Flying Solo

Hail and well met once more my friends. A Happy Solstice to you all as well, though I suppose its after mid-night so its not the solstice anymore, but who cares its one of the few recognised pagan celebrations that is still celebrated. Yes I'm away there are others that are celebrated but those aren't generally recognised as pagan, but moving on.

Since my last post had a few things happening:
Bill Hodkinson Shoot,
Monthly Medal,
Mid-summer Handicap,
Kedleston Longbow shoot.

And just over halfway through the month, well starting at the top. I was unable to shoot at the Bill Hodkinson shoot as it was an afternoon shoot and I had other plans, but I did turn up in the morning and shot a respectable short metric round (or least for me) of 240 25 hits, 2 golds. A short metric is a round on a smaller target, than normal imperial outdoor targets, but you use a 10 zone score rather than 5 zone. But because you have a smaller target when the target is out at 50yds you can start screaming because your arrows have hit the paper and not the scoring ring. Unfortunately the results of this shoot sparked off a heated discussion which lead to one of our members leaving, but won't go into that here. I appreciate comments on here, but not arguments.

This months Monthly Medal shoot was a Warwick round, which I didn't shoot my best but I still managed to win the longbow medal despite using my old lighter bow. In all honestly the bow isn't that bad, its just much lighter than my heavier one and the only arrows I have are more or less all bend or curved and it is a bit of a struggle at times. though by this point I was still hoping that my heavier bow would have arrived.

Mid-Summer Handicap came next, and well comments of,"Its mid-summer why is the weather like this?" were voiced alot due to the overcast and slight breeze and spatter of rain. This was a National round, and though again it wasn't my best, it wasn't far off, despite still using my old bow. I did manage to get the highest longbow score, it wasn't good enough to place in the handicap scores, but its nice to see new members winning them. If my experiences last year were anything to go by, it'll really help their self-belief and confidence and make them shoot better.

Last but by no means least was the longbow shoot at Kedleston Hall. I must admit beyond any shadow of doubt this must have been my most enjoyable shoots ever. For a start it was all longbows, no recurves or compounds to be seen. So for a start the atmosphere was much more relaxed as normally (or at least from my experience) its always longbows finish first and have to wait around for other bow types to finish. Well with all longbows it was almost shoot collect, shoot collect, so the pace was smoother, and also there was less fear of arrows being broken, though sorry to say there were a few casualties on the day, though luckily for me all my ravens remained intact, though one or two may have had some knocks and bruises.
The other thing about the shoot was that all other archers were so friendly, focusing less on the score and more of having a good time. Though the change distance sherry's may have had something to do with that in some cases, yes that's right readers longbow shoots serve alcohol when its time to change the range. Looking at your bows any different now?
The weather was again very pleasant, it wasn't glaringly hot sun that made it all uncomfortable, and the rain held off, there were a few gusts of wind, but nothing too serious, and because of that not only did I beat my personal best with a score of 404, I also knocked a point off my handicap. I also was placed 25/50 for senior gents, or 29/64 overall. Not bad, esp for shooting for just under (I think) 18months but what I have yet to tell you is that because I turned up a few minutes late, I wasn't able to shoot the first six arrows, and the first six I did shoot were rushed because I was rushing to get ready so I could shoot. But can't change that I just think its nice I was down 6 arrows and still came mid table.
Two more interesting points about Kedleston:
1. Ranking is based of number of hits before score, most shoots its the other way around.
2. If you go to mixed shoots you struggle to move around behind the waiting line because each bow has its own stand and the bow sticks out horizontally as well as vertically so have to be really careful, while at Kedleston (and shows you how much more social longbowers are) that the bow stands can accommodate 2+ on one stand, and because they are all vertical there is more room to move about and talk to people.
3.(Yes I know I said two, but I remembered one more) When shooting at 60yds as well as marking golds for "best gold" award, if you get an inner gold you get £1 per inner gold. Unfortunately no one told me that at the beginning so probably didn't try as hard (be amazed what money can inspire to achieve).

Well its late so I will finish by saying congratulations to all the winners of this month's events so far. I'll leave you with a picture from the Kedleston shoot and a quote from "The Song of the Bosonian Archers", by Robert E. Howard
.
Good night all and good shooting.

"A long bow and a strong bow,
And let the sky grow dark.
The nock to the cord, the shaft to the ear,
And a foreign king for a mark!"

Oh just remembered, added tonight archery excuse 183. I have a screw loose.



May's Breeze

Well June is upon us so time for another update.

May has had its ups and downs...........and left to rights, and right to lefts. Yes its been a windy chilly month, and unfortunately the wind was the down fall of one of my long distance ravens, as it hit the edge of the boss side on and from a distance of 60yds was seen flying off in two separate pieces. So at some point it'll be stripped and at some point put upon a pyre.
The good news this month though occurred at the AGM, the meeting was generally good. New info passed around, sum up of funds which sounds like if we move sooner would be much better than later, so hopefully now everything will go through smoothly, and with enough time before winter. Angus is going to be the new club coach, Simon the field captain, Steve Dunn the new fixtures co-ordinator, and there are a couple of other new members to the committee. I was personally tempted to give it a go, might be a laugh but as I'm looking to move I don't know whether I'll be around the area as of yet.

But its what happened afterwards that shocked me, as well as the meeting it was awards for the indoor season, now I was already expecting the trophy for the Valentine's Cup and the Indoor Longbow Champion, because we have the results on the club website so kinda know its coming. They are very nice one looks like a crystal sherry glass, while the other is a small cup. What I wasn't expecting though was to win not only the best four Portsmouth rounds after handicap, which btw is a massive cup, but also the most promising new member, which is a shield with a carving of Horace A Ford. Who I discovered was an archer who picked up a bow at the age of 23 and four years later won the GNAM, winning 11 consecutive championships, and a twelfth come back after ill health and damaged muscles. He also set a high score in a double york shoot in 1857 (he was 35) which was unbroken for 72 years. Its a possible goal, not very likely but possible, yeah your right very very unlikely, but still nice to get the award.

Also on the roll of success I managed to win the Jubilee Handicap shoot despite the strong winds and the fact I shot badly. Though in all honesty I wasn't happy with my performance that day and was a bit grumpy about it, towards the end I was just loosing for the heck of it just wanting to get it over with, so kind of a hollow victory. That and the fact it was raining on and off whilst blowing strong gusts, and since I'm at the moment using my old bow I'm shooting at a high arch through crosswinds, which makes aiming more of a rough guess, despite the heavier piles.

The following week was the Phoenix Handicap and though I didn't win (came second) I enjoyed it much more as I hadn't looked up classification scores so I could relax, plus I already achieved 2nd class and that was the highest you could get for that shoot. On a related note, congratulations to Lizzie Foster who shot very well on that day, and achieved a 3rd class score. She seems to be settling into the longbow now.

You may be wondering about my heavy bow, well at the moment it is still with the bowyer under repair. I've been told that I should have it before the 19th which is the shoot at Kedlestone my first none team shoot. I'm hoping I get it some time this coming week so I can practice, esp now as the weather seems to have picked up. I need a rough guild of how it handles in the heat, and I need to get used to drawing the weight again. Its getting bad because my fingers are starting to lose their callouses, but hopefully I'll get them back before the shoot.

Well that's it for now, I leave you with a nice Archery quote:

Come archers, come, all ye who fought
At Cressy, Poictiers, Agincourt;
Pay the last honours due to one
Most worthy to be call’d your son.

Hughes.