The Welsh Field Masters Tour 2013

 

Hi everybody!

The Welsh Masters Tour 2013 kicked off on Sunday 21^st April, with a Marked Animal round at Llantwit Major Archers course at Fonmon Castle. Everything is set up properly and it was a chance to debut a change in fletching.

I’ve ditched my usual config of white wraps and blue fletches, they keep getting scagged/shot up by close groups and start looking grubby very quickly. Also the wrap is a weak point as if the fletches get hit in the target, they rip the wrap off. I have gone for smaller, tougher fletches glued straight to the shaft and went with Bohning X-Vanes in hot pink to make them really stand out on the target!

I picked Chris up in the morning and we headed down there nice and early for a bit of practice and to confirm our marks.  To everyone’s surprise, it looked like it was going to be quite a decent day for weather. It was a little chilly, but crucially the wind held off and while it did rain slightly it was fairly light and only at the end of the second half.

In the Marked Animal round, the targets are pictures of animals with a ‘wound’ area, and a ‘kill’ area that is worth more points. If you miss with your first arrow, you are allowed a 2^nd and 3^rd attempt but the first arrow that scores a hit is the one that counts. The kill area is usually quite large so it is usually a high scoring round.

Got him, right in the pro-kill ring!

I went round with a few other compound archers who kept the pressure on all day, and on the last target of the first half I had an arrow that was cutting into the ‘kill’ line, but not through it as you have to in IFAA so it was only a wound and I dropped 2 points. (20 kill 18 wound with the first arrow). That was on Target 1, a 55 yard 30 degree downhill shot that I didn’t take enough of a cut off for the angle so the arrow went in high – I made sure I wouldn’t make the same mistake the next time around!

We broke for dinner, and then went back out on the course and I shot a clean second half – finishing the shoot on 27 kills 1 wound, 558 out of a possible 560! This was a new personal best by 10 points and only 1 line cutter away from equalling the Welsh record! This was only good enough for 2^nd place however, as Dave Home was on perfect form and shot a clean 560 – taking the gold medal and the LM Archers 560 Trophy. 

I had a really good day and was thrilled with the result, just one arrow a few mm off a perfect round. The bow is in good tune, my marks are spot on and my new Carbon One arrows are flying very well for me so I think I will be sticking with these for the foreseeable future.

The next shoot now isn’t for a few weeks time, a Hunter round at Dinefwr which combines my favourite round at one of my favourite courses, so I’m not going to put any pressure on myself by chasing a score – I’m just going to relax and enjoy the shoot for what it is, a day out in the woods shooting with good friends.

Red Kite & March Hare - good results but fed up of this weather!!

Red Kite Archers in Carmarthenshire put on a Hunter round on the 7^th April so Chris and I drove up there to give their new course a shot and test the new arrows in the field. We arrived nice and early, got set up and took to the course.

Ready to rock and roll!

It was a very cold day, but the biggest hurdle was the wind – it was awful! One half of the course was down in a valley and fairly sheltered, with some high scoring targets but the other half with the longest distances was along a hillside with open fields on either side, with a fierce wind blowing across every target that didn’t let up at all. On many targets it was impossible to keep your peep and scope lined up, never mind keeping the sight on the target! 

I don't think he's going to make it!

A couple of low scoring targets because of the high wind dashed any hopes of a high score, and I finished in 3^rd place with 513.  This is still a good A class score so I was happy with the result, you can’t control the weather and everyone’s scores were lower because of the conditions.

On a good note though, the new arrows performed very well! On the targets where we were sheltered, they flew great and grouped exactly where I put them, cleaning several targets and the extra speed has reduced the amount I need to cut for angles. Worth the money!

Field round at March Hare

A week later, we went up to March Hare Archers in Throckmorton, Worcester to shoot their course. It was a classification shoot so no awards, but their course is pretty much flat so it’s usually a high scorer and worth the drive!

