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!

Welsh Field Masters Round 3 - big success!

Well, what an adventure this trip was!

Sunday 29th July saw Red Kite Archers host round 3 of the Welsh Field Masters tour at thier course in Broad Oaks, Carmarthenshire. Chris and I were both down for this one and he didn't have the car for the weekend so I drove us up to this one and thats where the fun begins..

We were driving down the A40, past Sennybridge onto the quiet rural stretch when the front passenger wheel starts shaking like crazy, a flat tyre. I barely had time to say 'awww b******s' before the tyre jumped the rim and dropped us on a steel rim at high speed! Stopped safely to find a destroyed rim smoking hot from the road! Jacked her up and we couldn't get the wheel off :( It was stuck fast on the hub so we had to call the AA out who used oil, leverage and sheer force to pop it off and put the spare on.

We always travel early to have time to get ready, eat breakfast and hit the practice targets for a bit without rushing so we had just enough time to make it. Parked up, got our bows assembled and gear on faster than I thought was humanly possible and jogged up the hill to the staging area just in time for target groups and the walk out onto the course... phew!

Hopefully that was all the bad luck used up for one day! :p

I was in an excellent group with seasoned pro's and  friends and had a fantastic day. The weather was on our side, a little overcast but mostly bright with a little sun. There was a moderate wind at the top end of the course on the longer shots that made them tricky. As I reached A-class a little while ago, this shoot was a chance to take a higher award so I was hoping to break 505 points for the Bowmaster rank and see where I could place among the other archers.

As you can see, the standard was high all day!

I had a strong round, reaching the last 2 targets with a nice margin to reach my goal. These targets were the longest distance walkups on the course, both downhill into a fair bit of wind blowing left/right. I made my adjustments for slope, and aimed off about mid-4 to the left to counter the wind and cleared the target with the full 20 points. This meant on my last target, I was at 500 points so only needed 5 from 4 arrows - piece of cake :)

The last target was also a long walkup in the same direction, same conditions. I lined up my shots and took my time and shot a perfect 20, finishing on 520 points! I was absolutely chuffed, I aced 2 of the hardest targets on the course at the end of a long tough day, finishing in 2nd place - smashing through Bowmaster... and hitting 520 which is the qualifying score for Senior Bowmaster! Result!! I am also in first place on the tournament leaderboard by a good margin for now!

I think the success on this shoot came from a change in my approach. I've always rocked up to the peg, lined up my shots and off they go. This time around, I took my time - assessing the shot before moving up and I made my sure my footing was solid. This made the most difference I think. I spent time 'digging in' and getting a solid base, and if the ground was sloped too much I build up a platform with branches/rocks to get level and it really made a world of difference in how easy it was to hold on target without wobbling.

All the fieldcraft and shooting skills I have been working on are really starting to come together and show in my scores. I can't wait for the next outing to see if I can build on this and push a further 10 points to hit the highest class possible of Grand Bowmaster. Fingers crossed!

Red Kite Summer Shoot

Hi everybody!

On Sunday 8th July, Milly from my club and I went up to Red Kite archers in Carmarthenshire for thier summer shoot. This was a FITA mixed round with 12 marked and 12 unmarked targets. It was a non record status shoot so quite quiet as all the big names were off at target championships that weekend but worth shooting to support a local club and get some vital practice in on unmarked targets!

The day went really well and I'm happy to report that my revised estimating system for working out distances paid off. Of the 12 unmarked only 1 gave me any real problems and aiming off brought the 2nd and 3rd arrows in. I nailed a 6 6 5 on a 55m unmarked as well which really made my day :) My bunny shots were pretty good as well with a 3 spot on the 20m bunny, I have yet to 18 a bunny so i'm going to make sure my close in marks are spot on before next time.

In the end I put in 342 with 42 golds 19 X's. Thats 2 points short of field Bowman level and 45 points on my pb from the Glamorgan in March, quite an increase in 3 months which shows the practice regime and form changes are having an effect!

