Avalon Shoot Report 16th & 17th July 2011

With the hot spell over and a forecast of some showers this weekend was promising to be cooler and slightly damp and having just returned from a week in Istanbul I was looking forward to some cooler weather and was not going to be bothered by a bit of rain.

But as they say you should be careful what you wish for because on Saturday the it was not raining Cats and Dogs it was raining Elephants and Hippos as the heavens opened at the start of the shoot we we all soaked within a few targets. As a result many an, intelligent, archery packed up and left early and so all that remained were foolhardy and insane.

I'm not sure which of those two camps I fit in but having been soaked within a few targets and having no equipment that would be badly damaged by the rain I decided to work my way through all my waterproofs and stick it out for the day and then try and dry everything before returning on Sunday. Fortunately I do have multiples of some items so the wet and still dripping were left in the utility room to be replaced by new dry versions. The only thing I could not dry was the leather handle on my longbow. Sunday as it turned out was a total contrast to Saturday with only a single short deposit of Elephants and hence by the end of the day even my bow handle had dried.

Raven Shoot Report 10th July 2011

Having originally thought "I've not shot at Raven before" I was proved wrong when John looked at his gold medal and said we have shot at Raven before I have another on of these at home. So it was not to be the first time I'd shot at Raven but it had been 3 years (although I will not be waiting that long again).

So having had a few hot weekends it looked like we were in for a cooler days shooting with maybe a bit of rain but that was completely wrong because from the point we got out of the car the heat started rising and so did the humidity. We were in for another warm day that was going to be very humid in the morning.

The Making Of Bamboo Arrows

As I mentioned in my Wellington Bowmen report I was considering buying some of the Tonkin Bamboo arrow shafts and so I did. Now having never worked with Bamboo shafts before, well not strictly true because I remember using Bamboo garden canes for arrows as a child, I thought I would blog about what I found.

I've been making arrows for a number of years, given the amount I break on field shoots I'm quite good at it, and traditionally I use either Boyton Pine or Port Oxford Cedar (these smell good when the break) so Bamboo was going to be something new. The first thing you will notice is the beautiful red / brown colour of the heat treated smoothed lacquered Bamboo. The second thing you notice is that your shafts are not all identical or of a consistent machined diameter. Given that these shafts are simple cut Bamboo you will also notice that each of the shafts has a natural taper and hence my shafts were approximately 11/32 at one end (pile end) and 5/16 at the other (nock end) give or take and 39" in length.

Jims Jungle Jaunt Shoot Report 3rd July 2011

Well It was that time of year again as the Americans get ready for Independence Day we get ready for a much more important event Jim's Jungle Jaunt in the woodlands near Shacklford. Although Carol and co have not been hosting it quite as long as the US has celebrated the 4th July it is a much more prestigious and memorable event. There were a number of changes this year, for one I was only shooting Sunday, with a new course and only 40 targets it was going to be different.

With the weather forecast saying that we would have a generally sunny day and temperatures in the 20s it was going to be warm again and given the predication for the valley section to be hot and sticky, especially as I entering it mid afternoon,  plenty of fluids were required. After a quick cup of tea and a target change it was off to target 5 to meet up with my fellow archers, for the day, and await the car horn to start.

Wellington Bowmen Shoot Report 26th June 2011

Having spotted a flyer for the first Wellington Bowhunters shoot that would take place around the corner it was an opportunity I was not going to miss a local shoot that would take me no more than 15 minutes to get to (not that I mind driving). The weather forecasters had promised a mini heatwave for Sunday and sure enough the day started with glorious sunshine little did I anticipate how hot it was going to get later in the day.

The Course was going to be the traditional 36 targets over undulating woodland that had plenty of branches and logs scattered across the ground (they had been logging recently) which made the going tough and finding arrows interesting. In addition the woodland provided a marshy area that the course layers had taken advantage of and this was definitely not an area where you wanted to miss the target because it was more that likely that you would never see the arrow again as it buried itself in the smelly mud around the target. At the end of the day I heard more than a few metal arrow archers complaining about lost arrows in this section but from my point of view it was fun if a bit smelly and wet.

