Welcome back, or hello for those who haven't been here before. This weeks archery has been a mixture of good and bad results, more on the side of bad than good, but hopefully be able to fly out of the slump soon.
Tuesday there was a tragedy, another raven has fallen, knocked out of the sky by one of its own flock passing to close. I Robin Hooded (shot through my own arrow) on of my arrows splitting the nock and the wood down to the binding making it unshootable unless I strip it down and shorten it, but I'd need more than just the one so for the moment it is laid to rest with its brother who suffered a similar fatality previously. But that was not the only injury, another raven had its tail cut short (broke the nock), but luckily that one has been replaced and is eager to fly again.
Thursday was the December monthly medal, and despite doing well on Tuesday and the previous Thursday my shooting wasn't fairing to well. The monthly medal is a FITA 18, which is five dozen arrows on a Bray 1 target, so effectually two consecutive Bray 1 rounds. I managed 254 48/0, which to me isn't that good due to the amount of misses as it seemed that I was missing with almost every 3rd arrow, with an average Bray score of 127 24/0 which isn't bad, but isn't my best either. Suffice to say I didn't manage to retain the longbow medal but just means I have something to shoot for next month.
Today being Sunday saw the opening of the December frosbite shoot, but with the snow that fell on the Friday still lingering it being around 2-3" very few archers turned up. So few in fact it was just myself and Steve Dunn, a fellow longbow archer who had taken one for the team and brought out his recurve for this shoot, seeing it is technically a recurve postal round. So there were a brief passing comment of "we few, we crazy few" and a couple of odd looks by people come to the rugby club. Despite the snow it was a nice day sun was warm, there was no wind, and as long as you had decent boots and thick socks the cold didn't really reach you. The more interesting was when there were a few stray arrows and they left trails for you to follow in the snow, though digging them out did leave your fingers cold and numb. By the end of the shoot I walked away with 145 31/0 which is about the same as the last frostbite but still in my eye not overly that good, but just means more practice is needed.
With Christmas looming next week there is the Christmas fun shoot to be looking forward to and in two weeks is another Frostbite which hopefully will be better attended but we'll see. Till next time, stay warm and a MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Sunday, 19 December 2010
Friday, 10 December 2010
Portsmouth Postals
As the name suggests this week was the postal league Portsmouth round, which is five dozen arrows on a 60cm target. Despite the less than average turn out, I think the club managed to cobble together the four recurve teams (though this did include 4 longbowers) and at least 2 out of 3 people for the compound team. But the weather was mild and the rain had melted most of the ice on the road so was much less slippery, overall pleasant evening walk and shoot.
The Portsmouth target despite being the larger of the indoor targets was one I'd practiced less on, yes I practice on the smaller targets with a longbow, I did rather well. Only recording a Portsmouth round once before, my personal best was increased by 51 points, final score was 438, 60 hits, 11 Golds. Seeing as both my Portsmouth round score had no misses, it means I'm honing myself more into the centre, esp as I was enjoying being congratulated every so often by fellow longbowers for shooting good ends. Despite my last half dozen having a few arrows deciding they were bored of colours and prefered the white rings, it was still good enough to beat two other longbow archers only coming second (out of the longbows) to Shawn, who set a new club record, but I'm catching up so bit more practice and who knows.
The more interesting result is that I'm still beating recurve archers, which as said before for a longbower novice with no sight aids is pretty good. Yeah I might get better scores with recurves but longbows are or least to me, so much more relaxing and feels right in the hand. I read a series of books recently where one character (surprisingly called longbow) said he always felt his bow was just an extension of his arm, and though it might not have begun that way, it is getting more like that to me.
Quick change of topic before I go. While looking around on some archery shop websites, I noticed a type of fletching called "raven".......it looks like half an arrow head, so I might invest in some them out next time I make a new flock (12-arrows) see how they go. Still thinking of having the two black arrows, might have them with warheads on.....hmmm think about it a bit more see what conclusions I come to, they'd look nice.
