Tag Archives: traditional archery

Nov 20 2013

Achery Adventures video – left and right feathers

A friend recently posted a link on their Facebook page liking this site Archery Adventures  so I thought I’d have a look at their YouTube site  The site has a collection of videos on different topics, including tips, equipment reviews, etc. I haven’t watched all the videos,  but one of the videos they have is on identifying left and right wing feather fletchings.
Great idea and something I sometimes get asked by students along with, why it matters?
Well you want the same wing right or left on the 3 fletchings as they each have a natural slight curve which causes spin in the arrow resulting in stabilising it’s flight. If you have say two right and one left then the air flow isn’t even and you can have an issue with the arrow not stabilising in flight.
Check out the site and let me or them know what you think.
Thanks for reading.
Oct 31 2013

Shoot report – Artemis October 2013

Artemis header logo

Artemis header logo

This last weekend did not only have British weathermen warning us of an impending great storm which promised to lay waste to huge areas of the UK along with winter clock changing (back an hour) but it was also to be the Artemis shoot. Busy weekend then.

People gathering for start

People gathering for start

Artemis archers only host one nfas shoot a year as they are reliant on the good nature of neighbouring farmer to allow access to their field for their parking. For the last two years we’ve marshalled the event so shooting it would be a new experience. You can read past shoot reports here. 2012 and 2011

Their shooting grounds are on a wooded hillside not far from Belper in Derbyshire. This allows them to put on a mix of up and down hill shots which is not common in many club grounds and a lot of walking.

The course was to be of 36 targets mixed 3d, paper and a few exceptionally well painted hessian faces.this was Split into two large loops of 18 targets each side of the woodland with a food stop between targets 36&1 and 18&19.

The day started in bright sunshine but with a cooling wind reminding you it was autumn with November just round the corner.

As I said earlier over the years I’ve marshalled the artemis shoot twice but never shot the course. Even when i was a member i only managed to shoot part of the course so it would be interesting to see it from other side of the fence so to speak. Or should that be the other end of the bow?

The bad weather that was forecast fortunately stayed away with us having brief heavy showers and strong gusts but not the monsoon predicted. Speaking with the organisers i understand a number of trees had come down in the previous few weeks and organiser stated that if any more came down on the day they would stop the shoot on safety grounds. Fortunately the gusts promised didn’t materialise and we were able to shoot the entire day.

Artemis administration limited the numbers on the pegs to four which made for a quick day which was good considering weather. And change of clocks made sunset that little closer.

There were some long shots and one very interesting one on a boss half way up the wall which you had to shoot at 45 degrees.

Interesting new faces from France (http://normandie-archerie.com/ )which caught a lot of archers out especially the thinking gorilla. Pigmy hippo and small wolf caught me out. As a side note Not sure if I’m a big fan of faces that aren’t life size.

The thinking gorilla

The thinking gorilla

I’d not shot for nearly 4 weeks and it showed in my distance judgement which was out and my fingers were feeling the strain.

One of few decent shots of day

One of few decent shots of day

Came in with 600 not too bad I guess but still not great but that’s what happens when I don’t get to practice.

Sharon did well winning in the ladies barebow class and a clean sweep in gents bare bow as severn Valley got first second and third. Well done guys.

Full results for the shoot are available here.

This will be my last shoot report for a while. I’m not booked on anything for several months and I’m trying to get my head back into archery following various things recently.

As always thanks for taking the time reading this. I hope you found it useful and interesting.

http://normandie-archerie.com/

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,