talk - Captain Sensible
Woking - essentially a repeat of Guildford. In fact, so much so, the same faces were all there with a couple of notable exceptions, but they've promised to make up for that!
So, another Hereford round again, another target of 1000 to achieve, and hopefully no repeat of the limbs falling apart on me this time. Shooting on target 7, I was kind of hoping that it might bring me a little luck, the conditions were perfect, so I just focused on shooting well and not allowing anything distract me. The morning session (all at 80 yards) seemed to really fly by, and I think it was a sign of me trying to concentrate on the shots, as my consistency was definitely there. Dozens at this distance were 74, 88, 84, 88, 88, 80. I had three 3's in the first dozen, which didn't please me, but aside from that everything else was blue or better. A nice little note here too - on the penultimate end they called that the best gold would be recorded, so I stepped up to the line and shot the first arrow right into the X ring, about 3mm from dead centre! One prize in the bag!
60 yards were a little worse than yesterday, at 92, 96, 96, 90. Seven 5's here, which probably lost me about 10 points in total. Must do better at this distance.
Then 50 yards, and to be fair, trying to emulate yesterday's scores here would have been a tall order. Still, 98 and 102 were not to be sniffed at. Final total for the day - 1076, totally busting my target of 1000 and a handicap rating of 34 which is well into Bowman territory. Sadly, it's 'only' a First Class score as you need to shoot 100 yards for Bowman. That's next years target!
Then, shock horror, as the results were being read out at the end of the day - 1st place with 1164, Gary Harder. Then in 2nd place with 1076 (and at this point I think to myself "hold on, that's what I scored"), it's me!!! OMG, that's a total shock, and something completely unexpected! My highest ever placing in an away tournament! And I didn't even feature on the leader board at all throughout the day, so I must have been hovering at around 4th place until nearly the end.
They then went on to call out the classification results, and I also scooped 2nd place for First Class handicap too! AND I won a bottle of whiskey on the raffle!
So all in all, a totally fantastic day, 3 medals, a trophy and a bottle of single malt - what a great weekend's archery!
8 September 2007 - Greenwood Osterley Autumn Handicap - National Round
Now playing:
Baby you can drive my car - The
Beatles
Today was a hoot! Handicap tournaments are designed to level the playing field and give some of the novices a chance to compete with the more established archers - the idea being that as novices are improving their skills they are therefore more likely to shoot better than their handicap, and consequently tend to do well at these competitions. It's also easier for the organisers for everyone to shoot the same round too (with the exception of juniors and beginners) so everyone shot a National today - 6 dozen arrows at just 60 and 50 yards.
Sighters were truly
awful - only one gold and the rest in the red, so I thought to myself "what
the hell" and just relaxed into enjoying my shooting. Then something quite
scary happened - the dozen scores at 60 yards came in at 92, 96, 98, 96. Four
bad 5's at this distance spoiled things slightly, but other than those I was
quite pleased. Then 50 yards dozens came in at 102 and 104 - where did that come
from?? The last three ends were all 52's, but sadly I didn't manage a 6 gold
end. Still, came away with 588 which is a 32 handicap (my lowest ever) and it's
only 12 points short of the club record which has stood for nearly 10 years!
Me's happy with that! 
Results wont be posted for a week or so yet, so check back to see how I fared later in the week.
27 August 2004 - Guildford Acorn - Hereford Round
Now playing:
Need you tonight - INXS
Well today was an interesting one! The Guildford Acorn shoot is a very large tournament (30 targets, each with 6 archers) and the Hereford round is one I haven't shot since the Herts County shoot back at the beginning of July. I was hoping to get somewhere near 1000 points for this today, which I'm quite capable of, and if I had I would have finished in the top 10 with ease. The first dozen came in at 70, which was way below par, and very disappointing - things gradually got worse from there. The remaining dozens came in at 60, 70, 70, 51, Now I know I can shoot badly at times, but not THIS badly, and I'd started putting it down to the cross wind that was blowing, but I've coped with these conditions before and done well, so there's no need for this sort of performance. My normal dozen scores at 80 yards should be somewhere in the mid to low 80's.
Then as I walked back from having scored my 5th dozen, a very observant club member pointed out that the tip of my bottom limb wasn't looking too clever. Indeed, it had delaminated and the tip section was only being held in place by the string, which itself was gradually being chafed through! I retired from shooting at this point, took the bow apart and once I'd got the string off the limb, it came away in two pieces! I'm just very grateful that it was noticed between ends and that it didn't explode in my face when I was at full draw. This might have accounted for the bad scores I was putting in all morning.
