Well I've not posted since November, wow.
Well this indoor archery season I’ve not really been shooting very well. Most
of my scores have been quite below my averages of last year, but that hasn’t
put me off. True it’s irritated me a good few times but what I’m putting it
down to is that the new bow I’ve been using for this indoor season is a much
stronger draw and faster, so it’s more me getting to know the bow and learning
how to control it.
My finger is also getting better, though I
still strap it up before shooting just to help it cope till it’s fully healed.
But with new bow means new arrows, which I mentioned in a previous update. But
to help you remember, these are a set that are different from my old sets in the
fact they are made from pine rather than cedar, which are a heavier shaft. I've
also gone for a new cock feather colour and a new style of point. Do you want
to see them? Do you? Well here they are in their glory, the newest set dubbed
‘The Blue Quills’
After shooting them, I've had some issues
with the arrows. There is a bit of variation in the shafts which anyone using
wooden arrows would know, but the variation in these seem quite a lot, whether
this is something I've done or not I’m not entirely sure. It’s not put me off
pine but I’ll have to make a few more sets to get a better idea of how
consistent the wood is. But the other week I was shooting them to see which
ones grouped with each other and managed to get a small group that grouped very
well. One of them though has a bit of a mind of its own, generally when it
shoots it shoots very well, but every ones in a while it decides that it’s
bored of shooting well and wanders off and does its own thing normally
resulting in just missing the target.
After a dismal season of shooting last
Sunday we marched to Chester (Ok we drove really) for the Cheshire team shoot.
Being selected for the 2nd team rather than the first the pressure
was off me. Not only did I not bother looking at the scoreboard through-out the
shoot, I didn’t even look at my own score. Which resulted in me shooting much
better than I had been shooting that season. Not only was it better than I had
been shooting that season, but it was the best I’d ever shot at that shoot, a
nice round 400 for a Portsmouth with only one miss *grumble*, but 11 golds.
This meant I’d shot well enough to get a new Cheshire archery badge, the ‘black
deva’, I also won Gent’s Longbow Most Golds prize.
Some more good news came out of this shoot.
As regular readers of this know I whip my arrows and this has been noticed by a
few people. Partly because of this and a few other things, I’ve been asked to
make some arrows not for shooting but to be trophies for a special shoot
between Welsh and Cheshire archers. So I’m very pleased about that as you can
imagine. One thing I will note, I’ve been shooting with my new set of arrows
and the quality of the thread I bought as ‘fletching thread’ is a little low because
its nylon. If anyone plans to whip arrows use linen, I've used that for all
arrow whipping up to this set and it’s never gone wrong its tough and lasting,
whilst this nylon seems to fray and snap quite a bit of the time.
With our new range at new local, the club
decided it was time to revamp the uniform and club colours. So after a large
amount of discussion (you would not believe the amount of conversation and
emails this took), we went back to our archery roots, esp. Cheshire roots and
went with green and white, which look rather snazzy. Plus we brought club
hoodies into the kit which I believe we can get zipped or unzipped. ‘But green is a boring colour.’ I hear
some of you cry, well for those that don’t like to take the green can take the
charcoal. Yes we brought in a charcoal grey (off black) shirt with the same
pattern which as you can see from the photo above blends together rather well.
On a different hand of my archery world
(though not completely contained within it), I like to play with leather to see
what I can make from it, and recently this is being noted by members of not
only my club but people I meet at shoots as well, and I have been getting a few
people requesting me to make some things for them, which I would love to turn
into a proper job rather than just a hobby. So far all my work has been
received with grins and aside from one minor problem there have been no
complains. So if you are in the need of some leather goods (whether archery
related or not) then please do drop me a message. If you are on facebook you
can see some examples of my work by searching for ‘Mudd Hutt’, I hope to hear
from some of you in the future.
Back into archery and preparation for our 2nd
longbow shoot are underway. Form has been updated and published, judges booked,
soon I’ll be sending e-mails out to prize winners. Even had news that some
people are delaying their holidays just to come to our shoot. I think the main
attraction to this shoot is the fact at the end of it we’ll be shooting at a
moving target, which is a rarity (at least in target archery, I can’t comment
on other forms). But with plans to expand upon last year perhaps with
sandwiches or burgers/sausages something piggy themed, we’ll have to see.
Is it for this update dear readers, and I
leave you with the following quote from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
If you would hit the mark, you must aim a
little above it: Every arrow that flies feels the pull of the earth.
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