3D Nationals Shoot Report 28th & 29th May 2011

May bank holiday weekend had finally arrived and hence it was time for the 2011 NFAS 3D Nationals and as was the way with English weather it was looking a bit grim. Not to worry though because we would be shoot at Osmaston Park near Ashbourne and a wonderful drive down the A515 from my parents.
This would be the first Nationals where John would be shooting as an U16 and he was looking forward to shooting from the Blue and in addition have more competition. Having not been given his trophy at previous Nationals (because it had not been returned) he was hoping he could win one this time and as it happens he did come first and receive his medal and trophy.

This year the traditional longbow archers would be shoot B course, laid by Pines Park, on the Saturday and A course, laid by Wasp, on the Sunday and as luck would have it the short walks to their part of the woods. Osmaston Park provides some wonderful woodland to shoot in and hence promised an excellent weekends shooting once I had found where to enter the park (missed the signs on the A52).

Home Made Arrow Dipper

For those of you who have read my shoot report entries you will know that I have been having a fairly disastrous time with broken arrows and hence needed to make some quickly. I have been considering dipping my arrows as an alternative method of varnishing my field arrows. Given that their are few archery shops in the UK that seem to sell these and given the obviously simple concept I decided to have a go at building one from the odds and ends in my garage. Given that I don't tend to throw anything away, much to my wife's consternation, I have a variety or weird and wonderful things in the garage and any time I can make something from them is proof that my "it will come in useful at some point" argument is correct.

Fleet Ibex Shoot Report 22nd May 2011

Well having had so much fun at Easter I was looking forward to returning to Fleet Ibex for the Pre-3D Nationals next week to get that final bit of practice in before bank holiday weekend. With changeable weather predicted it was still looking like a good day to shoot and as it happened the weather was great bar one rather heavy rain shower that lasted a couple of minutes the rest of the day, as the photo will show, was blue skies with the odd cloud. But enough of me waxing lyrical about the weather as always the most important thing about my blogs is the description of the shoot.

Well today I was joined by John for the first time since last September and hence the competition was going to be tough, given that he usually beats me, but maybe I'd have an advantage given he had not shot for nearly 9 months. But having had 9 months break it was like falling off a bicycle for him and at the end of the first 20 targets we would be neck and neck but more about that later.

Having learnt from my previous shoots that missing the bacon roll and mug of tea was a bad way to start the day we tucked into a a bacon roll (well two for John) before we wandered of to our first target and again we would be starting on 39. Having walked out to our designated starting target we introduced ourselves to Andy and Vicky our shooting partners for the day and exchanged the score card awaiting the sound of the horn.

South Wilts Bluebell Shoot Report 30th April & 1st May 2011

It was time for the South Wilts Bluebell Shoot and this year it was being run over two days, the Saturday and Sunday of the long weekend, and the weather was looking a bit dubious according to the Met Office but in Met Office tradition they were wrong and we were in for another 2 excellent days. This year the Bluebells had timed it right and as we were walking through the woods we were surrounded by the pale blue of there flowers.

I had been looking forward to the South Wilts shoot for a while as it is one of my favourite shoot locations having an excellent wood and exceptional course layers.

Having failed to start the day correctly at Fleet Ibex I decided that a Bacon Butty and a cup of tea was a must so after registering and making excuses for John it was off to grab the required sustenance before chatting to a few of the other Westcott archers and checking if Fred needed me to break any arrows. With the tea and bacon gone all that remained we to wait to be shown to our starting targets and find out who I would be shooting with. Today (Saturday) I would be starting on target 31, half way around the course, and hence a reasonable walk out.

Having reached the target and introduced myself to Mike and Alison all that remained was to await the long blast of the air horn and we could commence our days shooting.