So my first ever retirement from a competition, and an excuse to go get some new limbs. I'll write a report up on those in the equipment section.
19 August 2007 - Harrow Short Metric (part of Middlesex Short Metric League)
Now playing:
Love in an elevator - Aerosmith
I love the English summer - last week we were basking in beautiful sunshine, this week we had drizzle and mud to contend with! This was the final match of the Middlesex Short Metric League, and one that we simply HAD to win on handicap scores if we were to take Harrow to the play-off final in September. Due to the bad weather, I was secretly hoping that not too many of their "beginner" archers would turn out, and give us a fighting chance to do well. My hopes were met!
No mission to achieve today - the red badge was already attained last week, so I went along just to simply do my best, and see what shooting on the slightly sloping pitch would be like. So no pressure at all, just enjoy myself.
50m scores were 78, 92, 88. 258 for the distance, and a new PB! I wasn't expecting that at all, especially as the rain was trying it's hardest to dampen spirits. One 4 and a handful of 5's didn't do me any favours here, and if I can tidy those up into 6's & 7's I could gain about 10 points at this distance. Must try and practice this section a bit more before next year's FITA shoots.
30m scores came in at 102, 105, 106. 313 for the distance - and another new PB! Again, totally unexpected. Giving me a final total of 571, and a handicap rating of 37 (my lowest ever in a competition!) This should even reduce my overall handicap by one point, to 38 now. Very happy indeed with that!
Shooting with Jozef B for the afternoon, and I'm sure that a combination of shooting with someone of his calibre and with absolutely no pressure at all, both contributed to my good score and a very pleasing result all in all. It's very gratifying to end these league shoots on a high, and (subject to confirmation), Greenwood have now won the league on "actual scores" and also on "actual scores" too - hoorah to us!
12 August 2007 - Pinner Short Metric (part of Middlesex Short Metric League)
Now playing:
Cupid - Jack Johnson
A beautiful sunny Sunday afternoon, and Greenwood Osterley's away match against Pinner promised to be a good one. I've wanted to shoot on this field since I first saw it back in February, but have never had the opportunity. It's a very flat, level football ground, with tall Leylandii trees surrounding three sides of the pitch, so there was almost no wind at all, and it's very easy to see your arrows flying to the target due to the uniformity of the green behind the targets.
I have to confess, today I was on a mission, and nothing else mattered to me except trying to achieve a red Short Metric badge for a score of 550 or more. I've achieved all the other badges up to blue, but the magical 550 has kept eluding me, so I really was trying to focus on shooting as well as I could today.
50m scores were 80, 86, 90. 256 for the distance, which is a comfortable PB by far, and in chatting to John O'K at the break he kindly informed me that to achieve the red badge 250 at 50m and 300 at 30m was the order of the day - thanks John! This meant that I'd have to shoot another PB at 30m to get there (previous PB for 30m was 297 in a Frostbite earlier in the year).
30m scores were 101, 103 leaving me with a target of just 90 to get for my last dozen. First 6 of which were 51.... Just 39 more points needed. Next three arrows were 23, leaving me with 16 to get from my last three arrows. Shouldn't be too tough but the nerves were getting to me by this stage, and yet all I had to do was try to keep all my arrows in the red or better, which I'd been doing all afternoon.
First arrow - a blue! A poxy 6! WTF? Now I'm really stressed! Next arrow - big deep breath, focus on the gold, nothing else matters, just hit the gold. Full draw, the clicker drops, and whack! A 9! Fantastic, only 1 more point needed from my last arrow, just don't miss the target, and we're there. Big deep breath again, stare into the gold like you want to kill it. Slow draw back, clicker drops, dammit I'm not ready to release! Come down from the shot and start again. Same procedure again - deep breath, quicker draw this time, click goes the clicker, a perfect release, and "thud" right into the X ring! YES!! I nearly shouted out loud on the shooting line!!
Total score 559, two distance PB's, and a shiny red badge at the end of the season! I cant believe that I stressed that much over a tiny bit of enamelled tin, but it felt sooo good to finally achieve what I'd been aiming for since the start of the Short Metric season. Very happy indeed! Greenwood won in the club competition too, so that takes us 3 points clear at the top of the actual scores league, and only 3 points behind Harrow (who we play next week) in the handicap scores league - it's all to play for!