We got signed in, split into groups and went out onto the course, starting on target 3 close to the clubhouse. The course was easy going but again the weather interfered with shooting. It was raining on and off all day, nothing too heavy but it meant extra layers which get in the way a bit and the wind was blustery. Not as bad as Red Kite the week before but enough to make certain shots tricky.

I put in a decent performance, clearing several targets including an XX55 on the 80 yard walk-up which made my day! But in the end I finished on 525, 5 points short of that elusive 530 for the GrandBowMaster award.

I was still really pleased with the score which is only 3 points short of my personal best, shot at the same course as it happens but in glorious weather last summer at the EFAA Nationals. I’m confident that I will break 530 this season and get my GBM title, I just need a day with the weather on my side, which is hard to come by in this country!!

I’m going to give up on chasing the score for now to take the pressure off, and just shoot for fun and see what happens. On several targets I could feel myself getting nervous and tense, fighting to keep the bow steady. When I’m shooting at the club in practice there is none of this – i’m relaxed, the bow floats and the shot is smooth and on target. I need to shoot tournaments with that same mentality and just let the shot happen with confidence. Easier said than done, but I’m going to work on adopting that relaxed approach in the future and see what happens.

The next shoot is a Marked Animal round at Fonmon, stage 1 of the Welsh Field Masters Tour. There is no classification for the Animal round so i’m going to have fun with it and enjoy the day! I’m off on holiday the day after, and then there are no more rounds for a few weeks so I will use the time to relax, get some quality training done and give everything a once over to make sure it's all in perfect tune ready for the rest of the season.

 

New arrows, ready to rock and roll!

Hi everybody!

I’ve been doing some tuning lately to make sure everything on Maya is squared up and ready to go for the Field Archery season which begins in earnest this month.

Everything is going well, but I’ve been thinking that my FMJ arrows may be slowing me down – literally! While they are a fantastic arrow and I like them because they’re skinny and heavy (good in the wind for the reason), it is that weight that is causing me concern.

They come in at 420 grains which for a Target/Field arrow is very heavy. I’ve been looking at different options and see a lot about the Easton Carbon One arrow. They don’t break the bank, they’re tough and lighter due to all carbon shafts. I’ve read many reviews that rate them alongside ACE’s and other top end arrows, and after chatting with Kevin at Wales Archery I decided what the hell and picked up a dozen.

Dressed up in my usual colours!

I built the set, ending up with a final weight of 370 grains with a 0.5 grain spread across the set. That’s about the same spread as my FMJ but 50 grains lighter all-up. They were built in my usual colours and config and I put a slight offset on the fletches to give them a little bit more spin than I usually do.

I don’t have access to a Chrono to check the arrow speed at the moment, so I ran the numbers through Archers Advantage which estimated 270fps – nearly 20fps faster than my FMJ which has given much tighter sightmarks – good for unmarked rounds!

The first test of them was at 35m.I shot 6 of my FMJ to get a comparison and then send 6 C1’s downrange. You can really tell they are lighter! The bow feels more aggressive, and they shot a tighter group than my FMJ but higher up the target as expected due to the extra speed.

I printed off sightmarks and after aligning the pin I went around our mini course at the club and tested them from 15 to 70 yards and the marks are good, grouping very tight in the gold at every distance. This was shot at 50 yards...

A little high, but all in!

 

From what I have seen I am confident that they will group better in the target and hopefully scrape me those few extra points I’m looking for. There is a shoot at Red Kite tomorrow, an IFAA Hunter round on their new course so it will be a good opportunity to debut them and see what they are capable of in the field. Watch this space!

 

Pentref March Shoot & Glamorgan Championships

Hi everybody!

Last weekend was the Pentref March shoot & Glamorgan Field Championships at my home club, Pentref Bowmen. It was a 2 day shoot, shooting the FITA mixed round on both days with the course altered between the days to keep everybody on their toes!

