Saturday 30th April 2011

@ SOPA

Overcast at times, sunny briefly, light and heavy rain periods

4x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored

36 arrow 70m, 122cm scored

2x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122 scored, posted DNF

Total 72

Shot a 288 for the first half, but with rain and drenching I didn't feel like getting soaked out for the third day, and my score for the first two ends weren't very good (44, 43) and it wasn't likely that my total score would impact my April standings (best being a 589 and 584, would have needed a 296 to beat the 584, and with a 87, it meant shooting 52.25 average for the next four ends).

Friday 29th April 2011

@ St Pauls
Overcast, rain, grey.

24x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm, unscored
2x 6 arrow ends @ 18m, 122cm face unscored with pegs as aiming points

Total 156.

Wasn't great in groups, or technique, tried on my new ESS shooting glasses and found them to work quite nicely in providing some yellow filter contrast.

Thursday 28th April 2011

@ SOPA

Grey, light to heavy rain, slight breeze at times, very cool and wet conditions.

15x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored

Total 90

First time I shot using a pin today for a long time since I switched over to an open ring.  I decided to go to using a pin again as for 90m and 70m, the size of the gold ring was quite small in the open ring and thus I had a big spread at times and also lack any distinct ability to aim off.

The shibuya ultima sight comes with a pin insert but I disliked it as the ball head was too big and also a garish orange, so I fashioned one from a tailors pin and superglued it to the sight ring.  It held up for the duration of the shoot so no vibration issues were detected durability wise, and it wasn't overly large at 70m though at 90m it may completely cover the gold.

Shooting wise, I didn't feel that I was shooting any worse than normal, though you can feel somewhat a little more aiming pressure on the bow arm in trying to control and reduce the wobble, I wasn't attempting to stop motion completely, but it might take a little more than just one session to get it comfortable in action.

The rain made it challenging however to maintain a good bow hand position as the wet was causing the grip to slide up and sink into the hand, with also the rain affecting arrow flight dropping them down several rings below normal.

I got my Easton Digital Bow Scale today, so measured up my bow finally and discovered that at my draw length I'm shooting about 42.5-42.9 lb, a little higher than I thought it would be.  I checked against some lb rated weights (free-weights) and the scale was pretty good against them (5.2lb for a 5lb, then 9.8lb for 10lb marked).  Which, I would say is pretty good as my old Axis setup was also digital scaled to 44.5lb, and this setup is shooting heavier arrows at a lighter weight, so the force behaviour in the system is much better.

There is a double QRE this weekend, and a single QRE the weekend following, before a brief break to Nationals.  After this weekend's QRE's, I think I will have to focus on 90m shooting, and also get some excellent sight settings for field purposes.

Sunday 24th April 2011

@ SOPA

No wind, bright sunny warm

12x 6 arrow ends @ 90m, 122cm, unscored

2x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored

Total 84

Put down arrows today at 90m to get a 90m setting.  Only took 1 end to dial into the board and a second end to adjust.

90m is still a total challenge for me in terms of control, angle and release action.  Having moved my anchor over to the center of my chin had seemingly helped cut down my left/right grouping though my 7mm ring open sight at 90m is huge and hard to keep centered.

I only shot two ends at 70m while I was helping another person with some possible form changes.

Once I got home I installed a small pin into my ring and will see how that goes if I can shoot with it or not.

Saturday 23rd April 2011

@ SOPA

No real wind of note, grey overcast with rain at times

3x  6 arrow ends @ 60m, 122cm warmup

Canberra

Total 108

Shot the club Canberra round.  Took a bit of time to warmup as usual, my sight settings for 60m were also not accurate since I had a new string but was using older settings from the Liverpool Bi-Tournament.  Fixing anchor position and string picture also took a bit of time to settle in.  Finished with a 787, reasonable, not great, but I'm not terribly upset with it.

Ricci told me that my release looked a lot better, and I wasn't dropping my bow arm like before, so progress is progress.

Session: 1 ( FITA 122cm at 60 metres )

1  = 47  47 2  = 47  94 3  = 50  144 4  = 48  192 5  = 51  243

Session: 2 ( FITA 122cm at 50 metres )

1  = 54  54 2  = 52  106 3  = 56  162 4  = 56  218 5  = 53  271

Session: 3 ( FITA 122cm at 40 metres )

1  = 56  56 2  = 53  109 3  = 55  164 4  = 53  217 5  = 56  273

Friday 22nd April 2011

@ St Pauls

Bright warm, gusty winds at times, turned overcast and cool towards the end

3x 3 arrow ends @ 30m, 80cm, warmup no scoring

8x 3 arrow ends @ 30m, 80cm, scored, club team shoot

5x 1 arrow ends @ 30m, 80cm, unscored 1-arrow shoot-off

Total 38.

Shot the club fun event against the UNSW Archery club as a team round-robin.  The shooting was conducted as 3 arrow ends, 6 arrows per archer per round, 4 rounds shot by each team.  Then afterwards, a fun event using a shoot-off.

