Tag Archives: NFAS

Oct 21 2013

Shoot report – Severn Valley – October 2013

or should this read 36 hours of madness!!

SVYF Shoot

SVYF Shoot

This past weekend saw SVYF host their Autumn shoot and it would prove to be one of the most challenging events for many. The shoot would be on Sunday and we had arranged to meet everyone early Saturday to start the long process of putting out 3D targets, safety nets etc. Here we encountered our first problem with the police closing the road leading from our house to the woods following a serious car accident, resulting in a detour down country lanes to find a way round. Once at the wood it was all hands on deck to get targets out which was mostly done by 4.

Sadly there was to be another problem that day. Two of the nicest archers in the nfas Chris and Keith Harley had their car broken into, with the rear passenger window smashed. They had booked in a local Holiday Inn so could be on site first thing on Sunday but had their overnight bags stolen. So they had to journey home and sort the insurance and replacement window.

So Sunday dawned and in the dark we headed off to the woods. The weather overnight had been heavy rain with strong gusts and we all feared it would be like that on the day of the shoot, but we were shocked and pleasantly surprised. Through the day we heard 2 loud thunder claps and had a brief heavy downpour that lasted only a few minutes.

Arriving shortly after 7:30 we found everyone busy, which was expected. What wasn’t was the 60 foot tree that had come down in the night. The root-ball of which had twisted twenty foot of the bridge by 45 degrees and lifted the bridge four feet in the air.

Bridge half way repaired

Bridge half way repaired

A team of the strongest guys went to work with chainsaw, hammers and sheer brute strength. The one bit of luck was the original builder of the bridge Nigel was there and he had built this bridge in sections. Thirty minutes later we had a working bridge again. Though I think we will need to change its name from longbow bridge to horse bow I think as it’s no longer as straight as it was.

That wasn’t the only thing that happened. One of our safety officers was stung by a wasp and had to be rushed to hospital following an allergic reaction. He is okay but spent most of the day hooked up to a drip and having antihistamines pumped into him. He was discharged in the afternoon and is now at home recovering.

Admin had their work cut out for them too as 21 archers requested to change groups on the day to shoot with friends. All this delayed the start of the shoot.

archers in the woods

archers in the woods

Our new power generator stopped working plunging the kitchen into darkness just as the initial announcement started at 10:20. This would be an on going issue through the day resulting in us having to swap to the older smaller generator.

Note the lack of lights in hut!!

Note the lack of lights in hut!!

Problem with this is the club replaced it because it vibrates so energetically that it shakes the connecting cable out of its socket. This resulted in a periodic loss of power in the hut as someone would run round the back and reconnect the cables.

The clubs wood is surrounded by farm land but on the other side of the field there is a shooting club and as luck would have it they decided to re-enact a scene from the d-day landings or at least that what it sounded like, or as one archer stated sounded like the battle of El Alamein. This continued throughout the day.

Our Target 4 Paper face Rhino

Our Target 4 Paper face Rhino

Ironically the brollies people brought for the rain were used as sun and wind shelters as we had a few exposed shots vulnerable to strong gusts.

Sun shade

Sun shade

The wind and occasional rain brought down branches and trees throughout the day so we were kept busy, clearing bridges and targets.

The course would be a 36 shot round with a mix of paper, 3D and Hessian targets, with over 160 archers attending the shoot.

The 3D tiger proved a great hit among the attendees and a challenge from the red peg.

3D tiger from red peg

3D tiger from red peg

In all the feedback received so far has been largely positive with only a couple of comments on things that could be improved in the future.

Thanks for reading.

Oct 9 2013

Exhausting weekend but nearly there…

Not touched bow this weekend a few arrows of the directional variety. Have spent 2 long days at the wood redesigning the course in readiness for our October shoot. With the season changing from late summer to early autumn work starts in earnest.

spiderwebs

spider web in trees

We are hosting a 36 target mixed 3d and paper faces shoot in a couple of weeks and been planning new shots routes round wood etc. for last few weeks. This weekend saw us set the course and have it agreed by the safety officers at the club.

SVYF split the wood into two courses A and B and we (Steve, Tom, Sharon, Mary and I) were doing A course. This would mean setting 18 sets of target pegs and bosses. I’m afraid I can’t show you any photos of the course as yet, so here are a few of the amazing spider webs we found round the wood.

another spider web

another spider web this time overhead

We had a very heavy dew on Sunday and everywhere was cloaked in mist and fog. This also coated the webs in dew.

hedgerow spiderwebs

hedgerow spiderwebs

Amazingly we had all the bosses in by Saturday night leaving Sunday free for the course inspection, path clearing and signage. By 3 pm we had it open and our first club archers testing it. This is really useful as it gives us a week of the course being shot which should identify any issues.

It’s not yet 100% as still needs tweaks and couple of new paths cleared and foot bridges finished / repaired but we have next weekend for that. Next weekend we finalise the 3d targets and target faces so come the day before the shoot we can concentrate on erecting arrow nets and final target placements.

Big thanks to all that gave up their time and put so much effort in this weekend. (yes Chris that means you and Keith, and everyone else. Not forgetting Mr Strong Robin. Maybe next time, don’t wear a Mr Man T-shirt with Mr Strong on it)

Thanks

Oct 3 2013

Confidence Hit, should I carry on?

smoke in the trees-blog - a

In recent months I’ve been having and hearing more discussions about course laying with numerous people both face to face and on-line.

I’ve also been criticised for giving comments and my views online. And this has made me feel pretty low, in truth very low as it’s hit my confidence big time, making be question whether to continue posting or even archery.

Some organisers have said these points should be raised at the time of the shoot and not posted online on Facebook or websites.

Well maybe there is something in that, but I personally don’t see that as always being possible. People aren’t always that approachable because, lets face it, you can be stressed when trying to run something like a shoot.

There have been times when I’ve had the opportunity to talk to the course layers, more normally on courses where I know them personally and can have a quiet word.

So why don’t people make comments?

Maybe here is a reason, why…

At one recent shoot I attended all the archers were told that if they needed a target face changed they were to notify a course marshal. Only course marshals were to change faces. Fair enough, I can understand that as you don’t want faces being changed every five minutes.

However, what I and other archers witnessed might be a reason why so many archers don’t say or give comments on the shoot.

An archer requested a target face change, marshal replied that someone would be down shortly. The archer replied saying that there were people waiting to shoot it. The marshal then appeared to become very, lets say, agitated and short in his following reply.

I can understand that this is a stressful time for the organising team with long days and late nights, but it might explain why many archers don’t like approaching organisers.

This kind of response explains why archers don’t make comments on the day. In fear of being rebuffed or ridiculed.

There’s been a lot of conversation down at the club and other locations on courses and shoots attended, far more than ever appear on the web.

Is it better to say nothing? Then there is no chance of improvement.

Is it better to say something on the day? Call me a coward but I can understand why some would find this difficult to raise on the day. You also aren’t sure if it is just you not shooting well on the day. It is only afterwards when talking to others you realise maybe it wasn’t just you.

How do you report a problem?

Well you could approach a marshal and explain your concerns and views. How they react though is unknown.

If it is a matter of safety then you have to raise it there and then.

So what will I do?

To be completely truthful I don’t know. I don’t know if I will carry on writing these shoot reports or not. I started this as a bit of fun after reading many other blogs ( http://jordansequillion.wordpress.com/ and http://charlesarcheryblog.wordpress.com/). I thought posting these would be helpful and interesting.

Now I am not sure….

Here is a parting thought if you say nothing do you have the right to comment when things change?

Thanks for reading,