Welsh Field Masters Tour Round 5 - the final!

Hi everybody!

The Welsh Field Masters Tour round 5 was this Sunday (23 Sep 2012) at Fonmon Castle Estates near Cardiff Airport. I was in first place on the leaderboard but this round was the Marked Forrester round which is a very high scorer, on some targets you can clean up 60 points so I was hoping for a good result to cement the victory.

The weather forecast was looking decidedly poor, and sure enough the Welsh weather didn't let us down. It started raining on my way down the motorway to the shoot, turned into a torrential downpour that stayed with us all day without mercy or let up. I have good boots and waterproods specifically for shooting in poor weather, and i'm used to it so didnt let it get me down or get in my way. We started on T10 so after 4 targets we were back at the refreshments tent, and one of our group of 3 made the decision to drop out because he'd had enough of the weather so there were only 2 of us and we had to wait for someone to team up with to go back out. By this time, the course had already gotten so treacharous underfoot and slippery that the organisers chopped the competition to a half round of 14 targets. We went back out with one of the retired archers who acted as a marshal for us so we could complete the run.

I've never shot the Forrester round before and it was a very interesting one. It is shot on animal faces, with the usual kill/wound scoring areas but there is a black or gold spot in the middle, the 'clean-kill' area which is worth extra points and gives a nice clear point to aim at. The weather made the course difficult enough as it was, but poor lighting and rain spattered sights made it a bit trickier, even so I had a good half and shot very well. I only took one photo as I didnt want to get my phone out of my pocket in those conditions, but I couldn't let this one go without getting a picture. Only 25 feet away, but could you ask for a better shot than this? :)

I got around the course and shot 420 points for the half which was fairly decent, and as it happened my only competiton on the day had quit early on so I was the only AMFU shooter that finished the day, winning the individual stage by default, i'll take that!

This stage's win with the points cemented first place by a large margin, making me the 2012 AMFU Welsh Field Master!! The weather was so atrocious that the decision was made unanimously to give the trophies and the formal awards at another time, which will probably be at the WFAA Indoor Championships so not until January now, but the results went out by email and on the website so it is all official :)

I am absolutely thrilled with the result! In my first year (almost to the week) from picking up my first compound bow, I have secured the Senior Bowmaster rank with only 2 points short of the highest ranking possible of Grand Bowmaster, I have won the Welsh Field Masters tour and I am in a strong position to hope for a shot at Welsh Squad for next year, fingers crossed!

EFAA National Championsips

This weekend, I went to the EFAA National Championships hosted by March Hare Archers in Throckmorton. While an English tournament, Welsh archers can still shoot for classification scores as guests so I went up with one of the guys from my club to see if I could raise the bar a bit.

We arrived nice and early on the Saturday for the Hunter round. The weather was on our side with a bit of mist in the morning, which soon lifted to a really nice clear day. The course was quite flat with no real challenging angles and I shot very strongly all day.  The only hiccup all day was on the bunny. I accidentally aimed at the wrong target (shot top target first instead of bottom, GNAS style) and nailed a perfect X on the wrong face so that was down as a miss but even with that, I came in on a new personal best for the Hunter round of 526.

We travelled to the local campsite we were staying at, The Cottage Of Content after the shoot and got the tent up, and chilled out in the local pub with a nice big gammon and chips and a few ales to wash it down with! There was a travelling fire performer group staying at the campsite and putting on a show, and I ended up jamming with them in the pit juggling and fire spinning for an hour! That was a nice unexpected treat J

We got up bright and early after sleeping like a log (the new sleeping bags are great!) and got the tent down, ready to head out for the Field round on day 2. I have been chasing 530 points to reach Grand Bowmaster rank and only narrowly missed it because of the bunny mistake on Saturday so really concentrated and made sure I took my time on the course. There were no mistakes or misses during the round, but a few 18's and a 17 in the middle meant I missed the 530 mark, but still raised my pb for the Field round by 7 points to 528 which is a career and season best – so still a winner in my eyes!

 I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t reach the 530 but there’s always another time and I know that it is within my reach if I concentrate and shoot well. One of the main things I have been struggling with is consistency in my grip. I absolutely love my new Insanity CPXL but I have had a bit of trouble with the rounded back of the grip, the same as I had with the Guardian so I have ordered a custom Torqueless grip for it. I shoot a Torqueless on my Guardian and it makes a great difference to the feel of the bow, so I am hoping this will go some way to addressing this and will smooth out the inconsistency... time will tell!

The next shoot now is a Marked Forrester round for the final of the Welsh Field Masters Tour in Fonmon on the 23rd, followed by the Welsh FITA at the end of the month so it is going to be about 6 weeks before the next IFAA round so I have a bit of time to prepare. It's a long shot, but i'm hoping to go from unclassified to Grand Bowmaster in my first season of picking up a compound so I have one, maybe two more opportunities to do it... efforts must be doubled!

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!

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!