New Year, New Goals...

Mmm, bowporn!

So... I broke my arm in November: did a thorough job shivering the bulb ends off of both radius and ulna right at the wrist. So surgery and exercises later, and I am not up to shooting yet, but once my surgeon clears me, I'm in like Flynn.

I am making new arrows for myself: pretty Turkish style decorated arrows, and probably a couple dozen arrows for Borderline as well: there's the real news: we are up and running, insurance will be coming very soon and then I can get to work publishing our practices and events! I am over the moon on this end: so glad we have things finally moving forward.

So will be updating more news soon. Yay!

Golden Fleece

Attended an event in the Interior of BC, about five hours from home. It's a fun, light-hearted event that I contended for and won last year and was very happy to return to this year, as something of an anniversary trip with my sweetheart.

One of the components was archery, so I brought my lightweight pretty horsebow, and the longbow I have been messing about with,  and all my arrows, in hopes to get in some extra practice and connect with the very nice archer-boss up that way, Markus Pheilsmid.

The competition was in the early afternoon of Saturday and it was a glorious day for shooting. The targets were set up at rough;y 20 yards, so it was not too difficult a distance. The backdrop was a wide open field with a lot of rocks in the clay base, so there were a few broken arrows on the day. The targets themselves were the commercial mesh foam blocks, which are not friendly to glued on tips: there were a few lost tips at the end of the day too. That said, they do live for ever!

The first phase was a graduated shoot: you had to get into target 1 before moving on to target 2, etc. Only six arrows, and the maximum. 1 point per arrow in the first round, 2 points in the second, for a max score of 9. I got a 7. Apparently when the marshal is feeling mean they do it timed.

Second phase was a graduated plus/minus: first target was only worth plus or minus 1 and 2, second 3 and 4, third 2 and 5, misses count for nothing, so it was possible to do better by missing than by hitting. I had two of six arrows scoring in the target for a score of 4, bringing my total to 11.

Last round was a Marco Polo sheep picture, (the theme of this year's Golden Fleece was the Travels of Marco Polo), and you just had to hit the body or head of the sheep for 1 pt per arrow. I managed to completely miss the sheep, even though I put 5 out of 6 arrows in the target face. So with a final total score of 11, I came in third, out of 14 shooters.

I then helped by running the line, and tested a friend's draw length so I could make him some custom arrows. I will be setting to work on those soon, likely while working on cooking day food for the next event on the calendar.

I also got some good tips n how to improve my performance with the longbow from Archos Markus. I wish I had some cash, because I would have loved to unload a bunch on him, as he has a LOT of stock at great prices! I highly recommend anyone in the Interior in need of traditional archery supplies or instruction, seek out Markus, (mka Jeff Betke) at his shop Bow Sinister Archery.

Thwack Addicts

One of the boarding clients at my work made the mistake of expressing an interest in mounted archery, so I took the time to give her the basics as it was a way to get me back to shooting regularly at work. For the last two months we have been trying to get together 2 or three mornings a week to pend a half hour or so just shooting, working on form and flow.

She commented that the sound of the arrow hitting the target was addictive, and she is not wrong. Thwack! = a rush of positive endorphins and excitement: it's an immediate reward for success.

So I coined the term Thwack Addict to describe us. It's pretty accurate. I am looking forward to shooting more regularly.

She has really come along, and even gotten her husband involved. He's had two sessions with me already, and soon, theywill be going to our local archery supply store to get their basics set up, as belated Valentine's gifts. It's appropriate: Cupid is an archer, after all!

Daffodil

One of the challenges I had for myself was to compete in every archery tournament at every event I could attend this year. I had hoped to start that with Ursulmas and Lionsdale's Winter Tourney, but was unable to get to either of those events, so my first tournament shooting opportunity was Daffodil. I have only made it to three Lions Gate practices so far this year, but I have done some practice on my own at the Wode, in helping Ange discover the fun of archery, so while I am not quite up to speed, I am getting closer to my potential.

So we went to Daffodil. The site precluded shooting on the day of, which allowed me to finish a certain satirical song instead, and the feast was delicious. I had a headache Saturday night, so went to bed by 11 and actually got a full night's sleep. My head was still oochy, but not bad enough to dissuade me from going to the shoot.

We garbed up and headed off, and I was very glad I had taken the time on Friday to make sure my shooting gown would work, as I was confident in the fit and feel of it, and I looked pretty cute, too. :)

We had three practice ends, which the marshals were clear about how many bolts/arrows we could shoot, which I felt made it as fair as possible. I  will steal that for any tourney I am running.

There were two shoots, one in two stages and one in a single stage. The first was actually the one I was hopeful to do well in as the second phase of it was moving target on a timed round. However, the elimination was too tight: a 15 cm target when I haven't had an hour of warm-up is going to make me fight for contention. I fought, thought I got in, but I had hit the tape, not the target. We got the chance to shoot Norman, the seven foot tall cardboard knight on a pulley, although not times. Considering how little actual practice of my quick draw I have made time for, it's probably for the best as I could have embarassed myself mightily.

As it was, when it came time for the suspended target shoot. I did not do too badly. Two ends of six arrows, I scored 4 (two hits of the large daffodil targets) in my first end; and a fifteen in my second (three hits of the small sun targets) in the second.

That score of 19 put me into third place, behind James with 40 and Athelina with 25. we were in three different categories as well, so I placed first in period recurve. Since there were enough competitors, the shoot can be registered as a Grand Archery Tournament, which means I'd have a score on that chart.

The thing that was the most interesting about the suspended target shoot was the feeling. Once I had calibrated in on the larger target, I had the feeling as a took my spot for the second end that it was achievable to go for the smaller target. When I threw my first arrow downrange, I *knew* I was going to be able to put the arrows where I wanted. The feel was there. It was wonderful to find that sense again, it's been missing except fleetingly for the last year. It was there and it stayed. When I practiced on Monday, it was still there.

I had a great time shooting with Seagirtians, and am very glad Roesia and I got a chance to play with our old hometown. Aniko, Seagirt's Archery Officer, and Esa, the Champion who ran the tourneys, did a great job both explaining their shoots and keeping things running safely and smoothly, and it was just genuinely relaxed and fun.

Thanks for hosting us, Seagirt! Hope to shoot against many of you at Sea Lion War!

Building Positive Habits 1/29/2018

Went to LG practice on Sunday, and did not embarass myself.

Spend 40 minutes on Monday grinding through some 20 yd practice, including a few ends of blind nocking. I have my work cut out for me, but I am actually what I would call solid in certain specific things within my form. The blind nocking is *hard*, but I was starting to get the hang of it before I broke for lunch.

I have a LONG list of projects to get on with.

I feel like with some dedication, I could actually meet my expectations for myself.

Whee!