The day was marred by a drunk taking exception to us telling him to get his kids off the pitch at one point, and he felt it necessary to throw his weight around at one of the older chaps shooting on my target - such a big man to pick on a guy half his size. But other than that incident it was an excellent afternoon's shooting.
5 August 2007 - GOA Club Championships - St George Round
Now playing:
With a little help from my friends - The
Beatles
Today was the first time I'd shot a 100 yard round since the wet weekend of the Middlesex Championships back in May, and I've been very aware of the fact I simply haven't practised shooting 100 yards enough over recent weeks. The round is a St George, comprising 3 dozen arrows each at 100, 80 and 60 yards, ie. 9 dozen in total. The wind was blowing consistently from the left, taking the arrows with it, so aiming was challenging. As the wind was so consistent, everyone was giving me the advice to "aim off" to allow for it. Personally I prefer to compensate for it with the windage on the sights, that way I'm always aiming on the gold rather than the side of the target. It seems to work better for me.
100 yard scores came in on 70, 48, 61. Three misses in total, but those were my only misses of the day and all fell short - not sure why that happened as when I shot them, someone had commented that they actually looked like good shots - dead straight, but sadly all too low. Still, 179 for 3 dozen at 100 yards wasn't too bad. Would've liked 200 though...
80 yards were 86, 80, 78. On par for what I'm shooting at the moment, and nothing much to complain about here. No misses, one 3 and a few too many 5's for my liking, but otherwise OK. 244 was possibly the best 3 dozen I've ever shot at 80 yards, and I was very happy with that.
60 yards were 86, 90, 88. Slightly below what I shot at the recent two Albions, but otherwise all right given the conditions. 264 is passable. Final total of 687 and a handicap rating of 39. Extremely happy with that - and upon looking at the books it transpires that it's only 34 points short of a Bowman score. Those three misses and if I can tidy up some of those 5's at 80 yards, I could be hitting Bowman scores in the not too distant future - now THAT'S scary!
Ended the day in 4th place over all, and came away with a trophy for Best First Class (unrewarded), so a good day, all in all!
15 July 2007 - Cranford Albion - Albion Round
Now playing:
Fix You - Coldplay
Cranford is the first away tournament that I've done for the second time, if that makes sense! Last year I shot the Windsor round here, but I've moved up to the ranks of the big boys now, so it was the Albion for me today. The usual Greenwood Osterley banter was present from the start, and everyone down my end of the line was having a good time, thanks to Sailesh's beer. Shooting with Jan O'K, a lady from Thomas Wall and a 'veteran' from Reading, who had so much paraphernalia around his spectacles it was hard to understand how he could actually see to shoot! He must have had two powerful lenses, an eye patch and something that resembled one half of a pair of blinkers all attached to a frame on his head - all very strange but he shot well, so it was clearly working for him.
80 yard scores were 80, 86, 46. Yes you read that correctly - 46 for the last dozen! I have no idea what on earth was going on, but to throw away some 40 points like that was just a total mystery. I needed my lunch! Still, 212 was passable, but it should have been 250...!
60 yards scores were 90, 88, 90. Much better! 268 was slightly better than yesterday's score here and with only one 3 at this distance I was quite pleased with 60 yards today.
50 yards came in at 98, 86, 100. Two stupid 5's in the middle dozen, but otherwise fairly happy with that. 284 for the distance, and a grand total of 764.
Another 40 handicap score, and bearing in mind I threw 40 points away at 80 yards, I'm pleased that I recovered sufficiently to get another First Class score out of it. Just think, it would have been 800 otherwise.....
Still, I came away with a silver medal for the second place team prize (beating some other more established archers from the club in the process!), and over all I've been very happy with my shooting this weekend. Now my back REALLY aches, and I'm glad I haven't got any competitions now for about 3 weeks, when it's the club championships.
14 July 2007 - London Archers Invitational - Albion Round
Now playing:
London Calling - The Clash
A busy weekend this one - two back to back Albions, at London Archers on Saturday and Cranford on Sunday.
I've never shot at London Archers before, and I was quite looking forward to the setting - and it didn't disappoint! A beautiful field, with Clarence House at the far end, Kensington Gardens on our left, and the French Embassy having their Bastille Day ball on our right. A truly fantastic location, right in the heart of London. This was an invite shoot, and a team event, with only London clubs sending teams in from; Richmond, Laleham, Spelthorne, Aquarius and Pinner (and obviously Greenwood Osterley). I'd been selected for the B team, but as I'll come onto later, I reckon I might be competing for an A team place before long. A very relaxed atmosphere, and a shoot that I'd love to do again.