It was freezing!! Definitely one of the coldest shoots I’ve ever been to. I had 2 thermal base layers on, a shooters shirt, and my fleece lined soft-shell coat and it was still icy! I was very glad of the thermal liner gloves that I bought a few days before the shoot. Thin enough to keep my bow hand gloved and I only needed to take the other one off to shoot and then it went straight back on!

The mixed round has 12 marked and 12 unmarked targets where the distances are not given, and unlike in IFAA you are not allowed any angle or rangefinding assistance – you have to work it all out yourself. My estimation was pretty good on the unmarked targets and the only few that I misjudged were just outside the spot so not too bad.

I shot fairly well on the Saturday, putting in 370 points which is a good Bowman score, 7 points shy of MB and a new personal best for the round so I was pleased with that but the same couldn’t be said for Sunday! I finished on 353 which is still in Bowman (above 344) but 17 points down on the previous day. It was still a fairly decent score, but I wasn’t happy with how I shot. There were a lot of flaky shots and a few collapses but I put that down to being tired from 2 days shooting/hiking and it was much colder than on Saturday.

One thing I have been noticing is that I am not entirely happy with my stabilisation. I’ve thought for a little while that it was a bit on the light side, and a bit ‘floaty’ on slopes, particularly downhill so I added a bit more weight to the ends of the rods, adding about 4.5oz to the whole rig. It has steadied things up and made movements on the aim slower (all good!) but the siderod is a bit loaded now making the bow twitchy left to right, and my V bar is fixed so I can’t change its position,

I called up Merlin Archery in the week and ordered one of the new Mybo Offside-XL adjustable offset mounts they are making so that I can change the angle and position of my siderod. What I am aiming for is to bring the siderod closer towards the riser so it is pointing more to the rear, and adjust the weights for a more neutral balance that is just slightly front heavy. This should make the bow easier to hold steady and eliminate a bit of the left/right wandering that may be costing me points. 

It has arrived and I have fitted it and roughly set it, check it out. Nicely made piece of kit, good and solid with quality machining.

 

I've only shot a few arrows off it on my home practice target but it already feels better, the balance seems nicer to hold and steadier left/right. It's a few weeks until the next serious shoot so i've got a bit of time to play with it and find the sweet spot. I need a new home practice target though! My arrows are going in up to the fletches and getting damaged, it's shot out now. I've rearranged the layers and tightened the banding but it's had it's day. It's 6.5 years old, has been out in all conditions and has been shot literally thousands of times by all my different bows so i've certainly had my money's worth!

I’m shot my Bowhunter setup this week to test-drive the new blaze orange arrows and have a bit of fun and relax after the serious shooting this weekend and all the analysis, I put up some animal targets and had some fun instead of a serious practice session! It makes a nice change and I wish there were more 3D shoots nearby. I may look into NFAS over the summer as they shoot unmarked 3D pretty much exclusively and it would be a new challenge.

The Fonmon Winter Shoot - back out in the field!

Hi everyone!

So, last weekend was the first shoot of the Field season (at last!!) – the Fonmon Winter shoot, a Marked Forrester round which I have never shot a full round of before. The final round of the Welsh Masters last year was this round, but we only shot a half because the weather was so bad. That meant that whatever score I shot would be a new pb by default!

As it is an Animal round and not part of a series like the Masters or ranked, I had hoped to take Vasquez and shoot as Bowhunter. That style suits animal targets as it is a hunting setup, but my arrows for that bow were in the middle of being refletched and I didn’t have enough of them finished yet. If I’d lost the fletches on more than 1 of them I wouldn’t have enough to finish the round.

They’ve been finished now though and they look the business! These arrows are going to be shot at dark animal faces and 3D targets, I wanted them to stand out and be visible – so I went with blaze orange zebra-stripe wraps and matching vanes/nocks – check them out, no way I’ll miss those in the target!

So as the arrows weren't ready, I took Maya with me – my Freestyle Unlimited setup. I had spent some time in the weeks before setting Maya back up for outdoors and getting sightmarks ready for the Glamorgan Championships in a week’s time so this was a good road test. 