Stay tuned for next week, it'll probably be a little later because there is a frostbite on Sunday, so if its not wet the cloak might be coming out. I'll try to get pictures.......so stay tuned.
The Portsmouth target despite being the larger of the indoor targets was one I'd practiced less on, yes I practice on the smaller targets with a longbow, I did rather well. Only recording a Portsmouth round once before, my personal best was increased by 51 points, final score was 438, 60 hits, 11 Golds. Seeing as both my Portsmouth round score had no misses, it means I'm honing myself more into the centre, esp as I was enjoying being congratulated every so often by fellow longbowers for shooting good ends. Despite my last half dozen having a few arrows deciding they were bored of colours and prefered the white rings, it was still good enough to beat two other longbow archers only coming second (out of the longbows) to Shawn, who set a new club record, but I'm catching up so bit more practice and who knows.
The more interesting result is that I'm still beating recurve archers, which as said before for a longbower novice with no sight aids is pretty good. Yeah I might get better scores with recurves but longbows are or least to me, so much more relaxing and feels right in the hand. I read a series of books recently where one character (surprisingly called longbow) said he always felt his bow was just an extension of his arm, and though it might not have begun that way, it is getting more like that to me.
Quick change of topic before I go. While looking around on some archery shop websites, I noticed a type of fletching called "raven".......it looks like half an arrow head, so I might invest in some them out next time I make a new flock (12-arrows) see how they go. Still thinking of having the two black arrows, might have them with warheads on.....hmmm think about it a bit more see what conclusions I come to, they'd look nice.
Stay tuned for next week, it'll probably be a little later because there is a frostbite on Sunday, so if its not wet the cloak might be coming out. I'll try to get pictures.......so stay tuned.
Friday, 3 December 2010
The Ice Walk
Hello again everyone, its been another week of archery. With the cold weather moving in the walk to archery is getting more tricky as when I set off at around 6pm the sun has long since set and the cold night has arrived. Not really a problem, but recent snow fall that is now turning into ice due to the amount of heat and compression due to people walking on it the four miles can get a bit slippery. Cold wind doesn't help much either but the "assassin" outfit as it has been dubbed, is out and within minutes of the walk the cold doesn't reach me, though people are still shocked that I walk. Surprising though how many people aren't turning up since the snow compared to how many did before it fell. The roads I walk along aren't snowy or icy and coated with a good amount of grit, but I suppose people have their own reasons. Oh funny little thing happened on the Thursday walk, two boys on the other side of the street throwing snowballs at random passersby both see me, and back away down a small side road.
Another downside to this forty-five minute walk is that my bow gets very cold, making it very stiff, so I have to give it a good rub down before I shoot it properly. Alright you people at the back stop sniggering, I dunno people these days :p
With the start of the new month comes a new month of postal league shooting, so shooting Bray 1 rounds at whenever possible to try and get good score recorded to beat the other clubs around. Due to Tuesday's currently being filled with beginners shooting a round of any type can be very slow between ends, so its just really good for practice and socialising. Thursday again being quite due to the cold weather was quite good for shooting, so after a few ends to warm up my muscles and the bow more than anything else, a Bray 1 round was started and I managed to beat my personal best of 149, with a score of 158, 28/30 hits, 0 golds. Just because I didn't get any golds, doesn't mean I didn't hit the gold part of the target. The golds are the 2nd ring (for longbows and recurves) so, basically I hit near the centre but not direct centre. With only 2 misses as well its very good for a longbow archer, esp a reasonably new one that makes his life harder by shooting without any shooting aids. I did do a second Bray 1 but this was much worse only scoring 115, 26/30 1gold......The amount of hits and the fact I managed to get a gold, is good its just when I did hit they were pretty wild on the target rather than focused in the centre like the first. Oh well, can't win them all, esp in archery, but its a good start for the new month.
