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!