We got to Fonmon bright and early, and boy was it cold! It was only about 1 degree but the wind chill and shade on the course made it feel far colder - it was a good idea I decided to wear extra layers just in case! It did have its good side though, the ground was frozen so it was the first time I’ve ever been around Fonmon without being knee deep in mud!!

I went around the course with Geraint Thomas and Dave Home and put in a fairly steady performance, finishing on 865 which secured me 2^nd place and a silver medal – result! Geraint won the day, with an incredible 940 points – 10 points (2 spots) short of the Welsh record! He had a slow start as it was a new setup and he had to dial his marks in, but cleaned up the 2^nd half. If the bow had been setup from the start I think he would’ve broken the Welsh record with ease. 

The standard of shooting was high!

As it was a Forrester round, the targets are animals with coloured spots for the ‘super-kill’ high points area that are smaller than the spots on regular targets. I used the day to test my cuts and I was spot on all day, and the targets where I missed the spot were quite close, not miles out so they may well be spots on a regular face. It’s given me a confidence boost to know my estimations have improved , so I’m really looking forward to the regular Field/Hunter rounds that are coming and hope to break 530 points this year to claim my Grand Bow Master title!

The next shoot is the Pentref March and Glamorgan this weekend as I mentioned above. They are FITA 24 target Mixed rounds, and the targets are much bigger – and closer! 12 of the targets are unmarked, but my range estimations are usually pretty good so I am hoping to put in a decent score and maybe get my next arrowhead award. We shall see!

Going Back Outside!

I’ve been doing a bit of work on my gear over the last weeks in the gap between the indoor target season ending and the field season kicking off to make sure everything is ready and as accurate as possible.

Maya has been set back up for outdoors with my FMJ arrows again. I set it up and got it shooting bullet holes, a vertical line on a walkback and I put it through the Chrono. At 55lb I am getting 255 fps average. This is a little slow for a field bow (usually in the 270’s at least) because these are such heavy arrows (419gn), but I love their performance in wind so I can live with that.

I put the numbers into Archers Advantage and generated my marks. A friend from WFAA let me shoot on her farm so I could get back to 80 yards and test them all. At the longer distances they were drifting low, about 2-3 yards out at 70 and 80 yards. I made a minor adjustment to the draw weight of the bow (about 1/3^rd of a turn on each limb bolt) which brought these up into the spot. The arrow flight is still good and the marks are accurate now for all my distances so I think we’ve nailed it!

I’m trialling one of the new LaunchTec rest blades at the moment. It’s made from an epoxy-composite instead of spring steel, so it won’t rust or bend, its more resilient and recovers faster. I tried it out on my bow and the draw is smoother and the shot is quieter. It seems to be very consistent and shoots well, but I’ve noticed a burning smell occasionally and it and it has scorched where the arrow flies off it a little. I’m going to keep an eye on this and will contact the company if it gets any worse, but it could just be settling down/breaking in.

I’ve done a bit of work on my Guardian as well. I took the cheap Decut rest I bought for it off and shelved it, it’s true what they say – buy cheap, buy twice! It’s awful and wobbles, so the Trophy Taker has gone back on it. It only took 10 minutes of tuning to get it shooting a straight line on a walkback, and my pins are still accurate for 20/30/40/50/60 yards, shooting great groups so she is ready to compete now as well.

The arrows I am using with it (ACC’s) fly perfectly, but they are a bit shot up. The wraps are scuffed up and only 5 of the 12 still have decent fletching, they’ve all been shot or torn off on pass-through’s. As this is a ‘hunting’ config, I want the arrows in bright visible colours like hunters do, so I’ve ordered neon orange fletches and nocks, and orange zebra stripe wraps! They are going to look crazy, but bright and easy to spot on 3D and Animal targets which is the point as this bow is my 3D rig.