I did notice that my long distance marks are out though and get progressively further out down the track. I confirmed this at practice on Friday shooting at very accurately measured targets. 50m hit gold on 52m, 70 at 75 and 90 went under the target and killed an arrow on the metal peg holding the frame down o_0

At field distances this isn't really evident but I've noticed I've had to overcook the long shots 55/60m by a metre or 2 to bring them in and the 90 yard shot in IFAA is always low so I've redone my sight marks and they line up against the old ones in what looks to be the right place. I've treated myself to a laser rangefinder with money from selling old arrows so I can get some very accurate measurements at next weeks practice and check them against my sight marks to make sure they are accurate as can be.

The next shoot now is an IFAA Hunter round at Red Kite again as it happens on the 29th. I know their course well now so there won't be any real surprises but I haven't shot the Hunter round yet with compound so I'm really looking forward to it, and those accurate marks and rangefinder will come in handy!

Welsh Field Masters Tour - Seconds out, round two!

Hi everybody!

This sunday was round 2 of the Welsh Field Masters Tour, a Marked Animal round hosted by Dinefwr Archers in Bishop's Mill, Llanwrda. I drove us up to the course and Chris and I arrived nice and early and got everything set up, leaving plenty of time for the traditional pre-shoot bacon butty!

I made a few last minute tweaks to make sure everything was ok, and had to move my sight pin slightly to get it spot on but was soon nailing the practice targets. Once everybody turned up, the groups were called and I was put with Chris and Colin on target 8. I've never shot the animal round before and my fears in the last post about difficulty making out the targets was unfounded. The targets are easy to see and the killzones are clearly marked so it was just a matter of picking a reference point on the animal and aiming at that.

Everything was going ok until target 3 which was a fairly long shot, on one of the smallest targets - a Meerkat with a very narrow body. I was a bit nervous and pulled my first shot wide and left, and my second arrow only wounded so I dropped 6 points. It set me on edge a little, but most of the other targets weren't as tricky and I had some very good shots during the course. My favorite being a 50 yard uphill shot along the river bank at a Moose target where I adjusted the angle perfectly and nailed the inner 'super-kill' area both times around!

Apart from the Meerkat target, the only target to give me any trouble was a steep 44 yard Wolf, shot at over 30 degrees downhill. On my first time around I wounded so dropped 2 more points, and on the second time around my arrow was high and on the line, so I moved forwards to take a second shot from the next peg at 41 yards. This arrow was a kill but on reaching the target the first arrow was in, so a first arrow wound was scored.  This picture was taken on the 41 yard closer peg, which is a bit shallower as the 44 yard is on a raised bank just out of frame on the right, so you can see the kind of angle we're talking about!

Chris had a bad target in the first half and dropped 10 points behind but Colin and I were neck and neck all day, overtaking the other by 2 points and then levelling etc, so the pressure was on to keep the standard high and not give any quarter. I dropped 2 points giving Colin the lead on target 20 leaving 8 more targets to catch up. We matched each others arrows shot for shot for 7 targets and came up on the last, a steep 30 yard downhill on a wild cat with 2 points in it.

I was up first, took my shot and nailed a comfortable kill shot. Colin was up next, a kill would secure a win and a wound would draw. He took his shot and the arrow fell short, landing low on the outer line. It was unclear if it was in or not so he took a second shot about an inch higher in the wound area.... We climbed down to check the scores, and Colins first arrow was just outside the line by about 2mm, so he scored a second arrow wound, dropping 4 points and giving me the win by 2 on the last arrow!

My first WFAA win with Compound, shooting a 548/560, I was absolutely over the moon! I was called up and collected my award and we all said a big thank you to Dinefwr for hosting a fantastic shoot. It was a very rewarding day and an excellent experience, I like the animal round and will definitely look forward to shooting one again now that I have a personal best to beat!

Trigger Troubles

Shooting my Guardian, I use a Merlin MAC Victory 3 release. It's a lovely bit of kit but I recently tried out a Carter release which are higher quality and I was quite surprised at the difference in the feel. The action was a lot more polished and the trigger smoother. I haven't got the money at the moment to buy a Carter (£150+) so I thought to myself OK, you must be able to improve the MAC one a little so I went to work on it.