I have discovered though that through body movement I'm starting to know before I'm even at full draw whether the shot is going to be a bad one or not, downside is I feel its going to be a bad one, and don't come down and do it again, so that's one thing I have to get into doing. Its not as easy as you thought, its like trying to throw a ball and just as your about to let go going back the way you came till your just holding it.
Hmm I really need to get some pictures up on here.......maybe next time.
I've got to get myself in a training routine to build up my shoulders and back muscles for the next out door season when the heavier bow arrives, as well as order some new shafts and heads so I can make a new flock of ravens (arrows). Hopefully someone will give me something towards it for Christmas, but if not then no worry.
That's all for now people, stay tuned for more.
Another downside to this forty-five minute walk is that my bow gets very cold, making it very stiff, so I have to give it a good rub down before I shoot it properly. Alright you people at the back stop sniggering, I dunno people these days :p
With the start of the new month comes a new month of postal league shooting, so shooting Bray 1 rounds at whenever possible to try and get good score recorded to beat the other clubs around. Due to Tuesday's currently being filled with beginners shooting a round of any type can be very slow between ends, so its just really good for practice and socialising. Thursday again being quite due to the cold weather was quite good for shooting, so after a few ends to warm up my muscles and the bow more than anything else, a Bray 1 round was started and I managed to beat my personal best of 149, with a score of 158, 28/30 hits, 0 golds. Just because I didn't get any golds, doesn't mean I didn't hit the gold part of the target. The golds are the 2nd ring (for longbows and recurves) so, basically I hit near the centre but not direct centre. With only 2 misses as well its very good for a longbow archer, esp a reasonably new one that makes his life harder by shooting without any shooting aids. I did do a second Bray 1 but this was much worse only scoring 115, 26/30 1gold......The amount of hits and the fact I managed to get a gold, is good its just when I did hit they were pretty wild on the target rather than focused in the centre like the first. Oh well, can't win them all, esp in archery, but its a good start for the new month.
I have discovered though that through body movement I'm starting to know before I'm even at full draw whether the shot is going to be a bad one or not, downside is I feel its going to be a bad one, and don't come down and do it again, so that's one thing I have to get into doing. Its not as easy as you thought, its like trying to throw a ball and just as your about to let go going back the way you came till your just holding it.
Hmm I really need to get some pictures up on here.......maybe next time.
I've got to get myself in a training routine to build up my shoulders and back muscles for the next out door season when the heavier bow arrives, as well as order some new shafts and heads so I can make a new flock of ravens (arrows). Hopefully someone will give me something towards it for Christmas, but if not then no worry.
That's all for now people, stay tuned for more.
Saturday, 27 November 2010
Raven's Sight
The close of another week saw the clubs monthly medal and this time despite my success at shooting well enough to earn the handicap medal, this week proved a some what more prestigious medal, or at least in my eyes. I managed to shoot well enough to win the monthly longbow scratch medal. This means that I manged to shoot a higher score on a Bray 1 round compared to other longbow archers that were competing. I will admit that the longbow archers I were competing against weren't the best that the club has to offer, but both archers still have years of experience compared to myself. The two other longbow archers I was competing with did use aiming aids, e.g rubber band around the bow, or a stand on the ground to adjust their aim to compensate, while I myself shoot purely by eye alone so if I can be competitive without their benefits, then I know that even though at times I may not shoot as well as I could at least I am shooting out of pure judgement and skill alone. I know its not the best way to shoot but I prefer the traditional, I means whats the point of having alot of gizmo's to make you hit the gold all the time, whats the point. All helps to my goal of building up to a proper English Warbow.
I have ordered a new longbow to be made for me ready for the next outdoor season at a hefty 55lb draw at 26", by a Mr Adrian Hayes made from Ipe, Lemonwood and Bamboo. This is quite a bit heavier than my current bow so it'll mean starting to build up my shoulder and back muscles to cope, being bamboo it will also be alot faster than my current bow made from Hickory, Purpleheartwood, and Lemonwood, so this means that I'll be able to reach the further targets with my arrows, while at the moment I'm limited to about 60yrds, 80yrds at a push. But being able to reach further targets means I can reach higher ranking classifications, and earn medals that I can keep, rather than the monthly ones which have to be given back.