I top scored the individual place with a 219 (56, 56, 56, 51) but my team didn't win.  I got a cushion as a prize lol.

Tuesday 19th April 2011

@ St Pauls

Warm, no wind, winter approaching so getting darker in the late afternoon.

18x 6 arrow ends @ 30m and 70m, 80cm no scoring.

Total 108

I shot some 30m and 70m today to work on form at the two general distances of note.  There is a club event on Friday that is a 30m event so I was ensuring my 30m settings were set correctly before putting in 12 ends at 70m.

In terms of shooting, I felt my release today was fairly consistent however my anchor was shifting a little.  I moved my clicker out about 1.5mm and it was definitely a lot smoother to bring through at 70m though at 30m I was hesitant since I think I was over-thinking the shot process and not wanting to release when my sight wasn't floating in the gold.  In terms of alignment, it was so so, not terrible, not fantastic, but there was no major visible fishtail behaviour as I have sometimes had in the past with poor shot execution.

At the moment, I am pondering the wisdom of attending a few international events.  There is the US Open Field Championships, the US Open Target Championships, the Hoyt Open, the Canadian Open Nationals, and then the World Indoor Cup in Singapore.  I would love to get the international experience, but it is a matter of cost vs value.  

Talking to James Larven, the CEO of Archery Australia Inc. he recommended me to attend everything possible as the experience is invaluable even if I would be totally outclassed by the archers there and I wouldn't be eligible to win any placings/awards etc.  I agree.  In terms of costs for the US Open Nationals, the estimate is about $2200 for flights (I'm assuming it's going to be dirt cheap travel method, worse carrier in economy etc) and about $140+ for entry/event + accomodation, travel, food etc.  Someone told me that to shoot a 2 week circuit, it would be about $6000, which kinda is probably bout right once you incorporate everything into it ($6000-$2200 = $271/day, so putting in hotel, car hire, food, it's about right).

Its quite a bit of money.... will have to ponder a little, but can't ponder too long....

Friday 15th April 2011

@ Waringah Archers

Started warm, bright, sunny, turned grey, cool, gusty winds throughout.

3x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm, warmup

F70/720

3x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm, warmup

F70/720

Total 180

I was hoping for a reasonable score today after having changed by draw style, and my anchor, and shooting using a blind properly.  At the Liverpool shoot, at 60m I was putting down 51's, so another 10m distance I was hoping I wouldn't be shooting worse by much but the previous week at the SOPA club shoot I was shooting quite poorly.

It was a mixed day I felt in that while I shot really well and my scores were actually pretty good I thought, I was annoyed and disappointed by the fact that I was making so many mistakes along the way.

I was putting in good ends but nearly every end that wasn't a 50+ score, was a lone six, usually a little low, and at times to the left.  The left positioning is due to alignment since I changed my anchor position to be more front-of-chin, and the low, well, just poor execution and expansion I guess.

I was also kicking myself since I shot a miss also.  It went through the clicker and I had a total collapse including the release.  Very annoying.

Scores from the double F70/720:

Round 1

Set 1: 48 47 49 52 47 50 = 293

Set 2: 50 46 48 52 53 47 = 296

Total: 589

Round 2

Set 1: 48 48 46 52 51 48 = 293

Set 2: 54 55 45 39 (with the miss) 46 52 = 291

Total: 584

Had I not missed, the 291 could have been a possible 300 for the first time in an event... ~sigh~.  It doesn't really matter since it's all a learning experience.

I was really happy with good execution in much of the shooting.  The wind wasn't a huge factor for me I felt, but I had issue with expansion through the clicker at times, so I'm still working on that, and I might need to shift my clicker a mm or so out too since my anchor has shifted from side on to front of chin.  Just got to keep shooting.

Wednesday 13th April 2011

@ Sefton

Bright, warm

12x 6 arrow ends @ 18m, 40cm spot unscored

Total 72

After some discussion with Michael via email, we established that I still needed nose contact with the string.  Shifting the anchor slightly to the right was acceptable so long as it stayed at the front square position of the mandible, and a slight head tilt was also acceptable to achieve this if required.

I attempted this and found it to be pretty successful, with solid groups, and through the process also destroying three nocks, two that were in the 10/X ring, one in the 9.

Tuesday 12th April 2011

@ Sefton

Warm, slight wind gusts, Sunny

16x 6 arrow ends @ 18m, 40cm spot, unscored

Total 96

Worked on getting my anchor to the center of my chin as per Sunday's development with Michael.  Was having some problems on Sunday regarding my vision and so with a blind put onto my glasses, I had no problems with the double vision.  Shooting wise, it took a while to settle into anchoring and towards the end with the appropriate amount of tilt I was able to shoot much more consistently, putting 5 out of 6 consistently into the gold comfortably, with ends of all-gold also.  

Interestingly without changing my draw length, using the more centered anchor to the middle of my chin, I have now lost all of my anchor contact with my nose... but it doesn't seem to have much detrimental affects on my shooting that I could tell at this distance and conditions.

