Tag Archives: bow

Nov 29 2014

Students first bow

I had one of those special days that many coaches will understand. I went with one of my newly signed off students to Merlin Archery (http://www.merlinarchery.co.uk/)  in Loughborough so they could buy their first proper bow.

I’ve been coaching Nick for a couple of months and he’s been using one of my beginner bows during this time. He’s now got to a stage where he has been signed off and wants to get his own bow. So I arranged to go up to Loughborough and meet him when he went to get his bow to offer some advice and moral support.
He’s ended up with a SF riser and limbs which no doubt will be put to test tomorrow down at the wood. Its a great feeling to see a student develop and progress to getting their first real bow.
I would like to say a big thanks to Merlin staff (Dan and co) for all the time spent today with Nick. It was also great to finally meet up with Jim Grizzly Kent who runs Merlin Archery Adventures youtube channel and web blog (http://archeryadventures.tumblr.com/).
Thanks for reading.
Sep 12 2014

Theft from midlands Archery Club

A friend has posted this on the NFAS Facebook page and I thought it worth promoting here.

“Fellow archers though these guys are not an NFAS club they are fellow archers and as such I post this sad email……

Ivanhoe archers last night was broken into and had all their 27 trainer bows and approx 200 arrows stolen the value to replace would be approx £3k, should any of you be approached regarding second hand goods please can you let me know so I can inform the police. This is a massive blow to our club so any information would be great full.

Kind regards

From what I understand Ivanhoe club are based in Ashby, Leicestershire, UK I don’t have a breakdown of the types of bows etc but please pass this message on to other clubs and contacts. It is a huge hit for any club.

In addition can I suggest everyone checks the security of their grounds and club stores. I know we used to tag our equipment with the clubs name in case it did go missing.

Thanks for reading

Aug 28 2014

Shoot report – Castle – August 2014

Castle Bowmen

Castle Bowmen

Last weekend we were up in Woodhall Spa for an archery friends birthday. Being a gentleman I refuse to give the ladies age, but will say it was a great evening and thanks for inviting us.
On Sunday we headed to a local club for their trophy shoot
On a non archery note we were incredibly lucky to be in the best spot possible to see the only 2 remaining Lancaster bombers fly past the wood. These beautiful old aircraft cruised over the wood in formation giving a wonderful display to the handful of us that saw it.
Lancaster bomber

Lancaster bomber – sorry not a great photo

Castle’s grounds are flat but as is tradition with the club they make use of some of the old army bunkers to allow you to shoot off the top of them. The course was made up of 40 3d targets of varying distances and quality. It had been a few years since we had made it to Castle, a previous shoot report is here.
Sharon shooting off the rooftop

Sharon shooting off the rooftop

We would be shooting with Roger and Irene from Kings Lynn club.

Not sure why but I don’t think I gelled with the course. Our first target was billed as a predator prey but in reality it was simply two targets set up with one one set of pegs. I’m glad we shot this early in the day as I know it provided a hold up for others.

First target of day

First target of day

Think some of the juniors might have struggled with the distance as the red, white and blue pegs were next to one another on several shots, which made them on the longer side.
There were a couple of really nice shots like the grizzly bear though the trees, though there was a stone block behind it.

Grizzly Bear

Grizzly Bear

I think a couple of shots could have been positioned a little further from surrounding trees so that the arrows did not ‘whip round’ against them.
Beaver in the wood

Beaver in the wood

Another nice shot was a black panther through an abandoned and partially collapsed roof.
Black Panther

Black Panther

An interesting shot was the drunken bear, complete with empty cans and traffic cone.

Drunken bear

Drunken bear

Sharon came away with a first place but I only managed a 3rd, should have shot better but just couldn’t get my head into the right place or the arrows.

Thanks for reading.