80 yard scores were 82, 76, 70. A crappy 1 in the middle dozen, but otherwise fairly respectable. Total for 80 yards - 228. Better than my Junior Open scores.
60 yard scores were 88, 90, 88. A 3 for no apparent reason, but 266 for this was again better than the Junior Open score, and I was beginning to think I might get a new PB here today!
50 yard scores were 94, 92, 92. 278 in total, and very pleasing. Grand total of 772 - nearly 50 points higher than my PB - VERY happy indeed! Another 40 handicap score, and comfortably into First Class territory.
What was also enjoyable too, was that Nick T and I were within 5 points of one another throughout the entire day, and although he ended up beating me by 8 which I can live with, the added pressure through the way great fun. The day was made even more enjoyable by virtue of the fact that we both beat Sailesh and Jeff - so-called A team members!! I reckon they put us in the wrong team, and individually we ended up 6th and 8th place respectively (out of a field of about 40 in total) so it was a good day all round.
Below is my crappy attempt at overlaying the view from the shooting line, using Photoshop - Clarence House right in front of you, and the delivery vans were at the French embassy.
8 July 2007 - Hertfordshire Open - Hereford round
Now playing:
Better
Together - Jack Johnson
An interesting shoot, this one. I think I've become accustomed to the lively banter of most of the Middlesex and Berkshire shoots - this one was almost sterile by comparison. There was almost no banter at all, and even when I tried to lighten things up a little with my target companions it didn't last long. A grumpy teenager, a mumsy type, and a longbow'er who gave up after we'd only done the first distance! Maybe it was a sign of people just taking themselves a bit too seriously for a county championship, but in my opinion the whole shoot needed an injection of GOA to liven it up a little! Even in the rain at the Middlesex Champ's we had fun! We were the only ones there from GOA, but fortunately we found some friends from other clubs to socialise with, so it was still a fun day.
Shooting a Hereford round (12 dozen shot over 6 dozen at 80, 4 dozen at 60 and 2 dozen 50 yards) I had mentally aimed to get somewhere near 1000 points for the day, but definitely get a First Class score, regardless.
80 yard scores were pretty respectable, with 80, 86, 74, 76, 76, 72. A couple of crappy 3's and a 1 in the last dozen, but otherwise fairly happy with that - no misses at all!
60 yard scores were better, with 78, 98, 84, 88. Quite enjoyed shooting this distance today, and things were looking distinctly like the thousand might be achievable.
50 yards was dire though! An 86 and an 84.... Total pants! I should be hitting at least 90 for a dozen at this distance, and if I had I would have hit my target easily. As it was I came away with 982, which is a comfortable First Class score, and a handicap of 40.
It's quite interesting how I feel after this shoot - I did a 40 at Windsor and came away feeling elated. I do a 40 here (and a much longer round too) and yet I feel somehow deflated by the score. Not quite sure what to attribute that to. Still, it was 2nd place for a gents visitor, so I guess I should be happy.
1 July 2007 - Greenwood Osterley FITA (part of Middlesex Short Metric League)
Now playing:
The
Sweetest Thing - U2
The beginning of July, and you'd have thought that we'd have had some summer weather by now... Sadly that was not to be the case today. The morning we had torrential rain, and although that dried up after lunch, we had gale force winds in the afternoon that were constantly blowing from the left. So all in all, not good archery weather at all.
90m came in at 167 which, ordinarily, I would have been quite pleased with, had it not been for the fact that I only managed a paltry 10 points in the last end. Not quite sure what went wrong here, but the driving rain might have had something to do with it. I have distinct memories of standing on the line and having to face away from the wind & rain as it hit me! Where's my towel??
70m wasn't too bad given the conditions, and finished on 218. Reasonably happy with that, with the exception of one miss and a couple of stray 1's. Nowhere near a PB, but I wasn't too displeased with that.
50m was 210. A couple of silly misses in the first end while I sorted out sight marks, which probably lost me about 15 points, but other than that it wasn't too bad. I think this is the toughest distance of a FITA - a small target face, AND quite far away. Still, someone once said to me that the 70m and 50m scores should more or less be the same, and they're pretty close.