Sunday 10th April 2011

@ Northern Archers

Started warm and sunny, turned overcast and rain

7x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored

2x 6 arrow ends @ 20m, blank

4x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored

Total 78

Went to the Northern Archers Development Day.  Michael Naray was the coach for the recurve archers and provided a 2hr session on things to consider when shooting.  Since I was a lot more advanced than the others in my session group, I probably didn't pick up as much as the others did but I did get refreshed and alternative thoughts on how things are done.

Points for me that I took in is that I am not as centered in my chin position anchor as I thought.  I should do more work in positioning the string more to the left to get centered.  This however in turn causes a shift in sight picture and I need to use a blind on my left otherwise I have double vision on the sight picture.  Fixable but a slight challenge due to the glasses I wear.

Balance wise, I could have a slightly greater tilt forward to assist in head position to the string, but it is only slight.  Besides this, my hand contact is fairly good but just have to make sure that my elbow isn't too low.  Between the chin and in line with the ear is okay, but hand position contact against the ramus of the jaw is more important.

Positive notes is that my shoulder alignment and elbow alignment behind the arrow is very good.

The other thing that I also learnt was an exercise to held having a relaxed bow hand.

Overall it was a really useful session I thought, and I hope the other three from the club who attended also learnt a lot.

Saturday 9th April 2011

@ SOPA
Warm, a little wind

3x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored
70m/720 round
2x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm Matchplay round

Total 102

Shot the club Individual Matchplay round today.  After not shooting for a week, it really messed up my shooting it would seem.  My releases were going to buggery and plucking out wildly.  Will just have to chalk it down as a poor day of shooting and hope I shoot a bit better tomorrow at the Northern Development day.

Scorecard below for the 70m/720

Session: 1 ( FITA 122cm at 70 metres )
1 = 43 43
2 = 44 87
3 = 44 131
4 = 45 176
5 = 48 224
6 = 52 276
Session: 2 ( FITA 122cm at 70 metres )
1 = 46 46
2 = 49 95
3 = 42 137
4 = 43 180
5 = 43 223
6 = 47 270

Sunday 3rd April 2011

@ Liverpool City Archers

Sunny, no wind

30 arrows warmup at various distances on field faces

24 Target Marked FITA Field round

Total 102

Shot the second day of the Liverpool Bi-Tournament today with the field round.

Having only shot the field course once before with a previous score of 288, I was hoping for an improvement in score relative to a rating of 82 (331).  That said, I wasn't very confident in my field settings nor being able to adjust and compensate appropriately.  I only normally shoot field for Nationals, and haven't even shot State Field either.

Todays score was a 314, including 1 miss where I set my sight setting to 11 by mistake instead of 1, missing the 20cm bugs eye at 15m entire by about 2cm above the centerline.  Other than that, besides one target where my sight settings were wildly off (a 45m downhill shot off a mound position) the rest were reasonable.  On the rating tables, a 314 is a 76,

Overall in the two-day event, I placed second, edging out Steve Kilgannon by five points across the two days, having beaten him by 15 points yesterday with him clearing me on the field by 10 points today.  Sadly I didn't shoot sufficiently to catch up to Michael.  But, coming second I think in a range of really good archers is pretty good methinks.  

Saturday 2nd April 2011

@ Liverpool City Archers

Overcast at times, sunny at times, gusty at times.

Shooting the Liverpool City Archery Club Bi-Tournament Day 1 - Target

2x 6 arrow ends @ 60m, 122cm warmup

Adelaide (60m, 50m 122cm, 40m, 30m 80cm, 5x 6 arrow ends)

Total 132

Today was the first time Zeus came out to an event.  Still utilizing the 'new' NHC method, I shot an Adelaide round.  I was hoping for a 1087 (equal to a 1200 FITA90 score) to see how my progress was going.  Unfortunately we only had 2 ends of practice, which was much shorter than 20min of practice, and definitely not enough for me to really get geared up, I did use the gomukyu to try to warm up some more but it still isn't enough.  I generally need about 4-6 ends to get properly set unfortunately, though I hope with more shooting that might settle down faster.

60m - 260, averaging a 52

50m - 267, averaging a 53

40m - 262, averaging a 52

30m - 282, averaging a 56

Total 1071

While it wasn't quite the 1078 I hoped for, it isn't terribly too far off.  My former coach Michael Naray shot a 1090, so I nearly caught him.  I had 2 arrows that were 6's and that was really the worst of it, thats an easy 6 points thrown away.  Putting it into ratings, a 1200/1078 is a 82, while a 1071 is a 80 (equal to 1185 FITA90, which is right there with the 1186 I shot at the Northern FITA Star).

What I've realised today is that I really do a lot better when I let down if the expansion isn't working.  I also need the clock to manage my shooting better instead of rushing.

Speaking with Michael beforehand he told me that if I was able to get a consistently light enough anchor with the tiny movement through the clicker then it would be great, and that I should start really deep in the grip and let the transfer roll the string to the joint space.  I might need to play with my clicker position some more if I can settle a consistent draw and anchor position.

A solid morning of shooting.  Field up tomorrow.