First weekend was shoot less, we had some working bee stuff out at the range for our upcoming 2 day ABA shoot. Just haven't had a chance to practice either.
4/05 - 30 arrows indoor range, Indoor IFAA round, shot well but DM smashed it.
6/7 May - 117 arrows VIC 3D State Titles @ WGFA in Drouin.
What an excellent weekend of shooting! The weather was wet but manageable, not that driving horizontal stuff we get from time to time but some solid periods of drizzle and the odd drop of rain. The courses were challenging, that much so that I witnessed a lot of sighted shooters heading out after the end to look for arrows, the scores were lower too for most guys. Plenty of laughs and banter, I love the camping aspect of these away shoots and very lucky to have such a great bunch of guys @ COA to hang out with, have a few drinks and discuss the worlds problems...and arrow tip grain weights.
I came in second of two in the A Grade Longbow Modern. I was happy with my scores and how I shot. Sure, I missed plenty of shots I should have hit, I also hit a few that I shouldn't have so it all evened out.
I was shooting against a local from the WGFA club that I did not know, he got me by 36 points in the end, two arrows. I'm ok with that.
Sad weekend for the quiver though. Lost two to the blackberry bushes and broke two tips off. Down to seven FL14.
I'll see how I go at the next two indoor shoots, 3D and ABA. The steel frames with the 3Ds this week will be the time I'll break one if I'm going to and seven arrow would be the minimum I'd take to a two day comp so I might get a set of carbons out and get used to those just in case.
11/05 - 29 arrows @ indoor range 3D. Went carbons as I'd just re-fletched a few of the woods. I was happy with them, it's been a couple of years since I shot carbons and you forget the consistency and far better results with less variation from form issues providing it's close enough each time. That's how I felt anyway. Shot a 310 last time so up 12 points.
13-14/05 - Two day working bee out at Barongarook for next weekend. Trimming, raking, pegging distances out on 60 targets. There are some challenging shots and some mix and match for the people that shoot out there regularly. We'll head out again on Friday to put the targets out and put the finishing touches on the lanes.
15/05 - 25 Arrows @ home. Just getting a feel for the carbons before the weekend mainly to decide if I was absolutely going to use them and I think I will.
19/05 - No indoor shoot for me last night due to another commitment and sitting here now at home as the rain falls outside. The team got the targets out in record time, about 3 hrs, which was awesome really for three courses. Only need to check the gear and load it into the car. I'm really looking forward to this weekend. I think most people enjoy our course, the bush has grown a lot in the last year so the tunnels are now closed in a lot more, making the distances harder to gauge. Word was there were 80 registered shooters which we are very happy with. I look forward to seeing who I will be shooting against.
20-21/05 - Home two day ABA Comp - 95 arrows
What a fun weekend, I had a great group and we had a lot of laughs and banter. The weather held off mostly so was that was a bonus.
Shooting wise, I think of a two day comps like a game of footy, there are four quarters. Nobody has four awesome quarters or four horrible ones. I had three good quarters and one absolute shocker.
First round was a high score for me, not quite a PB (shot a 332 one arrow round only once) but I was rapt.
The arvo....I may have well thrown the longbow in the car and grab a recurve with twisted limbs and mismatched arrows and would have shot better (nothing against recurves though, that's next years challenge maybe?) talks about one extreme to the other.
We shall not speak of this shemozzle again. Sunday went to plan.
Competition wise, on the Saturday evening I try not to look at how I went against the others in my division or even who they are.
I know by seeing who's shooting who they might be and shooting in LB Modern A grade, I know that I have to shoot well. I gave up after the first one arrow and just relaxed and enjoyed the Sunday and whatever happened happened...I came in second, the only thing that saved that was my good first round and consistent second day. Geoffrey had a last quarter like my second one. The other bloke absolutely nailed it, took my half decent score, smacked it's arse and handed it back to me with a smile. Nice shooting Wayne.
By all accounts it was a successful two day comp and everyone seemed to have a good weekend.
23/05 - 60 arrows @ home24/05 - 52 arrows @ home
25/05 - 24 arrows @ indoor IFAA field. The mental block that is the indoor shoot continues. Very poor concentration and general low gear stuff this time around.
27/05 - 60 arrows @ home
29/05 - 66 arrows @ home. I've noticed that things have been getting progressively harder to see at the indoor and outdoor range.
At our two day comp I said to one of my club mates that my eyes are buggered and I need to get them tested.
This is exactly what I did a couple of days later and I picked up new glasses today. Now I have glasses for work, the blue light blocking lenses that are good for my computer distance, I'm a structural draftmsan, and I have a pair for reading but beyond three metres everything was a bit blurry.
I've never shot with glasses on so I hit the paddock to see how I went and I noticed two things. Firstly how clear the target butt was at distance and that my sight picture was a bit warped so I was figuring out trial and error how to adjust. I settled on keeping my gaps the same and adjusting my brain by reminding it that what I was doing was still the same, it just looked different. I was happy and I reckon the groups were a little tidier, but nothing to rave about.
01/06 - 34 arrows @ Indoor IFAA comp. Being able to see where the arrows were going helped heaps, I shot better than I have done recently with the five spot targets and even managed to nail three 'X's and overall 10 or so more points than I have been getting, 6 washes though and I can usually hit the big one spot closer to the centre.
That rounds out a busy month.
FL14 Tally:
This period - 263 arrows @ home
- 117 arrows @ indoor range
- 00 arrows @ outdoor shoot
- 212 arrows @ competition
2023 Total Arrows - 2601
Casualties - 7 - (4 broken, 3 lost)
FL14(7) semi retired, I'll take them to Donald (July) and to Dunolly (August)
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