Tuesday 28 May 2013

How many miles?

Last weekend was a Bank Holiday in the UK so I had an extra day off work!  With EA jnr off at scout camp and his sister busy revising for GCSEs, Mrs EA and I could have a guilt-free weekend of archery.  I managed to shoot on Saturday, Sunday and Monday but Mrs EA had a well deserved lie-in on Sunday.

This really was a weekend of firsts for me.  Saturday's scored round on the short range was an American which, confusingly, is a GNAS Imperial round: 5 ends of 6 arrows at each of 60yds, 50yds and 40yds on 122cm faces.  At 90 arrows this was to be the longest round I have yet attempted and weather was sunny and warm so it was nice to shoot in a t-shirt for a change.  Throughout the round I tried to put into practice the techniques that coach Andy had explained a couple of weeks earlier, so that I could use my clicker correctly and avoid clicker-angst.  There were a couple of dodgy ends at 60yds, but my scores were fairly consistent at the shorter distances.  With a final score of 497, this not only produced my best round handicap of 57 (5 below my running handicap) but was my first third-class score.  Very happy!

Sunday morning was a little cooler but still t-shirt weather.  The round was a Short Metric (6 ends of 6 arrows at each of 50m and 30m on 80cm faces), which I have shot three times before. Again, my emphasis was on technique and the first four ends at 50m were fairly consistent, but the final two were a relative disaster.  The 30m ends were mor consistent and I finished with a total of 298, which was a PB for this round and only just above my running handicap, but not a classification score this time.

Bank Holiday Monday was a bit of an adventure, being my first twelve-dozen round, with the first two distances in the morning and the other two after lunch.  I was the most inexperienced archer on the field and the furthest I had shot was 60yds, so I decided to attempt a Metric II round (3 dozen arrows at each of 60m and 50m on 122cm faces,and 3 dozen arrows at each of 40m and 30m on 80cm faces) .  The day started with a stiff breeze, which increased throughout the day, becoming strong and gusty by the end of the round.  It was quite a novelty to shooting the club's long range and I was pleased to score with most arrows fairly quickly, although there were a couple that went very much astray.  By the end of the morning, I was starting to get a little fatigued so the break for lunch was very welcome, although there was some moving of bosses and target faces to be done first. The afternoon session was timed to start at 2pm, so we had a leisurely 90 minute break, during which we went hunting for lost arrows.  The first round of the the afternoon session was shot with 6-arrow ends, but the move to 30m meant that we shot 3-arrow ends, which significantly extended the time taken (and the distance walked!).  My final score was 651, which is big on my running handicap.  I think I can be proud of that, considering the windy conditions and that I was just about fit to drop by the end of the round.

That got me thinking about how far I had walked shooting the three rounds over the weekend, so I did a few sums, remembering that you walk twice the distance of the end when collecting arrows. These are the numbers:

American
2x5x60yds=600yds
2x5x50yds=500yds
2x5x40yds=400yds
Total 1500yds

Short metric
2x6x50m=600m
2x6x30m=360m
Total 960m=1050yds

Metric II
2x6x60m=720m
2x6x50m=600m
2x6x40m=480m
2x12x30m=720m (3 arrow ends)
Total 2520m=2756yds

This gives a total over the three rounds of 5306yds, or a fraction over 3 miles; not a marathon but not  insignificant, either.

Over the weekend a couple of the senior members had noticed that I had become shaky at full draw and advised that moving my clicker forward slightly would probably reduce the shake.  I will give this a try next time out.

Monday 13 May 2013

Clicker-angst

I think I may have invented a new term : Clicker-angst.  I first noticed clicker-angst a couple of weeks ago, when Mrs EA was shooting the end that resulted in six golds. She was having severe difficulty in drawing past the clicker to get other release point, and had to come down from the set position a few times.  At the next evening shoot another, fairly experienced, archer was having similar difficulties and he decided to stop using his clicker for the rest of the round.

Having set up my clicker the previous Tuesday evening, I was looking forward to trying it in a scored round on Saturday.  This was to be a Short Metric, a round I had shot a couple of times before.  The last few times shooting a scored round I have managed to reduce my handicap, so I was hopeful of a reasonable score.  On the downside, the warm, sunny weather of the previous weekend had been replaced with wind and heavy rain showers, so full waterproofs were in order.  While I was on the short range, Mrs EA was shooting at 70m on the long range, in training for the Surrey County championships, which she had entered a few days earlier.

Although my shooting was not totally bad, I found that I was having similar clicker-angst problems that I described above. I seemed to be letting my front shoulder ride-up, which prevented me drawing the arrow past the clicker.  This seemed to upset my concentration somewhat, and affected my overall performance.  However, my score of 223 was still a PB for the round, but the handicap equivalent was a few points above my best.