I have ordered a new longbow to be made for me ready for the next outdoor season at a hefty 55lb draw at 26", by a Mr Adrian Hayes made from Ipe, Lemonwood and Bamboo. This is quite a bit heavier than my current bow so it'll mean starting to build up my shoulder and back muscles to cope, being bamboo it will also be alot faster than my current bow made from Hickory, Purpleheartwood, and Lemonwood, so this means that I'll be able to reach the further targets with my arrows, while at the moment I'm limited to about 60yrds, 80yrds at a push. But being able to reach further targets means I can reach higher ranking classifications, and earn medals that I can keep, rather than the monthly ones which have to be given back.
Friday, 19 November 2010
The Natural Archer
Another week of archery gone, actually I've only practiced on one night this week due to problems and after the awful shooting at the end of last Sunday I was determined to pick myself up and get my eye back in.
Now with the darker colder evenings less people are coming to shoot on some nights, which in all honesty I find quite good for shooting, there isn't alot of noise so you can focus on what your doing and your not worried about people hitting your arrows, or being squashed by people being either side of you.
It was interesting shooting this week, I didn't score my ends* but I could see I was mostly keeping inside the red rings, I don't know why but my arrows don't seem to like the gold much, they'll shoot all around it and only on occasion stray into it. But the end of the night I was getting pretty tired and quite hungry so my shooting started to go off, pains in body areas (why I only went down one night this week) was making me think too much. Looking at the time I only had about 20mins before I'd set off home, so decided to relax and just shoot randomly, not aim not line up try to get the shot right and not really care where they land, as long as they are in the boss. Note I said boss not the target. (the boss is the thing you stick the target onto, usually straw).
So half heartily I grabbed my bow and shot 6 arrows, quicker than normal and without thinking or aiming, and to my surprise they all hit the target. Not only did they all hit the target the majority were reds and golds, so I did this for 15 minutes and was amazed to see the same outcome, though the shots did get worse towards the end as I was thinking about shots more trying to adjust to better the next arrow. Really just shows that archery is a sport that you need to relax and enjoy rather than pushing yourself all the time, and getting annoyed at the odd stray arrow. But its funny how you can not care about it and do well, I'm assuming this is because of body memory, do things often enough and your body remembers how....Its often interesting to note you're body will tell you your doing something wrong after you've done archery for a while, and you know what shots are going to be bad, before the arrow hits the target, sometimes even before they hit.
Anyhow, monthly medal next week, so stay tuned and see if a tale of a hero, or of woe.
*An end is where you shoot 3-6 arrows then collect them.
Now with the darker colder evenings less people are coming to shoot on some nights, which in all honesty I find quite good for shooting, there isn't alot of noise so you can focus on what your doing and your not worried about people hitting your arrows, or being squashed by people being either side of you.
It was interesting shooting this week, I didn't score my ends* but I could see I was mostly keeping inside the red rings, I don't know why but my arrows don't seem to like the gold much, they'll shoot all around it and only on occasion stray into it. But the end of the night I was getting pretty tired and quite hungry so my shooting started to go off, pains in body areas (why I only went down one night this week) was making me think too much. Looking at the time I only had about 20mins before I'd set off home, so decided to relax and just shoot randomly, not aim not line up try to get the shot right and not really care where they land, as long as they are in the boss. Note I said boss not the target. (the boss is the thing you stick the target onto, usually straw).
So half heartily I grabbed my bow and shot 6 arrows, quicker than normal and without thinking or aiming, and to my surprise they all hit the target. Not only did they all hit the target the majority were reds and golds, so I did this for 15 minutes and was amazed to see the same outcome, though the shots did get worse towards the end as I was thinking about shots more trying to adjust to better the next arrow. Really just shows that archery is a sport that you need to relax and enjoy rather than pushing yourself all the time, and getting annoyed at the odd stray arrow. But its funny how you can not care about it and do well, I'm assuming this is because of body memory, do things often enough and your body remembers how....Its often interesting to note you're body will tell you your doing something wrong after you've done archery for a while, and you know what shots are going to be bad, before the arrow hits the target, sometimes even before they hit.