Firstly I opened the case, which was a job and a half because of how snug the components fit. Upon checking, the trigger sear and levers were gunked in a heavy grease that had gotten quite dirty so that must be slowing things down a bit, and the trigger pressure spring is stiff as a board, even with the adjuster backed out completely. I removed all of the components and gave them a bit of a clean. Here's a pic of what the inside of the release looks like with the casing off...

 Once it was cleaned I reassembled it and  used a quality bearing lubricant from a skating shop on the pivots. The trigger spring was far too stiff as I mentioned, and as I do not have any other springs I took a drastic step and cut about 1/3rd off it.
What can I say, it's like a totally different release! It cocks incredibly smoother than before and the trigger feels fantastic, with much less pressure needed to release. I tried it out at the club and it's amazing now, I think i'll stick with this one for a while longer before changing to a Carter or a Stan :)

The next shoot for me now is on Sunday at Dinefwr Archers in Llanwrda, a marked animal round. I have never shot this round before and it will be quite strange shooting at animal pictures to hit the 'killzones' instead of at circular targets. Bruno and I shot some of these at the club at various distances to get a feel for it and it is very different.

The earthy colours of the animals is harder to pick out through the scope, and you have to select a point on the animal to aim at rather than the middle of rings so a lot more care has to be taken in aiming and i'll need my stronger glasses! The shoot promises bad weather and lighting so this may make it a bit trickier, but in practice I was nailing killshots on almost all arrows so I should be ok. It's a high scoring round i'm told, and since I am now A Class if I have a good day, I may be able to claim an incentive award... here's hoping!

The next post will be the post-shoot review, fingers crossed :)

Good result at the Welsh Field Masters round 1!

Hi everybody!

The first round of the Welsh Field Masters was on May 27th at Zenith Archers' field course in Hay On Wye. Comrade Bruno drove us both down to this one in some of the best weather we have had this year. It had been amazingly sunny for days with blazing temperatures, so plenty of sun block was on the cards, as well as silly hats!

We rocked up to the course and got set up and loosed a few on the practice butts to make sure everything was settled, and then we went out on the course in our groups. We got to shoot together with 2 of our friends so we had excellent company all day and there was plenty of cover from the trees so we didn't catch the sun that badly!

This was the competition debut of my new FMJ's and grip, so I focussed on keeping my bow hand consistent and tried to maintain a strong shot. My personal best for an IFAA round is 501 and I shot a first half of 255 so I was on the right track, but now the pressure was on for the second half. Fatigue becomes a bit of an issue in the second half due to the number of targets/arrows from what I am normally accustomed to shooting but I had already shot the same targets in the first half, so knew the little tricks for each target so could balance this out. I finished the shoot with all hits (woohoo!) and a second half score of 256, scraped in with one point higher :)

 Final score 511 which I was absolutely chuffed to bits with! It was my second 500+ score so I am now in the A-Class which is the higher banding, result! It was a qualifying score so it can't be used to claim a higher incentive unfortunately (you need to already be A-class to do that) but it was a BowMaster level score so I know I am capable of that rank now. I came in 3rd place in the compound division, and the 2 archers that beat me are both register Pro's so i've got my work cut out there!

Overall I had a really strong day with some fantastic groups and performances on some of the targets. I had to get a picture of this one for bragging rights lol!

Mr Bruno had a strong day's shooting as well, putting a lot of the changes to his form into practice and securing his second 400+ score with plenty of margin to get B class under his belt. There was one unfortunate incident with a slip in a riverbed crossing that saw a hard landing, and the string derail off the cams on his bow - but fortunately he wasn't injured apart from a knocked shin, the bow wasnt damaged and it was on the way back from the last target so we re-assembled the bow (gotta love Bowtech's no-press-required takedown) , carefully tested it and he has now retuned it at the club.

So there we are! A good time was had by all with great results and excellent weather, leading to a happy satisfied drive home and a big Indian takeaway as a reward!

The next shoot now is on Jun 24th, stage 2 of the Masters Tour at Dinefwr.. bring it on!