30m was 278. Not exactly spectacular, but the wind really was blowing bad by this point and probably lost me around 30 points here. I know I can do better at this distance! I guess that just means having to practice more....
All in all I was fairly happy with the outcome of 873. Ten misses for the day, which should really have been no more than five, and a few stray arrows in the black and white which I could do without. It's a PB, so I should be happy with that, but I know I'm capable of better. What was interesting though, upon looking at the score sheet, was that the first end of every distance (except 90m, where it was the last end) was my worst. Whether that's down to sight marks or what, I just don't know, but I think I probably lost around 60 points there in total, just whilst getting used to the new distance each time. So I reckon I've got a 900 lurking in there somewhere.
I'll enter the score as a Long Metric and forget the Short Metric this time, as the combined halves only make a Second Class score, whereas the Long Metric by itself is a First. Cheeky I know, but it looks better!
10 June 2007 - Windsor at Windsor - Windsor round
Now playing:
Nothing in my Way - Keane
What a brilliant day! Warm, sunny, and almost no wind at all. Perfect shooting conditions.
I didn’t realise how close
Still, the day started well,
and my 60 yard dozens came in at 82, 86 and 90. No misses, and nothing worse
than a couple of stray 3’s. These were in fact my worst shots of the entire
day, so I was quite happy with that, and also happy to see the scores gradually
rising through this distance.
50 yards went by in the blink
of an eye, and at one point I’d even written down a set of dozen scores twice,
and I was convinced I was 12 ahead of where I really was! Dozen scores came in
at 96, 98, 98 – again, gradually improving throughout.
40 yards was a joy – I wish I
could shoot like this at 80! Dozen scores came in at 92 (with two crappy 5’s)
96 and 104. The 104 was just sheer joy to shoot – ten 9’s and two 7’s –
why can’t every day be like this?
I did need to double check my scorer on my target however - after we'd checked the scores, she had me 50 points less than where I actually was! After a check with the calculator, it transpired that my own notes were correct, and had I not checked, I'd have ended with 50 less points! Just goes to show that it does pay to keep a note of your own scores as well!
Ended the round on 842, a 40 handicap, and a very smiley face! Upon seeing the results sheet, it transpires that I came 14th (out of 44), my highest ever placing in any tournament! Quite pleased with that, although I was pushed all the way by some close friends and we ended only 6 points apart by the finish. All in all, a very happy day!
3 June 2007 –
Now playing:
Crazy - Gnarls Barkley
What a beautiful day for
shooting! Not too hot, bright summer sunshine, and virtually no wind at all. So
absolutely no “weather” excuses for bad shooting, other than the sun being
in your eyes! This was an Albion round (a grown up version of the
80 yards dozens came in at 70,
74, 56. The last dozen were both absolutely awful ends, and I only scored 28
from each half dozen – way below what I’m capable of. Still, ending the
first 3 dozen on 200 wasn’t too bad, and only about 8 points less than the St
George score.
60 yards was mediocre, and
gradually got stronger as we progressed, dozens coming in at 78, 86, 90. My
first end here had one solitary 1, which lost me a few points. Over all, quite
pleased with how this distance went, and ended by being about 28 points up on my
PB.
50 yards was a bit of a giggle, and shooting with John O’K one side of me, and Sailesh on the other we were matching each other arrow for arrow, end for end. It got to the point where we were just goading each other into shooting (yet) another gold, and the mocking was great fun if we slipped into the blue, which sadly I did on one or two occasions. Dozen scores here came in at 98, 92, 84. The last dozen I only managed 2 golds, but I reckon I was just not taking things too seriously by this time.
Then we ended the day (as has
become traditional at this tournament now) with a single arrow eliminator on
each target. This is done to give the scorers time to sort out scores, and so
that we don’t all get bored rigid by the ubiquitous raffle! Simple rules –
one arrow from each archer at the last distance we shot and the worst arrow /
archer goes out. Then we do it again until we’re down to the last one on each
target. And guess what? I won! It’s not exactly the Olympic final, but it’s
great fun none the less!
27 May 2007 - Middlesex Championships (York)
Now playing:
Stay With You - Goo Goo Dolls
Just when you think you can't get any wetter on an archery field, the rain pours even harder and you're flicking the water off your forehead so you can see the targets! I have never shot in such appalling conditions - absolutely everything was soaked through!