Anyhow, monthly medal next week, so stay tuned and see if a tale of a hero, or of woe.
*An end is where you shoot 3-6 arrows then collect them.
Sunday, 14 November 2010
A Competative Tale
Well just returned from my second competitive shoot of the week, with good and bad news. The two rounds shot this week were in aid of the clubs postal league shoots, but seeing as I shoot longbow unless I shoot well or there aren't enough people turning up to them my scores won't be put forward for the team as the club only has recurve and compound teams.
Like most things its the good news first, on Thursday it was a Portsmouth round*. A Portsmouth round for those unfamiliar with archery terminology is five dozen arrows (sixty arrows) on an 60cm target face at a distance of 20 yards. Overall it was a very good shoot, fourteen people turned out for it, 3 longbowers, 2 compound archers, and 9 recurves (quickly checks maths, yep fourteen). Pleased to say everyone shot rather well overall, quite a few 500+ scores**. Hmm should really explain the scoring shouldn't I. Ok, well I'll do that below. I myself got a total score of 387, which for a novice longbow is pretty good, I even beat one of the other longbow archers I was shooting with by 7 points. Yes only 7 but seeing as she has a few years experience on me I still take it as a triumph. Readers will soon know that longbow archers myself included will find reasons to celebrate in the smallest things. Just to show this, what made me even more pleased was that face that not only every arrow I shot hit the target, but was also a scoring arrow too. Again with a longbow even an experienced longbow archer this is not always a certainty.
Now comes the bad news, today's shoot again for the postal leagues was the frostbite. This is outdoors, yes outdoors first thing Sunday morning in November, shooting three dozen arrows, on an 80cm face. After the sighter arrows*** I was doing fairly well staying within the inner rings of the targets, then all of a sudden just over halfway through shooting my arrows decide that its too cold to be outside and start flying randomly either missing the target face (luckily staying on the boss) and when they decide to go on the target its just to stay in the outer rings. Which as you imagine made me annoyed and confused, which ment I began to think more which in turns means I shoot worse, which goes to more thinking, and so an descending spiral. Yes archery is one of those sports where its usually the more you think the worse you shoot. Esp for me as I don't have aiming points on my bow but reply on body memory and instinct, which isn't the best way to shoot at all, but I like it and makes me feel better when I out shoot more experienced archers with sights and point of aim marks or even with better more modern bows.
Ok apart from the explanations below, I think that's about it for this post. Stay tuned for more.
*For those that don't know archery has an array of rounds to shoot which denote how many arrows you shoot and what distances, and whether your shooting indoors or outdoors.
** Scoring: Archery targets as most of you probably know usually have a series of coloured rings. starting from the outside going white, black, blue, red, and gold. Depending on what rounds you are shooting these are either solid colours scoring 1,3,5,7,9. But sometimes each ring is split into two, so you have white, white, black, black, blue, blue, red, red, gold, gold scoring 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,X(this is a compound score mainly). So if your arrow lands in a ring it is given that score. If your arrow cuts the line between two rings, the higher value is scored. You shoot 3 or 6 arrows at a time, score them collect them and shoot again.
***Some shoots allow sighter arrows, these are arrows that allow you to gauge that your sight marks/point of aim markers, or instincts are set right so that you'll hit the target, mainly longbow competitions do not allow these, so always best to check before hand. Sighter arrows are not scored so if you miss the target or get bang in the centre makes no difference.
