A
BEAUTIFUL evening for shooting
Warm & sunny without being oppressive, just enough breeze to keep us refreshed, it would have been
wonderful to let them fly at long range after several Sundays of annoyingly gusty cross-winds.
So why, I say
WHY did the 'old guard' decide that the best way to take advantage of these almost-perfect conditions was to set up for a FITA 18m round?
- Jeez, I can't even set my sights for that close without removing the bar & moving it back up a hole or two! I admit, I came close to just getting back in the car & heading home to watch the Netherlands v Sweden from the start. My evening was saved when I saw that one of our intermediate (barebow) shooters was setting up for a 30yd 252 so I decided to join her. The fact that she's not unattractive had nothing to do with it. Honest
Took me 3 or 4 ends before I had my sight set properly, the only mark I had for 30yds was for our usual two'o'clock 15mph winds so everything started high & right - including one that buried itself in the frame. So deep at 30 yds with 38 lbs that trying to wobble it out resulted in cracked carbon & a lost point. Just a week after I'd re-fletched & initialed/numbered them.
So, a quick switch to the Tyros. Only to find that despite my spare string (which I'm still shooting in) being an identical make & model to my main, it was somehow too narrow for the large G-nocks on the Tyros, which fitted perfectly to my primary string only a fortnight ago. At least 8 dropped off the bow during set-up before I modified my technique enough to get a decent draw.
Well, despite all the technical hitches I still managed a 254 on the first round. Good enough for the club but not good enough for me!
The second round, well that was
most satisfying
Every end bar two with 3 golds & 2 ends with 4. Had I been using 'fatties' at least one of them, if not both, would have been the elusive '6 gold ends'. Good tight groupings too, with the odd 'loose one'. Well, I am still a bloody novice! Ended up posting a
PB of 278 :cloud9:
Did I get the badge, and a photo on the club Facebook page? Did I f**k! El Capitano just grunted 'I haven't got the badges with me'. He whose MPV has at least 3 cases of bows, bitz & tools at all times. I don't know if I even believe him but I'm not really that bothered about the 30 yd badge anyway, having already got my 40 & half of my 50. I don't find 30 yds much of a challenge tbt, I'd much rather be shooting Windsors, Westerns, Warwicks & WA 70's - I'm not ruling out getting my 2nd class before the summer ends - but a stress-free evening with 'interesting company' seemed to be a good-enough use of my time, particularly as I'm currently in a LOT of pain from a bruised coccyx, dicey knee & a hip that makes bending over
agony!
BTW I happened to look down the waiting line while all the scores were being handed in - only 2 people (including me) out of the 10 members present (that's damned-near half the club!)
weren't using white Mybo Synergy limbs!
So, before Sunday my DIY task is to see if I can remove the pin-nocks from the Classics & fit them to the Tyros. They seem identical to me. At least I have 3 'spares' with the Tyros, I only ever had 6 Classics so they're now useless unless I get roped into shooting another Stafford. It's too early in my career to jump up to high-end arrows yet so the Tyros will have to do the job until I get some X-Busters for the indoor season.
....
Or I could modify this months' budget plans to shoehorn in a dozen new Classics from Bowsports. Only ?55. I was planning on spending ?53 on non-essential car parts this month anyway, that can could get kicked down the road easily enough. It's only stuff for the 'advisories' on my MOT, which ain't due 'til next March anyway - new handbrakes cables & sump pan/gaskets/new oil.
Decisions, decisions