Last weekend was a WFAA squad training session at Blandy Jenkins, and we focused on physical fitness and stamina. We completed courses of circuits, short runs and an ‘Ab-Blaster’ workout over the 2 days with lots of information and handouts on sports nutrition, and healthy eating to give us a physical edge in competition as well as our shooting skills. It was a real eye opener into just how bad for you some of the food I eat is and what I should really be aiming to eat. I have gone back to the gym since January anyway to shift some of the weight I put on last year (half a stone gone so far!) but the information and exercises we picked up at the course will be very useful.

So everything is all set and it’s less than a week now until the first shoot of the field season, a Marked Forrester at Fonmon. We’ve got some new WFAA members from Pentref who will be making their debut so it will be a good fun day, I just hope the weather is better than the last time I shot Fonmon!

Fingers crossed!!

Glamorgan County Championships

Hi everybody!

The Glamorgan County Championships were held today at St David's College in Cardiff. I shot in the afternoon session which was a good thing - our kids kept us up all night long so I was absolutely worn out in the morning!

It was a FITA 18 round, and I shot quite well for most of the day, dropping one 8 but the rest were in the gold. I finished on 568 around my usual kind of score which saw me take the bronze medal in 3rd place. I was chuffed with the result, and my club Pentref Bowmen also took the compound team trophy!

This was the last indoor shoot on my calendar, and a good result to round off the season! Now its time to look forwards to the Field season. I've been looking forward to going back outdoors, shooting in sports halls for so long with no field shoots on drives me crazy!

I've got a half holiday booked on Wednesday, so I am meeting my friend Chris and we're off up the club for the full afternoon to get everything sorted out. I have switched rests over tonight and set it up where it was before tweaking it for indoors, so it should be a nice easy transition. I just need to paper-tune to make sure the arrows are coming out straight, walkback to check centreshot and then make sure my marks are accurate.

I am trying a few new things out with my outdoor setup this season to try and chase down those few extra points and get my Grand Bow Master 530 score. One of them is the rest, I have ditched my usual .010 spring steel blade and I'm trying out the LaunchTec blades out. They are an epoxy-composite material instead of steel and offer a lot of advantages - they don't rust/snap, they recover faster  and don't 'chatter' on the draw, they are smoother and kinder to arrows and my personal fave that sold it for me - they don't bend. I've caught my rest before and bent it and its a bloody nightmare getting everything back in line where it was. I stress tested these blades including pushing one to destruction and they are bloody tough. I can bend it right down to the arrow shelf, let go and it springs immediately back to position with no set or deformity - I wouldn't even attempt that with a steel blade, so fingers crossed this will be more consistent and nicer to shoot with.

The other thing is a few minor changes to my arrows. I use Easton Navigator FMJ's outdoors and they are a heavy arrow but I like them, heavy and skinny - they cut through wind and fly well but I only have 100 grain points in them so the FOC was quite low at just under 8%. Maya is a speed bow, so a little extra weight isn't an issue so I switched the points out for 120gn which increased the foc to almost 10%. This should get a bit more 'ballistic' arrow flight and more accuracy at longer  range. I also changed fletches, switching my usual AAE Plastifletch Max for Flex Fletch shields. They are a bit lighter, but also slightly larger so I should get a bit more steering effect from them. I also moved them forwards slightly to improve face clearance.

They look good in my usual colours too, blue fletches and nocks on new white wraps...

So there we are, the arrows are ready and the bow is ready to be fine tuned to them. I shot the arrows across a chrono to check the speed and they have only slowed slightly from the extra weight in the points, coming out at 256fps where they were 261 before. Not much change, but the longer marks will change so I have generated new sight tapes from Archers Advantage and will print these off to try and make sure they are good as I can get them.

The first field shoot on my calendar is in exactly 3 weeks, a Marked Forrester round at Fomon, followed a week later by the Pentref March shoot & Glamorgan Field Championships, so it will be a good test to see if the changes have made any difference.

Fingers crossed!!