Like most things its the good news first, on Thursday it was a Portsmouth round*. A Portsmouth round for those unfamiliar with archery terminology is five dozen arrows (sixty arrows) on an 60cm target face at a distance of 20 yards. Overall it was a very good shoot, fourteen people turned out for it, 3 longbowers, 2 compound archers, and 9 recurves (quickly checks maths, yep fourteen). Pleased to say everyone shot rather well overall, quite a few 500+ scores**. Hmm should really explain the scoring shouldn't I. Ok, well I'll do that below. I myself got a total score of 387, which for a novice longbow is pretty good, I even beat one of the other longbow archers I was shooting with by 7 points. Yes only 7 but seeing as she has a few years experience on me I still take it as a triumph. Readers will soon know that longbow archers myself included will find reasons to celebrate in the smallest things. Just to show this, what made me even more pleased was that face that not only every arrow I shot hit the target, but was also a scoring arrow too. Again with a longbow even an experienced longbow archer this is not always a certainty.
Now comes the bad news, today's shoot again for the postal leagues was the frostbite. This is outdoors, yes outdoors first thing Sunday morning in November, shooting three dozen arrows, on an 80cm face. After the sighter arrows*** I was doing fairly well staying within the inner rings of the targets, then all of a sudden just over halfway through shooting my arrows decide that its too cold to be outside and start flying randomly either missing the target face (luckily staying on the boss) and when they decide to go on the target its just to stay in the outer rings. Which as you imagine made me annoyed and confused, which ment I began to think more which in turns means I shoot worse, which goes to more thinking, and so an descending spiral. Yes archery is one of those sports where its usually the more you think the worse you shoot. Esp for me as I don't have aiming points on my bow but reply on body memory and instinct, which isn't the best way to shoot at all, but I like it and makes me feel better when I out shoot more experienced archers with sights and point of aim marks or even with better more modern bows.
Ok apart from the explanations below, I think that's about it for this post. Stay tuned for more.
*For those that don't know archery has an array of rounds to shoot which denote how many arrows you shoot and what distances, and whether your shooting indoors or outdoors.
** Scoring: Archery targets as most of you probably know usually have a series of coloured rings. starting from the outside going white, black, blue, red, and gold. Depending on what rounds you are shooting these are either solid colours scoring 1,3,5,7,9. But sometimes each ring is split into two, so you have white, white, black, black, blue, blue, red, red, gold, gold scoring 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,X(this is a compound score mainly). So if your arrow lands in a ring it is given that score. If your arrow cuts the line between two rings, the higher value is scored. You shoot 3 or 6 arrows at a time, score them collect them and shoot again.
***Some shoots allow sighter arrows, these are arrows that allow you to gauge that your sight marks/point of aim markers, or instincts are set right so that you'll hit the target, mainly longbow competitions do not allow these, so always best to check before hand. Sighter arrows are not scored so if you miss the target or get bang in the centre makes no difference.
Wednesday, 10 November 2010
A Night of Practice
Yesterday being one of the nights I practice my skill with a longbow, my club had a new set of beginners. This isn't anything strange the indoor season is when the club hosts the beginners lessons because its a more control environment to learn in. Normally we shoot at 20yards but when the beginners arrive on their first lesson the "step-back" method is used.
The "step-back" method for those that don't know is pretty much in the name, you start at a closer distance and progressively move back to the more common distance of 20yds, this is to give you the feel for the distance from shooting line to the target. Plus its fun for experienced archers to get up so close, downside is that experienced archers have more powerful bows than beginner bows so that arrows haven't got the time to level out, so at times you get odd angles, and odd shots.
I did find though when stepping back with the beginners as I eventually reached the proper shooting line I was still shooting in a pretty tight group(mostly). The one exception was during 3/4 ends* when another archer turned up and all my shots went from staying mostly in the red/gold rings to missing the target with the occasional white. So don't know what he did but obviously threw me for those ends.
