Welsh Field Masters round 4

Round 4 of the Welsh Field Masters Tour was on August 19^th at the newly formed Llantrisant Field Archers club, officially opening their new course. It had quite a small turnout compared to usual as it was on the same weekend as several other shoots but I am determined to shoot all 5 stages of the FMT so rocked up bright and early! The road into the course was difficult for my trusty Ka, she made it through and I had my doubts if it was going to make it back through the mud on the way out!

 It had rained heavily for a few days so the ground was sodden and shortly after arrival we had a torrential downpour for about an hour. This made the lower half the course very slippery on the steep climbs , and one area of about 4 targets was a bog. Standing on the peg I was sinking in the mud over my ankles, boots completely submerged!  After the rain passed it got quite sunny, and very humid making glasses and scope steam up. Bit of a nightmare with the weather on this one!

Despite the conditions, the course is nicely laid out with some challenging shots that are a bit deceptive and I had a great time shooting it, even if I ended up looking like I had trench foot (boots flooded!, new waterproof ones on order!). I had quite a good days shooting with only one hiccup (punched a shot into the 1 ring on a long downhill) and finished on 512 Expert – 520 Field which equals my PB and earned me first place!

I’m out in front now on the leaderboard and the final round is on the 23^rd, a marked forester at the Fonmon course which I am really looking forward to as I haven’t shot that round before. Ahead of this though is the English Field Archery Association’s National Championships being hosted by March Hare archers in Throckmorton. It’s a 2 day shoot a few hours’ drive away so I’m going to be staying at a local campsite on Saturday night and then driving home on Sunday.

I've made a few adjustments to the new bow since this shoot (mainly tiller to have it sit correctly on the grip) and its holding dead steady compared to before so with any luck we can push the score up a little bit at this competition and close the gap on that elusive 530 for Grand Bowmaster.

Fort Purbrook Field Championships

Hi everybody!

The weekend of 11/12th August was the second open FITA Field Championships hosted by Fort Purbrook Bowmen at Fort Purbrook in Portsmouth. The new bow was all set up and tuned as best as I could in a week, so I brought her along with me and went down for the weekend!

I travelled down with friends on Friday afternoon and we arrived at the fort around 4pm. The place is absolutely amazing! A hilltop fortress built in the 1800's to defend against invasion on the south coast with an expansive view over Portsmouth docks. The place is a maze of tunnels and corridors with cannon/naval gun emplacements and gunports everywhere and imposing high walls and outer defenses.

We signed in and got the keys to our rooms in the original barracks where we were staying for the weekend and got settled in. The practice targets were open on the courtyard and there was almost no wind that evening and nice evening sun, so I took the chance to get some quality practice and final tuning done.

I did some walkbacks and corrected a minor right drift, recentred the scope and was soon nailing the gold. My marks were spot on from 10m right back to 60 so I left it there and put all my gear in my room until the morning. The Fort is an an activity centre these days so has plenty of facilities, and the Welsh archers took over the games room for the evening. It got quite loud as the night went on and the drink started to dissapear and the rules of the games were a distant memory.. so much for one foot on the floor at all times!

We went for a midnight wander down the underground tunnels to find the climbing walls but unfortunately the doors were locked which is probably a good thing! Still, we had fun wandering around and getting a bit freaked out as the place is allegedly haunted!

In the morning it was up bright and early and onto the practice targets for a quick blast to make sure everything was in order. Once that was sorted and i'd grabbed some breakfast, we checked the target lists to find out our groups and assembled ready to move out. It was fully booked with waiting groups, i've never seen such a good turnout!

So, on to the tournament! We started on a bunny target in the outer perimiter, followed by some of the longest shots on the course. My unmarked distance judging was decent with only a few mistakes, the odd first shot going in the 3/4 but no misses and nothing that couldnt be corrected. On a 50m target I put my first arrow in a low 3, aimed high for the following 2 arrows and nailed 2 sixes - get in! :p

Everything was going great until we hit the courtyard at the top of the fortress, it was like a hurricane was blowing up there! In total contrast to the still air of the previous night, we were being blown all over the place and it was impossible to hold on target. All the tricks came out to deal with it but even then it was stupidly difficult. Everybody had the same wind all day so it was an even playing field, but shooting in that wind really wasn't fun and was almost dangerous at times.

