Write on Target
Hi - it's the hottest day of the year, so this may be quite short!
Records Reports
New Records
| Compound | |||
| Bob Hanson | Hereford | 1148 | Club and County Record |
| Margaret Hanson | Albion | 706 | Club Record |
| John Houghton | National | 634 | Club Record |
| Recurve | |||
| Peter Clarke | Long Western | 748 | Club Record |
| Peter Clarke | Long Warwick | 384 | Club Record |
| Peter Clarke | New Warwick | 318 | Club Record |
British Archer Winter Postals
Our compound archers were first in the Frostbite Division 8, and they were fourth in the Portsmouth Division 12.
Our Recurvers were second in Division 14 of the Frostbite and fifth in Division 21 of the Portsmouth.
Our compound Frostbite archers won division 8, and I have received 3 badges to mark the occasion.
We normally have quite a lot of difficulty deciding who has the badges, but this year there have only been three archers in the relevant teams:
Bob Hanson has shot all five; John Houghton has shot four; Peter Lander has shot one.
As no one else has been in the team I propose to distribute the badges accordingly.
Worcester Summer League
After the first match shot in May we were fifth out of eight. Jo Horner had the highest lady recurve score in the county, with her 515 Short Metric.
Surprise, surprise! We had no one mentioned in the handicap-adjusted section.
After the second match in June we are still fifth. Jo Horner again had the highest lady recurve score for the month with her 730 Western.
West Midlands Summer League
After the May postal we were second in division two, being second to Redditch.
After the June postal was taken into account we dropped to third in division two, being overtaken by Coventry, Redditch are still in the lead.
New Classifications & Handicaps
Derek Peacock
Buddy System
We have had applications from quite a few beginners this year - perhaps our established club members can help us out here? Would you like to be a 'buddy' to some of our 'fletchlings' and take them under your wings? All we are asking is that you can be approached for advice, and generally help our newcomers to find their feet (and their arrows!). Volunteers, please, to any committee member.
All-Carbon Arrows
There is an immense problem finding lost all-carbon arrows. If you own such arrows, perhaps you could save them for indoor shooting? If you are reading this and you have yet to purchase arrows, you may find some dealers trying to encourage you to buy the all-carbon variety. We recommend that you resist this offer, in favour of arrows with at least some aluminium content.
You may have read similar paragraphs in previous newsletters, but we shoot on a multi-purpose pitch, and we are therefore obliged to find all lost arrows for safety's sake.
Shoot Reports
In Brief
Rat's Ashes
Groovy man! Wasn't it hot?? We had a good turnout and made some pennies - thanks to the folk who ran the raffle, and served refreshments. You know who you are - a big thank you to everyone concerned. About half-a-dozen SCOA members shot, and we had a respectable medal tally - well done!
Forthcoming Shoots
We would like as many members as possible to shoot the All-Comers Warwick - it is designed to encourage newcomers to shoot a competition. Targets are set out at distances to suit your ability, and you should therefore stand an equal chance of winning! Come along and have a go! It's club members only - no pressure, be encouraged, and get some competition experience.
Bob's Bows - A potted history (Part 3)
The TS4 had served its purpose, but now it was time to move on. Technology was progressing apace, the new generation of bows was here - "take-down", and all the manufacturers were in on the act - Hoyt, Yamaha, and of course Marksman. Their offering was the TD75, which was a cast aluminium riser with a slim anti-torque grip and over-centre window (whatever all that meant), but this was the bow for me. So, abandoning my usual practise of going to Severn Products, I decided to go direct to Marksman in Nottingham. I 'phoned up and explained what I wanted, and at the earliest opportunity (probably measured in milli-seconds, as I'm not impatient), dragged Mags to Nottingham with me.
The little shop was packed with French people, all buying TD75's, and they were all charged the full price, but I was served by the proprietor himself, Les Howis. He not only rounded the price down, but "because you've come a long way", gave us a fiver and told us to get some lunch from the pub opposite (this was the late seventies, when you could get a pub lunch for a fiver).
The bow could take all the modern gear, with fixings for a clicker and button, bushings for twin, long rod and counter-balance stabilisers, and also provision for a side-mounted sight, all of which, in the fullness of time, I acquired and learnt to use.
One of the innovations at the time was a new type of fletching, called Aerofin. This was a normal plastic fletching, cut in half, and you could either buy the short triangular end, or the rounded end and these fletchings increased the speed of the arrow, but only just managed to steer it, prompting the need for a good loose. The novelty soon wore off, and I went back to normal fletchings, but not before I had excelled myself on one single half-dozen and shot a six gold end (not to be repeated).
Torque Flight Compensators (TFC's) were now the vogue. A TFC was an adjustable spring, which fitted between the stabiliser and the bow, to maximise the energy output from the limbs into the string, and by tuning, you could reduce the 'limb flutter' to a minimum. These little engineering marvels were affectionately known as "wobblers" and a must for every aspiring archer was to adjust his wobblers for optimum efficiency!
The TD75 served me well - a well-behaved and quiet bow that, when shot properly, hummed at me, and when it was eventually superseded it was relegated to being my field bow where it again did me proud. A tip: do not put your bow onto the ground when looking for arrows during a coon shoot (shooting at night by candlelight), as your friends are prone to putting their knife through your string and you become a spectator for the rest of the shoot, rather than a participant.
I still have my TD75 - maybe one day I will again get it out of its bag.
Coming in Part 4 - the Japanese Invasion.
Dave's Quiz
Answers to Quiz 28 (incorrectly called 27 in the last newsletter - sorry!)
Quiz No. 29
Archerix
Handicap (n)~ An allocation of points to your score which permits archers of different abilities to do equally poorly in the same round.