Hmmm kind of gone off what i was going to say, what was it now.....ah yes beginners. When beginners start they take a long time to shoot, well they are starting can't blame them for that. It was when someone from the previous beginners course (finishing only two weeks previous) was moaning about them taking ages. So springing to beginners defense saying they were learning and that he was in their position once, he ends up rolling his eyes and going "yeah, need to be kind to beginners" said in a voice like he'd been doing it for years........WHAT!! You were the slow ones two weeks ago! Ok I didn't say that but thought it, some people's way of thinking is just odd.
Personally I like watching the beginners shoot, for a few reasons: i)Reminds me how bad i was to start with and how much i have improved (quite a few people compliment me now on a weekly basis), ii)Its fun to watch and work out which ones are going to see it through and sign up, as usually courses start with 12 beginners and slowly get reduced down to 5/6 by the end weeks (lose interest or realise its not as easy as they thought, or hard to get there). Then by the end of it only 2-4 join and then only 1-2 stay as regulars.
iii)Its when after the 3/4 lesson I normally get 1-2 new beginners come to talk to me about long bow and where I got my stuff (eyes always widen slightly when I say I make most of my stuff.....need to take in my business cards), why I have a knife, etc and I find its nice to pass on my knowledge and thoughts on the sport. Yes I know I'm not an expert and technically still only a novice but I still have ideals and hints I can pass on. iv) Gives me a bit of time to show off too.....yes vain I know but still, always a bit of a nice feeling when people are impressed by your skills, esp when they realise that a longbow doesn't have any of the helping bits a recurve has, not even an arrow rest.
Stay tuned for next post, I've got a couple of club competitions this week and I'm sure to post something about them.
*An end is the number of arrows you shoot when at the line before you put your bow down and collect your arrows.
The "step-back" method for those that don't know is pretty much in the name, you start at a closer distance and progressively move back to the more common distance of 20yds, this is to give you the feel for the distance from shooting line to the target. Plus its fun for experienced archers to get up so close, downside is that experienced archers have more powerful bows than beginner bows so that arrows haven't got the time to level out, so at times you get odd angles, and odd shots.
I did find though when stepping back with the beginners as I eventually reached the proper shooting line I was still shooting in a pretty tight group(mostly). The one exception was during 3/4 ends* when another archer turned up and all my shots went from staying mostly in the red/gold rings to missing the target with the occasional white. So don't know what he did but obviously threw me for those ends.
Hmmm kind of gone off what i was going to say, what was it now.....ah yes beginners. When beginners start they take a long time to shoot, well they are starting can't blame them for that. It was when someone from the previous beginners course (finishing only two weeks previous) was moaning about them taking ages. So springing to beginners defense saying they were learning and that he was in their position once, he ends up rolling his eyes and going "yeah, need to be kind to beginners" said in a voice like he'd been doing it for years........WHAT!! You were the slow ones two weeks ago! Ok I didn't say that but thought it, some people's way of thinking is just odd.
Personally I like watching the beginners shoot, for a few reasons: i)Reminds me how bad i was to start with and how much i have improved (quite a few people compliment me now on a weekly basis), ii)Its fun to watch and work out which ones are going to see it through and sign up, as usually courses start with 12 beginners and slowly get reduced down to 5/6 by the end weeks (lose interest or realise its not as easy as they thought, or hard to get there). Then by the end of it only 2-4 join and then only 1-2 stay as regulars.
iii)Its when after the 3/4 lesson I normally get 1-2 new beginners come to talk to me about long bow and where I got my stuff (eyes always widen slightly when I say I make most of my stuff.....need to take in my business cards), why I have a knife, etc and I find its nice to pass on my knowledge and thoughts on the sport. Yes I know I'm not an expert and technically still only a novice but I still have ideals and hints I can pass on. iv) Gives me a bit of time to show off too.....yes vain I know but still, always a bit of a nice feeling when people are impressed by your skills, esp when they realise that a longbow doesn't have any of the helping bits a recurve has, not even an arrow rest.
Stay tuned for next post, I've got a couple of club competitions this week and I'm sure to post something about them.
*An end is the number of arrows you shoot when at the line before you put your bow down and collect your arrows.
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