Monday 31st January 2011

@ SOPA

Very hot, odd breeze but not of note, very bright.

3x 12 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored

3x 12 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored

3x 12 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm scored

3x 12 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm scored

1x 12 arrow end @ 60m, 122cm unscored

1x 12 arrow end @ 40m, 122cm unscored

1x 12 arrow end @ 50m, 122cm unscored

Total 180 

I wound in my bow 2 turns today on both limb bolts as I felt that I was at the stage where I could still maintain my control of the shot while continuing to improve and increase my strength and shooting fitness.  My bow scale is a peice of junk and before winding in it measured 40lb, and after winding in, it measured 40lb.  Lucky for me, at SOPA they had an Easton Bow Force Mapper, a really fantastic device, and I clocked in a 44.8lb, 44.5 and 44.8lb measurements on three draws, so its safe to say, I'm drawing about 44.5lb at least.  I find this a little surprising as my draw length is pretty much smack on 28" (my shafts are 704mm (27.7") + nock and point), and with 42lb limbs, with them bottomed out, I'd expect them to be lower than 42lb, and with two turns in, they're around the middle of the range, so would be at 42lb.  In any case, I wasn't super concerned so long as my arrows grouped nicely and I could shoot it well.

I put down 72 in 12 arrow lots (with a water break every 3 ends) to set a new sight setting, and was grouping pretty well.  I wasn't feeling tired on the draw arm, but my bow shoulder on the anterior deltoid was getting tired from the 12 arrow ends.  After this I shot a 72 arrow QRE practice still in 12 arrow ends, and ended up with a 278 and 291, for a 569, so I was really happy with that considering with 12 arrow ends, the concentration and fatigue related issues, I still shot as well as my current best actual QRE (vs the 605 practice QRE on Saturday).

After this, I completed the session by putting down an end of 12 at 60, 50 and 40 meters for settings to use on the Canberra/FITA900 events in the coming fortnight.

One thing to note as I was getting tired, was seeing the drop of my shooting group from the gold ring down to the 7 ring when I was letting my arm drop.  Upon focusing with the intent to keep my arm up through the followthrough, the group returned to its proper height position centered in the gold.