This was the first time I'd shot a 100 yard round, and I'd only shot about 3 dozen at 100 yards in total in practice, so I was painfully aware that my sight marks weren't perfect. This was highlighted by my first 2 dozen coming in at 19 and 28! Pretty crappy shooting, everything was going low, and the rain was just hammering down relentlessly! The last 4 dozen were a lot better, once I'd got the hang of what I was meant to be doing, and came in at 53, 48, 41 and 58. A total of 247 after 6 dozen. A pretty appalling average of just over 3 per arrow! Compounded by the fact that I had 15 misses in this section - a clear indicator that I need to practice this distance a lot more.
A brief interlude for lunch, and an opportunity to stretch our legs and socialise a bit with others from other clubs, and we commenced with 4 dozen at 80 yards. 80 yard section seemed to go by in the blink of an eye, and dozen scores came in at 66, 56, 78, 74. Much more in line with what I'm capable of shooting, but as I'd dropped about 50 points in the first section, I was already behind the pace. Still, I'd finished the 100 yard section about 70 points behind John O'K, and by the end of the 80 yard section, I was catching him up and only about 40 points behind. Again, the rain kept coming, but I managed no misses at all here.
A further two more dozen at 60 yards to finish off, which came in at 88 and 80 saw me finish on a total of 689, a mere 9 points short of a First Class score. Still, it's a PB (having never shot one of these before), but I'm not too disappointed as it's a 45 handicap and shot in the worst shooting conditions I think I've ever competed in. The ironic thing is, the last section which effectively constitutes a Long National, was the equivalent of 442 - a First Class score, and a 43 h'cap. Definitely proof that I need to practice 100 yards now.
All in all, the day ended very well, and I'm very glad I went - for all the right reasons!
20 May 2007 - Laleham FITA
Now playing:
Follow You Down - Gin Blossoms
Laleham, where no one an hear you scream! Mostly due to the planes taking off from Heathrow just above your head!
Their annual FITA and with perfect weather conditions, my chance to see if I could improve upon the FITA from a few weeks ago at Aquarius.
90m came in on 173, which I was quite pleased with compared to the 166 from before. A few silly misses, and a couple of bad releases proves that I'm capable of better shooting at this distance, but that will come with experience.
70m was total pants! A lousy 175, and the best I could manage for a dozen score was 67. Two stupid misses, but the main cause was way too many 2's and 3's through too many high arrows. This was a good 40 points lower than I shot before, and I was beginning to notice that my sight marks were creeping up a good 5mm higher than their usual marks. This would become a problem later on.
50m was a pleasure to shoot by comparison to before - ended with 227 (which is somewhere near where my 70m score should be), and put together some lovely shots here. Again, sight marks were 5mm higher than normal.
30m - I knew this would be a problem, due to my ever-rising sight marks. My usual mark for this distance is 20 clicks above where the scale ends at the top. I'd gone nearly 40 clicks up and had the sight block jammed right into the top of the track so it physically could not go any higher. Such as it was, to get my arrows somewhere near the gold, I was having to aim at 6 o'clock in the blue. This was very disconcerting as the human eye has a natural tendency to put concentric circles on top of one another. As a result, this distance ended with a paltry 244.
Total score for the day - 819. Quite disappointed with that - it's a Second Class and a 47 handicap, which is way lower than what I'm capable of.
Still, ended the day with a silver medal for the team event which was pleasing, but it means I'm going to have to move the sight track back up to the next setting, and work out a whole new set of sight marks in time for next weeks York and (another) FITA! Determined to get 2 PBs next week!!
6 May 2007 - Greenwood Osterley Archers' Spring Handicap (Long Western)
Now playing:
White Flag - Dido
Handicap shoots are great for the up & coming archers, as it levels the playing field out and gives everyone an opportunity to compete on even terms (in accordance with their handicap). Generally speaking, it's the newer archers that tend to well in this sort of shoot, as they're improving more quickly than others, and therefore are more likely to do well, against their handicap rating. I actually won this tournament last year, but there was no way I was going to win it today, as my handicap has dropped such a lot lately, so my main intention was to get another First Class score.
Westerns were the order of the day, and I decided to do a Long Western, over 80 and 60 yards - I think I'll still leave it till next year before I start doing the 100 yard shoots!
