Lancaster Classic - 2018-01-25-

I Stayed in the Warehouse Hotel this year which was a bit expensive but made the experience much nicer. It was so nice to just go up to my room when I wanted a break or rest. I will stay there again. I was still suffering with pain in my leg and it got worse as the weekend went on but I did manage to shoot the tournament. However not extremely well. The group I shot with were great group who allowed me to be the archery who did not score which allowed me to take my time walking to and from the targets. I shot fair shoot 288 out of 330 both rounds. I ended up 45th out of 62 archers in my division which was a bit of improvement for my fist year last year where I finished 60 of 62 with one archer not shooting if I remember correctly. The night after I shot i began having very bad pain in my leg to the point I decided to leave and had to ask the hotel for help getting my bags to my car. The drive home was painful but other wise not bad.

Quewhiffle Creek 3D Shoot

My first 3D of the season. I could have shot Nuse Rivers Ice Breaker last week but the high of 29° made me chicken out.

I had planner to arrive at noon but got away late and did not arrive until 12:50PM. Was a bit worried about finding a group to shoot with but while I was on the practice range John for First Flight Archery walked up he was also shooting and we grouped up.

The Podium felt different, I had not shot in if four months but it still felt strange. Last year when I was shooting outdoor with my Prevail and 3D with the Podium I always felt like the bows felt the same to shoot. Also I was shooting everything high using my sight tape and ranger finder. John suggested subtracting 5 yards after I shot over a target at 42 yards. I did on the next target and the arrow langed well. However on the next two targets I was hitting low. But my bow felt normal in m y hands now so I went back to using what the ranger-finder said on my tape and was again hitting the target well. With the miss and trouble with range my first half was less the great but as I setteled into the bow my scores improved. Between 12 and 13 I tripped over a little tree stump that was left in the middle of the trail when someone cut down, why they left it sticking up two inches instead of cutting it off flush is beyond me. I am a bit sore but OK and was able to finish the round. THe quick release for my front stabilizer was bent and damaged. I will have to replace it if I can fin one. John removed the quick release and we screwed the stabilizer directly into the bow. Target 13 right after the fall I was a bit shaky and my arrow released early and I shot under the target. But John found my arrow, he also found my first missed shot arrow. I did shoot over the target on the 20 yard practice range and I did not find that arrow.

I found out today the Easton has discontinued the Full Bore shafts. I will miss them I really like this shaft. The replacement which is suppose to be about the same with improvements is called something like Super X 27. I will eventually have to switch to these.

My Birthday Archery - HNS Getting Ready for Lancaster and the 2nd Smackdown at First Flight Archery

My Today is my birthday and I am 65 years old. To celebrate my birthday I shot two tournaments one at HNS Archery in VA three hours North and the second home in Raleigh at First Flight.

At HNS I was shooting US Archery scoring attempting again to shoot a 285 to earn my Silver Olympic JOAD pin. I shot fair and only shot 279 both rounds not really bad but not good enough. I will just keep working on this and I will get there.

After my round I put on my red shirt and helped Andy with Judging the second line until 3PM when I had to leave to get back to First Flight for 6PM to shoot the Smackdown #2.

This was a Lancaster scored event. Today I shot my Olympic recurve in competition for the first time. There were only two of us in our category myself and Nelson. I shot a 216 he shot a 221 so I came in second in a two horse race but it was fun and good experience for me. I will keep working on this bow and try again at the Smackdown #3 in February. I did not get a photo of my scorecard for the Smack Down. I am annoyed about this maybe I have a score card in my case if I do I will add it here later.

JOAD this week 1-16-17-2018

Good class tonight. Spoke with John about my expectations for coaching during my JOAD classes. He had no problems with what I wanted and said they would provide the coaching I want. To that end he said I mostly needed to change my release technique from what I was doing to which was holding until I felt I was on target and then triggering the release to holding on target but instead of triggering the release I should slightly fingers and hand while continuing to pull back. Doing this cause my thumb which is warped around the trigger to release with out me actually triggering the trigger. I can do this and I spent the hold evening practicing this I spent over half the class shooting at a blank bail at 10 yards with out using the sight. The idea behind this technique is to have a surprise release. I am willing to try this but I must admit I am not sold on it being accurate but I will give it an honest rty.

Wednesday night canceled due to snow and I was sick Thursday so two days in a row not shooting my bow - strange feeling.

JOAD this week 1-9,10-18

Well I was the invisible archer again this week Tuesday night. Both John and Leslie walked around me talking to archers on both side of me but acting like I did not exist. I planned to speak to them about it Wednesday evening but they were not there having gone to the ATA. I was working on a soft release and not releasing too soon. I was still not feel very well so after 30 arrows scoring and being ignored all evening I left for the night.