Fleet Ibex Shoot Report 24th April 2011

Given that Fleet was going to be my second shoot of the year I was hoping that I would improve on the Avalon score from last week but today was not going to be my finest hour(s). As the scores below, 4 broken arrows and 2 lost show I was slightly off form. Oh well at least Fred (from Westcott) has a few more arrows as he tend to shorten my broken ones.

I suspect, having thought about it, my problem started because I did not have the traditional Bacon Butty and a cup of tea (I'll remember that for South Wilts next week) but we live an learn but at least I did not break my bow like the FreeStyle archer who snapped his limbs whist shooting on the practice targets or whoever owned the broken longbow I spotted at lunch.

Having said all of that today's shoot at Fleet Ibex was an extremely enjoyable day out, as usual at Fleet, with another day of glorious sun and a course laid to Fleets usual, high, standards. Having missed the Bacon Butty, partly because John was sick again, it was off to Target 39 to start the day. Here I met my shoot partners for the day Simon and Matthew where we exchanged cards and decided who was scoring and who was searching.

Avalon Shoot Report 10th April 2011

Avalon was going to be my first field shoot of 2011 and I had been looking forward to it for sometime. Having not shot much over the winter and just arriving back from a trip the Washington it was also going to an entertaining day. As usual the Avalon guys had set an extremely entertaining course that combined fun and difficulty to make the one of the most enjoyable for a while. In addition to a well laid course we had exceptional weather for early April with clear blue skies, as seen below, and temperatures in the 20s (I'm glad we were under cover for most of it or the factor 30 would not have been enough).

As events would happen John was not feeling up to shooting today so it was going to be one of those odd days shooting without his banter but at least he would not out shoot me as he usually does. As it turned out I was going to be shooting Debbie, Wayne and Steve from Invicta HT archers so I had the honors of the Longbow Archers on my shoulders to prove we can score just the same as they can.

With a good chatty friendly group today's shooting was going to be fun but first a bacon butty and a cup of tea.

We we due to start on Target 6 "The Bees Nest" and following a warning by Clive we avoided the taped area near the Red peg and awaited the sound of the horn to start the shooting. The first target of the day was a Bedded Deer and it was with some trepidation that I took to the Red peg. The first field shot in, ooooooo, months. But as it was a 16 was on the cards and I was off to a good start and shooting coming back to me like falling off a bike.

Bowmen Of Burleigh Christmas 2010 Fun Shoot

'Twas the week before Christmas and no one was stirring.
The snow was so thick, for Wokingham, that I was wondering how many of the club member would make it for the, now, annual "Bowmen Of Burleigh Christmas Fun Shoot". Having scraped the car and cleared the 6" of snow off the windows it was time to head to the Emmbrook School and set up.

This year we would not have our Fairy Paramount because she was at home with a sick baby so it was down John, James and myself to run the shoot. As with last year we set up 6 targets at the traditional 10 yards and 20 yards distances. We were using the same targets as last year and I suspect next years we will be covering my dinning room with glitter again making some more.

NFAS Nationals September 2010 Shoot Report

Having enjoyed last years Nationals I was looking forwards to this years which was being held at Gaddesden Estate near Hemel Hempstead. Although I do not particularly enjoy shooting faces the the Nationals are always an entertaining shoot and I suspect that is mainly due to the social aspect. As you may or may not know this would be only the second time out for my new Garry Evans longbow and I was still getting used to it and so I was not expecting too much from the weekend. On the other hand John was hoping to win the Cubs Longbow again and maybe receive the trophy this year but alas that was not to be the case.

Having postponed a trip to Dallas so that we could shoot at the Nationals and our planned camping which John had being looking forward to for quite a while. With the weather promising to cloudy but fine with cold nights we were looking forward to a good weekends shooting and so it proved to be. As usual the 4 courses were split into A,B,X and Y with the real bows shooting wooden arrows on the A and B courses. These courses would prove to be completely different and taxing in their own way and in my opinion B course was significantly better than A course and that was simply down to the fact that A course was laid for a Hobbit. I spent all of Saturday trying to avoid hitting the upper limb of my longbow on the overhanging trees. Now given that I'm 2m tall and have a bow of a similar size you may thing that it was simply because I was not a standard size but having spoken with a number of longbow archers they all had the same complaint. Now B course on the other hand was laid by a traditional longbow club (Celtic Harmony Longbow Archers) so although they did have some interesting and difficult shots I was not worried that I may destroy my bow in the processes.