80 yard scores came in on 68, 78, 60, 62. All my arrows hit the target, which was a result in itself, as the wind was gusting all over the place. Some of the time it was calm on the shooting line, and the target flags were fluttering away, and sometimes it was gusting like mad on the line yet the targets were becalmed! Go figure! 268 for the 80 yard section was OK, and shooting with two of my peers (Nick T and John C), I was comfortably ahead of them after the first 4 dozen.
60 yard scores came in on 94, 80, 84, 76. The 94 was a nice dozen to shoot, and yet again I got a 5 gold end with a stupid blue for the last arrow - the pressure of hitting a 6 gold end really does screw up your shooting! Still, 334 for the 60 yard section was fairly respectable.
Total score came in at 602, which was well into
First Class territory, so that was very pleasing, and exactly what I'd set out
to achieve. It's also my first First Class score in a tournament too. Happy with
that!
29 April 2007 - Aquarius FITA (part of Middlesex Short Metric League)
Now playing:
Cold Hands, Warm Heart - Brendan Benson
Wow - I've forgotten what a 12 dozen round is like! Anyone who says that shooting a FITA is easy is lying! Today was a hard slog and in windy conditions, it made it even harder.
Shooting my first ever full FITA round, having only shot 90m once yesterday to get sight marks, this was always going to be difficult - but I want to compete with the big boys, so I have to do rounds like this to gain some indication of where I really am in my shooting. The wind was blowing a gale from the left and the windage had to be wound right in by something like 5 full turns. Doing this though did give me the confidence to adjust the sights constantly, rather than aiming off, and hoping that my 'usual' sight marks are correct.
Sighters - All came in in a perfectly formed little group of 6 just to the right of the target, in the grass! I thought to myself that this is going badly, and this is going to be a long and crappy day.
Started the scoring at 90m, and made some hasty changes to my sight marks, and finally ended the 3 dozen with 168. Not too shabby for my first attempt, I thought. To be fair, I was grateful that I was scoring at all, bearing in mind my sighters all missed! Ended this section with only two misses and a couple of 1's. A scope is an essential piece of kit at this distance too - there's no way you can see your arrows that far away!
70m - I really do like this distance! My dozen scores gradually got better and better here, raising from 66 to 82, with only one stupid miss which was a bad release, and the section score came in at 227. Again, below what I'm capable of (this would give a FITA 70 score of 450, which is way below what I can shoot, but the wind was moving us all over the place.
50m - Started out well enough, but then during the middle dozen all my arrows started going left, and I was catching my chest guard with my string. This got to the point where I had 5 consecutive misses, which really began to get to me. I spoke to one of the Aquarius coaches, and he took a look at my form, and it transpired that I was slouching forward into the shot. His advice was to stand straighter and taller, and make sure the bowstring came into my lat muscle, and not onto my breast. Low and behold i gained a further 40 points on my last dozen at this distance compared to the middle dozen. This was clearly a sign of me getting tired, and something that I need to work on for the future. It certainly demoralised me though, and the support of friends helped me a lot here, to whom I am eternally grateful. Some back stretching exercises at the back of the line helped a lot too. Section score was 182 - some 40 points less than the 70m score! Must practice this distance more.
30m - normal service resumed once again, and I started hitting the gold with monotonous regularity. My confidence rose and rose here, and seeing the arrows going back into the centre of the target once again was very pleasing, and I have to offer my gratitude to the coach who got me back on track again. Ended this section with 290, which is only 7 less than my PB at 30m (from an earlier Frostbite shoot in the winter), and that was after having shot 144 arrows beforehand! I was well pleased with that.
Ended the day on 867, a Second Class score and a handicap of 45, which in itself isn't fantastic and had it not been for my little crisis at 50m, which must have lost me about 50 points, I would easily achieved another First Class. Still, it's a PB, having never shot one of these before, and it's a benchmark to beat for the next ones at Laleham and the Middlesex Championships in May. The ironic thing is, if I enter the score as two separate rounds (a Long Metric and a Short Metric) then it would be a First Class and a Second Class score!
22 April 2007 - Greenwood Osterley Archers' St George / Albion
Now playing:
Girls on Film - Duran Duran
What a lovely day for archery! Weather was warm and sunny, if a little gusty at times, but otherwise perfect. This Albion is my first competition at 80 yards, and it was noticeable that all the "big boys" had elected to shoot the St George (100 yards) - so we still haven't quite made it to the major league just yet!
80 yard sighters went 3 into the gold and the others were either red or blue - pretty accurate sight marks then, think I'll stick with those! Then the scoring began, and to be fair, I was rather pleased with myself - the 3 dozen at 80 yards came in at 62, 74, 72. (Total of 208).