Wednesday Steve, Johns dad was there minding the store. He asked me to help with a couple of customers which I was glad to do.

Wednesday night went a lot better. I was working with my Olympic bow and setting it up to use the X10s with the 150 grain tungsten points. I found out what a grain is, I had thought it was equivalent to a gram but it is not. one grain is equal to 0.0647989 grams. but where it comes from is that it is equal to 1/7000th of a pound. I do not know but I guess it is from there being 7000 of some grain like rice or wheat or corn in a pound of them.These arrow actually feel heaver and front heavy when I pick them from the quiver. All I had to do to shoot them was adjust the clicker. I was thinking I would also need to make sight adjustments but I did not need to. They have a much better flight path and I was able to really improve my groups. I will ask John to get me a second set of 6 points to do the other six X10s.

I spoke with Brian about my expectation for coaching in JOAD and he said he agreed with what I expected and would make sure he would give me at least one look each week and let me know how I was doing and what I could do to improve. He told me he did not know which of the two JOAD classes on Wednesday nights he should work with me. I told him it did not matter to me but if possible I would like to have at least half of the class after he coached me to work on what he tells me. He agreed with this.

This week he told me that I had a good grip when shooting but at the point when I release the arrow I grab the bow and that doing so would affect my arrow flight. He demonstrated this for me and suggested blank bailing with out a sight while concentrating on not grabbing the bow and letting both my hand and bow fall forward after the arrow has been released. I told him I had setup my bow so that it was balanced and that it did not tend to fall forward. He suggested I change this that the forward falling bow was part of most good Olympic archers routine and it is taught by coach Lee. So I removed one one ounce weight off of each rear stabilizer and installed them on my front stabilizer. this mage the bow a bit front heavy with out changing the weight of the bow and it does not want to tip forward after the arrow has been released. I worked the rest of the evening on no grabbing the bow and letting it and my left hand tip forward as part of my follow though. I felt like I made progress with this and that it did improve my groups. Photo is of my last group of the night I had several other all gold groups tonight.

HNS Archery Championship Series #3 & The Winter Season Opener at Bull Run

Nice drive up there, there was still a lot of snow on the ground but the roads were completely clear and traffic was light.
I have a rough first round shooing a 272 my second round was better at 282 but not good enough for my goal of 285 to get my silver JOAD olympic pin.

I did take second place in my division.

After my shoot I put on my Judge shirt for the first time and shadowed Mary who was judging this tournament. It was a wonder experience. She mostly let me run the whole tournament. I ran the clock, called three arrow disputes and worked with an archer who had equipment failures twice. I was a great experience and I learned a lot.

I got a hotel room in Fredericksburg VA which left me and hour drive to Bull Run instead of driving home from HNS then back to Bull Run the next morning - it was money well spent.

I shot fair at Bull Run or at least about the same as I shot at HNS. first round was 275 and the second was a 279. I am knocking at the door but not getting in, yet!

I did take first place in my division. :)

UPS had not delivered the medals so we will get them via mail.

Again I put on my Judge shirt and shadowed Andy as the Judge for the second line. Again Andy more or less had me run the shoot. At this shoot we have to start the clock manually and blow whistles manually. My electronic whistle got a good workout and it was worth what it cost me. I do need to put my

mouth blown whistle in my tools kit in case the electronic fails some time. Andy gave me a good deal of instruction about how judging works in the real world as apposed to what we heard in class. Not that what we heard in class was not useful but the real world experience cannot not be beaten. I had a really good time doing this.

JOAD this week 1-2,3-18

This was pin night and the first month where I am paying for two different session.
I am sure the John, Leslie and Brian think it is about getting pins and I will enjoy in being able to shoot for two different pins on two different style bows it is not about the pins.
For me it is about the coaching, I do not expect coaching on pin nights but I do the rest of the month. I do expect to get and I am not getting is for one of them to watch me shoot at least once during the class and either tell me I am doing well or offer something I might do to improve my archery and hopefully to do this with at least half the class remaining so I will have time to work on it while what they said is fresh in my mind.
I am going to have to ask John if my expectations are wrong and if it is I will stop paying for JOAD because it is the coaching I need and want..

I did do well on pin nights this month I shot at 217 with my Olympic and needed a 210 for my pin and the next night on my bare bow I shot a 72 and needed a 70 to get my pin. Even though I got the pin I was pretty disappointed with my shooting of this bow and shot if for the second JOAD class and figured out a good bit about this bow and string walking and shot a 143 which did make me feel better.

I had been planning to switch to the Olympic so I could try out the X-10 with the new Tunsin points but I needed to work on the bare bow so the new arrows would have to wait.