As Mrs EA was still busy on the long range, I approached coach Andy to ask his advice about my clicker setting and what may be wrong with my technique.  Not one to duck a challenge, Andy spent the next 30 minutes with me, carefully analysing my stance, shot set-up and drawing style, making some really useful recommendations.  The main problem was, as I expected, that my front shoulder was coming up and Andy tried a number of ways to improve this.  One issue that became clear was that I can not lock down my front arm without rotating my upper body towards the target, so Andy suggested that I pre-draw a short way, locking my front arm and shoulder before raising the bow fully, and then rotating my back shoulder to complete the draw.  The final few millimetres before release should be gained by putting a little extra pressure on the back shoulder.  Another aspect Andy picked up was my basic stance, which should be:


- right-angles to target
- feet shoulder-width apart
- weight slightly forward over balls of feet
- tummy in, bum in


On Sunday morning I spent a couple of hours on the practice range, in an attempt to consolidate the previous day's advice and to improve my consistency.  This was harder than it sounds, as minor differences in any part of the shot set-up resulted in the arrow not going past the clicker, or the clicker going off prematurely.  Clicker-angst! At one point I just walked away for 10 minutes rest, which had a positive effect - the next three arrows were the best I had shot all morning, and they just felt right! Before I started I set myself the goal of getting all six arrows in the gold or red (at 30m), but in the end I was pleased to put three arrows in that zone a couple of times.  I think I will be better prepared to use the clicker on my next round.


Wednesday 8 May 2013

Competition and Clicker

After an eventful Saturday, we were back at the field again on Sunday morning for a club competition. This is a handicap competition various distances depending upon age and gender.  For gents it is was a choice of a New or Long National and for ladies a National.  Given that I have never shot further than 60yds, I decided that attempting 100/80yds would be rather foolish, so I joined the Mrs EA with the ladies at 60/50yds.  This meant that I was ineligible for any awards, but I was happy to take part nonetheless.  EA jnr was also on the line shooting a Junior National at 40/30yds.

For once the sun was out and it was very warm - T-shirt weather for a change.  Some members even gave their [hairy] legs an airing, which led to an interesting wager (in aid of charity) later in the day.  My shooting seemed to be a bit erratic, but my final score of 256 seemd to indicate that I had performed as well as could be expected, and better than my running handicap would predict.  However, there had to be a stewards enquiry on my scoresheet, as I had not checked the adding-up carefully enough and had signed for 100 less than I had shot.  As I was ineligible anyway, the committee showed some leniency.  If I had been eligible, I would have ranked sixth with my handicap-adjusted score, which I am really pleased with.  Even better, EA jnr came fourth overall.

The wager I mentioned earlier arose out of a discussion between Martin (shooting Compound) and the ladies.  Martin had managed to score a gold on the wrong target, and was giving himself a verbal kicking, when one of the ladies said that they would be proud to shoot a gold at 80yds, never mid six of them.  Now, the club has organised a shoot later in the year in aid of a charity very close to a couple of members, and Martin offered to have his legs waxed and donate £100 to the charity if any of the group of ladies shot a six-gold end at 70m/80m in a scored round with a recurve bow.  The challenge has been duly accepted!

Although the field was open for shooting on Monday, the EA family had a day off, but we were back there on Tuesday evening.  I wanted to set up my clicker and Mrs EA had a new set of limbs arrive that day, so she wanted help in setting them up and checking the alignment.  As I have been through this two or three times recently I was confident I would do it right but, in the event, the only adjustment needed was with the button to set the centre shot.

There were a couple of other archers on the practice range so I shot with them at 30yds, adjusting the clicker by small degrees and assessing where it went off in relation to my draw.  During this process it became very obvious that keeping the front (left for me) shoulder down has a significant effect on draw length - when it is down, draw length is longer. I eventually found a position that the clicker would 'go' when I was drawn properly with my shoulder down.  If I drew with my shoulder up, it was almost impossible to get the clicker to go, indicating that there is a problem.  In this situation I lowered the bow and started the draw again.

Near the end of the session, after the other archers had finished, Mrs EA suggested I move really close to the target and try releasing with my eyes closed, getting used to the point at which the clickers goes.  This was very odd to start with, but it soon became obvious that it not only gets you used to where in the draw the clicker will go, but also builds confidence.  The grouping of the arrows on the boss showed that the clicker was doing its job.  I look forward to shooting my next scored round to see if it makes a difference.

Over on the long range a couple of the 'wager ladies' were getting in some practice at 70m and doing very well, whilst another of the ladies broke the club record for the distance.  Mrs EA is looking forward to shooting on the long range tonight.  Game on, Martin!

Update Following some discussion on Facebook, another member lowered the bar a little and offered to donate £50 to the charity if any of the four ladies scored 50 or above in any end at 70m/80yds during a scored round.  I thought this was a good idea, so I offered to do the same, and so did Martin, in addition to his original challenge.

Saturday 4 May 2013

Six Gold End (but not mine)

Today I witnessed something that I understand is quite a rarity - an official six gold end. The GNAS (Archery GB) rules state that it must be shot in a scoring round and at a minimum distance of  80yds or 70m for gents, or 60yds/60m for ladies.  As this was the first end of a Western it was at 60m, and shot by a lady archer, so it qualifies.

During this end the archer in question was having a problem with her clicker, which basically boiled down to her not setting it when nocking the arrow, which meant that she was last off the line and allowed Martin (coach and records officer) to watch her last couple of shots.  He clearly had an inkling about what had just happened, but the rest of us were blissfully unaware until we got closer to the target.  However, it quickly became clear that we were seeing something special and, after scoring everyone's arrows, we took some photos for the album.

Martin now has the task of getting this record officially recognised by GNAS so that the archer can be awarded a six gold end badge and given a mention in the magazine.

I am VERY proud to say that the lady archer is called Jane. a.k.a. Mrs EA.