60 Yards Baby!

Today, the fearless The Ageing Archer (Richard) and I popped along to Crystal Palace Bowmen in Beckenham.  Having spent the last 12 months concentrating on indoor ranges and competitions we thought it was time that we breathed some fresh air and head outdoors.  And boy did we choose a doosey of a day for it.  The sun was high in the sky, the temp was rising and there was very little wind.  Bingo!

So we racked up to the site which is the Old Dunstonian's Sports Club.  It comes complete with its own club house and parking area.  Perfect!

The club's members turned out to be very friendly and it wasn't very long before we started setting up our gear.  Mark (the club secretary) turned up and recognised us from our indoor competitions.  That's always a good sign.  Before he would allow us to shoot he did a quick kit inspection.  It turns out that my setup needed a bit more work but it was welcome criticism as it pointed out a few failings.  For starters, the vertical sight rod was not inline with the riser.  Yikes.

Anyway, once our kit passed inspection we fired a few arrows downrange.  Naturally Richard was nailing the gold at 20yds.  Mine had a few more reds in it but I wasn't too disatisfied.  Mark had more words for us.  We both had bad habits when it came to elbows, string fingers and stance.  And boy was my stance in need of correction.  It turns out that my shoulders are rounded and I need to straighten up.  It wasn't long before Mark had that sorted.  Oh and unbelievably he managed to add an extra half inch to my draw which meant I was able to move the clicker back a half inch.

So, after some sound and sage coaching tips we ventured into unknown territory ... 40yds.  Again Mark had advice for us.  We moved our sights as directed and ... we both scored hits at 40yds!  Not a single arrow missed.  And nor did we miss in the following ends neither!  So, with our confidence riding high we moved the target back to 60yds!

Ok, so I started to miss a few here.  At one point I had most of the shooters looking for my arrow.  But by the end of it I was pretty pleased with my performance.

The arrow in the 10 is mine :)

Overall we thoroughly enjoyed our day.  The Club is great, good venue and the members are friendly.  We paid £1 as visitors (full members pay approx £30-40 a year with no range fees) but Mark gave us over an hour of coaching.  More importantly, the coaching was immediately effective.  Mark clearly knows his stuff.

I won't be hesitating in sending back the forms for associate membership.

The Mybo Clicker

I've been testing a new clicker these last couple of weeks and I have to say ... it rocks!

For those that don't know, a clicker is used as an indicator that your draw is at a particular set distance.  If set correctly, each shot should be achieved with the same draw distance and stance and body position.  And as we all know, good archery is all about repetition.

Most clickers are a straight piece of metal or carbon.  Those of you who are a bit more eagle eyed will notice that the Mybo clicker is not .. straight.  The curved edge (when properly set) ensures that the contact point to the arrows point is vertical.  This provides a more consistent result.

Well, whether you believe the science or not ... I definately think it works.  I gave up on my previous clicker after a few sessions.  This one has already outlasted that record.

Not bad for approx £7