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.