South Wilts Shoot Report 5th September 2010

The South Wilts Pre-Champs shoot is a must for getting back into shooting paper face and there less than generous Wound lines. Now I've mentioned before that I prefer shooting 3Ds, but then again I suspect most Field Archers would, but the Nationals were only two weeks away and I needed some practise especially because this would be my first and only outing with my new Gary Evans bow. Having only shot a few dozen arrows on Saturday it was going to be an interesting and, yet again, educational day. As usual I was expecting a good days shooting on a well set course with a number of tricky shots.

Starting the day with the traditional Bacon Butties and registration we found that we would be shooting with George and Joe Spears again, just like last year, and it was off to our first target of the day number 31. This was not going to be too bad only 10 targets to the first break and an early lunch. Turning on the traditional phone app I recorded the root as a Google Earth File (next it will be a GPS enabled camera) we awaited the starting horn.

Time for a new bow

Well today was a good day having ordered a Gary Evans and Bob Powell from Wales Archery they had finally arrived. So it was off down to Crick to try out both the bows and make a decision which to have. Little did I know how difficult this was going to be to choose between them. Although both the bows were custom orders for 75# @ 30" Graham, at Wales Archery, was happy if I bought one, both or neither so I was under no pressure to buy.

Having finally arrived at Crick manor, the old M48 Severn Bridge was close West Bound, I set to testing both the bows. The Gary Evans bow was Bamboo and Rosewood whilst Bob Powells was Bamboo and Ipe. Both were beautifully constructed and looked very similar rosewood being similar in colour to ipe. I specifically did not ask the price of the bows because I was not going to let that influence my decision and would leave it to how I felt shooting the bow.

So it was time to get out my field Arrows and start shoot on the range at the back of Wales Archery. First up was Gary's bow it was slightly larger and thicker than Bobs and felt good in the hand and in fact it fitted perfectly. Two dozen arrows and I was getting the feel of the bow it was fast, sweet and easy to draw with a great straight trajectory. Next up was Bobs the ipe belly meant that it was slightly smaller bow with a correspondingly smaller hand hold. Again I shot 2 Dozen arrows to get the feel of the bow and again it was fast (slightly faster that Gary's bow), sweet and very easy to draw.

I literally had nothing to choose between the two bows so it was back to shooting arrows alternating between them trying to find some difference on which I could make a decision. After about 45 Minutes of trying the bows I finally made my choice and opted for the Gary Evans bow for no other reason that it was thicker around the middle and hence had a thicker handle which fitted more comfortably into my hands.

With the choice made and boy was it hard because both bows were of exceptional quality it was time to pay, and order a spare string, before heading home looking forward to tomorrows shoot down at South Wilts for their Pre-Nationals shoot. I almost bought both the bows but could not quite rationalise buy two 75# @ 30" bows so if anyone out there is interested Wales Archery have a Bob Powell 75# @ 30" bow for sale.

I will certainly be going back to Wales Archery with a similar request when I decide to order the 100# bow and who knows maybe this this the Bob Powell will be a better fit.

Crowthorne Nationals Shoot Report 25th July 2010

It was that time of year again late July with the typical English weather and time for the Crowthorne Nationals. As usual it was to be held at Edgebarrow School in Crowthorne. As usual I would be shooting the New National, with my light longbow, but John would be shooting the Junior National this year. In addition to make up our longbow team, in the hope of retaining the cup, was Will shooting a Short Junior National.

With the weather fine but cloudy, nice to have a bit of cloud cover, as seems to be usual these days I have been doing more Field Shooting than target so it was going to be fun getting back into shooting at a target 100 yards away and I soon began to regret not brining the Warbow.