To get an idea of the wind,  this shot was at about 35m if I remember correctly and the target is square on to the camera shot, with the shooting pegs directly behind me so these  arrows should be going in straight. It was impossible to hold steady long enough to get an accurate aim.

Even with these conditions, I managed to finish on 348 which is the highest I have scored to date on the unmarked round. It was an Arrowhead status round as well and this was over the threshold to claim my Grey Arrowhead award so I filled in the claim form, a good result for day one!

We all rocked up to a local pub for some good hot food and a few pints, and had another fun evening in the games room with some new faces who were staying on Saturday night as well. It was a bit of a chore to get up on Sunday morning and there were plenty of sore heads around, but after a shower and some breakfast we were all feeling a bit more human and ready for the marked round.


The weather was cloudy compared to the clear skies of the previous day, but most importantly the wind had calmed down! There was still a bit but nowhere near what it was on Saturday so this was a relief! We shot the course without any real surprises and finished the day on 361 points. This was also a big jump up from the last FITA marked round I shot and was enough for the next Arrowhead so I was able to claim my Grey and Black on the same weekend, score!

In the end I finished in 5th place overall and I was absolutely over the moon with the result! It was some of my strongest shooting to date and I came away with 2 new personal bests, and 2 Arrowhead awards. The new bow is excellent and shoots like a dream, it holds dead on the target and feels fantastic so I was really happy with its debut, money well spent ;)

Following my tradition of naming my bows, I have also settled on a name for the Insanity. I was going to go with something vicious as the model is called the Insanity and its a speed bow, but she's so smooth and steady to shoot it called for something more relaxed. I've decided to call her Maya (pronounced My-ah).

The next outing is round 4 of the WFAA Field Masters tour at the opening of thier new course in Llantrisant and Maya is ready to rock. The course is apparently quite a difficult one with some challenging shots being on the side of a valley but i'm really looking forward to it, a new permanent course that is less than 20 minutes drive away is always welcome!

Unleash the Insanity!

Hi everybody!

I've been debating changing my bow for some time, and this weekend I finally took the plunge and thought what the hell, after some of my results recently I deserve a treat and could benefit from the new advances in bow technology, so I took a drive to Wales Archery Specialists on Saturday to treat myself :)

I tried a few bows out, but the new Bowtech lineup had my eye. The Specialist was a contender as it is designed for target, but I've wanted an Insanity CPXL since it was unveiled so I took the time to compare both. I shot them for about an hour and chose the Insanity CPXL. If i'm being honest, the Specialist felt a bit nicer on the shot, but the draw cycle was awful. It stacks against you really early and the hump to drop into the valley is very tough, it feels far heavier than it's set and would wear me out on a long shoot. The Insanity has a very crisp shot as well and feels great, but the draw cycle sold it to me. The draw is dead smooth, and it just rolls back into the valley and sits absolutely dead. Its so easy to hold stable it's incredible even without stabilisation, and the FLX guard takes all of the torque out of the handle, it has no twist at all.

Here she is, all dressed up with my usual fit!

The cams were synchronised and timed at the shop and the peep fitted for me, and i've set everything up and levelled the sight and 3rd axis. I've got a halfday off work on Wednesday so i'm headed up the club to spend some time tuning the centreshot and getting it all in line. I chrono'd the bow in Wales Archery and with my usual heavy field arrows (400 grain FMJ's) its doing 270fps at 56lb - my Guardian at 56lb with the same arrows does 255fps so its 15fps faster for the same draw weight!

I've got the rest of this week to get her tuned because this Friday is her debut. I'm off to Fort Purbrook in Portsmouth for thier weekend shoot, travelling down on Friday afternoon with friends and staying Friday and Saturday night in the dorms at the fort itself. It's a huge activity centre now with shots off the battlements, in underground tunnels in the holding cells etc and they have climbing walls/games rooms etc that are open to archers staying in the dorms in the evenings so it should be a great trip!