A Year On ...

Beacon Archers Club Championships
Sherjit, Lee, Maria, Dean

Well a year on and I've won the ladies' championships at Beacon Archers. My score was 715 for the 60/50/40 yards (and it was raining), so I was well pleased with that and we have another competition coming up at the end of August, hopefully I can beat my score. 

I have made a change in my technique though - lining up the string with my bow (which is what you are supposed to do).  This has resulted in me having to adjust my sight as I am now shooting quite far right. I've made this change so that I am more accurate at the longer distances. Hopefully I will get to practise a bit before the competition. Before, I was just making sure my bow was vertical and then just shooting but I really felt that I needed to progress in order to improve my accuracy, time will tell. I was more of an instinctive shooter but now my little motto is "under the chin, line the string' quick and easy to remember. I hope I can still shoot as fast as I have been.

This morning I am going to experiment with my sight. At the moment, in order to reach 70, I have to aim above the target. I'm hoping that by turning my sight upside down I might actually be able to aim properly. I missed out on a Quantum Archery competition last weekend because I didn't think it was worth entering, but there is nothing worse than watching other people shoot without taking part, so for the next one I'm hoping I can reach the target with my sight upside down. I mentioned not being able to sight on the target to a very nice coach from the University of Warwick who said that I needed to work on my bow arm - what's all that about! But, I will take the advice anyway :)

Garden Archery Update

Sorry it's been some time, but at last I have pictures of the garden archery range that my partner and I made.

After digging away the grass, putting up the garden arches and netting, I planted lots of climbing plants like clematis, ivy and willow in the new borders. The netting was tied to the trellis (a two-person job) and I hung some old cd's along the tops so that the birds could see the net and not fly into it. I left the bottom clear so that any birds, hedgehogs or other wildlife could still wander round safely and also so that I could still weed the beds while the plants grow up.

It looks longer than it is, I might extend it at a later date. But for now it's mainly for practising my form and fine tuning.

The second image shows the actual set up. It's about 12 yards in length. An old washing line post and metal pole were dug into the ground to hold up an old archery net and I bought the boss second hand for £10.00 from a fellow archer at my club. The arches cost around £6.00 each off e-bay.

At the moment Stratford Archery are selling large foam bosses and stands for £10.00 if anyone is interested. I think they have 18 left. It's on their Facebook page.
Stratford Archery Centre

The third picture is a view from the top of my garden to the house, to show that I have left plenty of room behind the target too. Safety is really important and although I am not worried about the length, I was worried about the width of the garden. At this distance it is not likely that I would miss the target, but for any stray 'bouncers' the net is added protection.

So, fellow archers this is a neat idea to transform your garden, without spending a fortune and I hope it looks great in a couple of year's time when the plants have grown up. I hope you like it.

From top of the garden to house

Target Testing

Home Archery Range

I set up a small archery range at home by putting up the boss in my kitchen with a piece of plywood behind and also a square piece of wood. I also hung up an old decorating blanket on top of my kitchen units. The distance from the lounge to the kitchen was about 10 yards. I started to use my paper targets with my training bow which is just 15 to 18 lbs. After a few sessions the boss started to wear away in the middle but I carried on moving the target around so that it wasn't that close. Shooting over the couch and through doorways is certainly different - just in case you're wondering I was alone in the house. My first session using my targets was very good and I was pleased at how well the paper targets lasted.

However, I decided to mount the paper targets onto foam board with spray adhesive.  These lasted a lot longer and also saved my boss a bit more.

I also mounted a FITA target onto foamboard and tested that out too, but it didn't last half as long as my own as there is only one centre target.

Then I  bought my new Intermediate bow which is 24 lbs. All the targets took a new hammering and, in less than 2 weeks (at only an hour or so a day) my boss was useless. 

The arrows went straight through the boss, my plywood, and stuck into the wood. Really disappointed at the boss, will definitely not buy another one like this.

End of testing - for now.

Back of boss