This year I would be shooting with Colin Young (same a last year), Martin Bale, Grant Ballentine (Junior after the free Junior New National record) and Phil Warnes who was shooting Barebow. With 4 longbow archers and a barebow we could all shoot all our arrows and have a cup of tea before the target next to us had finished their first 3.

Avalon Shoot Report 17th & 18th July 2010

When this shoot first appeared in the calendar it classed with Jim's Jungle Jaunt which was not great because I wanted to shoot both. Fortunately Avalon moved their shoot date and so I could shoot both. Having watched the weather with interest the week before I was not quite sure what we were going to be in for but as luck would have it the rain of the previous week (although I understand they had none in Sandy anyway) had disappeared for the weekend and it promised to be warm and pleasant and rather entertaining especially on the Sunday but more of that later.

As usual the course layers at Avalon did an exceptional job providing an entertaining and at time rather difficult course that was changed over night by the sadistic pixies. We only had one issue on the second day with the course which required target 40 to be removed.

To all those Archers who were complaining and swearing about the Cub that had a ricocheted off the back of the Leopard, that was target 40, narrowly missing the marshal taking photo on target 2. Just think if the course had not been layed the way it was it would never have happen. All he did was highlight a fault in the course. 

But enough of whining archers back to the positives and as I have already said the course was well structured and very entertaining.

As this was going to be Ruth & James last shoot for a while, because of an impending sprog, Sam & Owen had requested to shoot with them so John and I would be shooting with Emma and Trevor, from Goshawk, both shooting Unlimited. An interesting combination 2 Unlimited and 2 Longbow archers. Two taking the time before the shot calculating distances for their guaranteed hit and 2 spending time after the shot hunting for stray arrows.

Making a BLBS Standard Arrow (Well Almost)

In a previous blog entry "Making Your Own Arrows In Four Easy Steps" I discussed how to make your own Longbow Arrows. This used standard off-the shelf (well off the web) materials and allowed you to quickly make your arrows. Since then I decided that I would start making some British Longbow Society (BLBS) Standard Arrows, well almost, with the exception that I wanted to use then for Indoor and very short distance so hence the "Well Almost". The key difference between my arrows and those specified as BLBS Standard Arrows is the Pile because I need to shoot at my GNAS club and a Brass 125 grains bullet point was more appropriate. Given this 1 minor deviation the details below are an accurate description of how to make a BLBS Standard Arrow.

Making Your Own Arrows In Four Easy Steps

This blog entry was originally published on my Sun blog back in 2008 but I have since decided to republish it here to provided consistency across my Archery Entries. In addition I will be linking back to this entry from a future entry on my experience make British Longbow Standard Arrows.
This article is aimed at those longbow archers, or those with an interest, who would like to starting making there own equipment. Personally I think their is a big difference in shooting equipment you have made rather than bought and simple act of working, in my case in the garage, on something associated with you chosen pass time is a pleasure in itself and a good way to relax after the working day. So less of the waffle and on with the article at hand, which I hope to be the first of many, covering the simple steps of making your own arrows and in truth the hardest part of this process is choosing your fletching colours.

Jims Jungle Jaunt Shoot Report 3rd / 4th July 2010

Every year the Americans celebrate the 4th of July and this year I also would be celebrating the 4th of July as well as the 3rd. This has nothing to do with American Independence and everything to do with what is, undoubtedly, one of the most entertaining shoots in the NFAS Calendar Jim's Jungle Jaunt and this year was the 25th Anniversary Shoot. Having seen the weather report this was going to be a glorious weekend and Saturday was looking at being particularly hot. So it was out with sun cream and plenty of bug repellent.
We mustered at 09:00, as usual, with the expectation of starting at 10:00 but if you have ever shot at Jim's you'll know this doesn't usually happen. So having spent a pleasant hours or so eating the beacon butty and catching up we were off to the pegs to start the shoot.