Then we moved to 60 yards and my first two ends were absolutely appalling! Come on this is 60 yards here, you're not supposed to shoot this badly at 60 yards! Dozen scores came in at 66, 70, 82 (total 218). It came together for the last dozen, but a 66 dozen at 60 yards simply isn't good enough! Ended 60 yards on only 10 points more than the 80 yards section - total pants! Way too many 1's and 3's for my liking!
Then 50 yards - put some decent scores in here, and the dozens came in at 88, 92, 90 (total 270). One particularly pleasing end which was five 9's and a 7, and I just knew that it was the pressure of trying to achieve a 6-gold end that made me miss it! Still, 270 for 3 dozen was much more like it. Quite enjoyed shooting this distance today!
Ended the day on 696 (45 h'cap) which is only 4 points short of a First Class, and had it not been for the abysmal shooting at 60 yards, I would have achieved it with consummate ease. Fairly happy with that, all round. It transpires that I finished in 2nd place overall, only 8 points behind the winner. What was interesting though, is that I scored more hits AND more golds then they did - just goes to show that my arrow average score was slightly lower than theirs, which has to be down to my bad 60 yard result. Still, it's no disgrace losing to someone like Jenny Hargraves!
Still, it was a lovely day all together - the company was good, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, and our new guests from other clubs got to see how good Greenwood Osterley's hospitality is. Hopefully they'll be back again next year!
9 April 2007 Spelthorne "Special" Fun Shoot
Now playing:
Better Together - Jack Johnson
Today was the first day I've been disappointed in my shooting since the beginning of this year. Spelthorne is a great little club near Staines, and they always start the outdoor season with a "Spelthorne Special" to blow away the cobwebs from the winter of shooting indoors. The round therefore is 3 dozen at 70 yards, 3 dozen at 45 yards (non-standard distances, for those that don't know). Having spent half an hour getting sight marks for 70 and 45 yards over the weekend, I thought this should be a nice little opener to the season - beautiful weather, great company, and all looked like it would be a fun day.
When we started with sighters, we all struggled to get one arrow each onto the targets - everyone started complaining about how far the targets seemed to be, and how even the best archers were missing their shots. After sighters, we measured out the distance we were ACTUALLY shooting, and it came out at 86 yards! Thankfully, all my arrows except one dropped short, and no damage was done, but I saw one person hit the leg of the target stand and smash an ACE into two pieces - I'm sure HE wasn't having a fun shoot! To be honest I failed to see the funny side of this, and I'm grateful that none of my arrows were damaged, but I'd hate to have been that chap who went home minus an ACE from his collection - £15 down the toilet all because no one bothered to check the distance correctly. Point to remember for the future here - pace out the distance to the targets to make sure they're somewhere near the distance they're meant to be, before shooting commences. So, once the shooting line was moved forward 16 yards, (along with all our gear) we did another set of sighters, and started the shoot all over again, this time with the correct sight marks.
For some odd reason nearly all my arrows were going right, and after two dozen shots constantly adjusting my windage to compensate, it took until the last dozen to finally start hitting the gold with any degree of regularity. To say this was frustrating was putting it mildly, and I got really hacked off with my shooting way too many arrows in the 3's, 1's and misses. At this point, Matt was only 5 points behind me, on the junior section of the shoot, and he seemed to be shooting particularly well. I was actually afraid he might come close to beating me!
After the break, targets moved to 45 yards, and almost everyone paced out the target distance this time, and all seemed to be in order, and thankfully the sight marks we accurate this time. Slight tweaks here and there, and by the time we'd finished the 3 dozen at this distance (which seemed to go incredibly quickly), I was regularly getting 50 and 52 per end. I then ended the session with a 6 gold end, which was particularly pleasing, even if it was only 45 yards, but it brought a smile to my face!
By this time though, the damage had already been done by the poor shooting at the longer distance, and I ended up with a paltry 417 which, according to the last set of result I can find on the web, would have given me a placing about 4 off the bottom!
Still, it's the first outdoor tournament of the year, and it's got me into the swing of things for the rest of the summer now. Time to move my sight track down to the next setting so I can hit 90m without having to move the sight bar in, seeing as I wont be shooting 20 yards until October now. I think it'll be a good idea to have a set of winter sight marks for the shorter distances, and a summer set for the longer distances.