Tuesday 20th September 2011

@ St Pauls

Very windy, gusty, bright and sunny

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

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

Total 48

Way too windy to really shoot terribly well, very gusty.  I was feeling a bit strained trying to shoot in the wind so decided to stop.  Not too long afterwards, my pinky finger knuckle on my right hand also started to ache, so not quite sure what was going on there.

Monday 19th September 2011

@ Northern

Warm, sunny, light to moderate winds at times

3x 6 arrow ends @ 90m, 122cm unscored

FITA90 practice

Total 162

Practiced a FITA90 today in preparation for the State Championships this coming weekend.  I shot straight through with only water and the time to move distance and change target faces, so no food or energy replenishment.

Was having some left/right issues, but my sight settings from uni were pretty good and spot on enough for me to put in good groups when my release action was clean

I put through an 1178 today, only 10 points off my competition PB and a bit better than the 1151 from the other week.

Distance scores were much better, though the disappointment for today was my 30m score, though I was shooting 6 arrow ends through 50m and 30m instead of 3 arrow ends.

The distance scores were 265, 296, 292 and 325.  The 325 did hurt quite a bit, and was pretty much what dragged it down somewhat since the 296 and 292 are really solid in terms of being at that 300 point, and the 265 is also getting close to the aim of a 270, 300, 300 and 330 breakpoint 1200 score.  It is encouraging though that things are slowing coming together when everything happens right.

Friday 16th September 2011

@ St Pauls

Sunny, warm, light winds

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

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

Total 108

Did some practice at 90m and 70m today, but stopped early as my left elbow tendon was feeling a bit sore and didn't want to aggravate any kind of potential tendinitis.  Todays releases were much better and I had a better control over my shooting cycle and timing. 

For 90m, I was grouping better, averaging between 41 to 48, and for 70m, around 45 for the worst spray, up to a 56, but more around the 51 mark, so I was happy to be back where I expected my shooting to be.

I strained my right side rhomboid somehow and its still a bit sore and stiff, twinges in pain a little, so shooting the lower volume today probably wasn't the worst idea I could have had.

Tuesday 13th September 2011

@ St Pauls

Warm, interesting wind behaviour, bright.

3x 6 arrow ends @ 90m, 122cm unscored

6x 6 arrow ends @ 90m, 122cm scored

1x 6 arrow end @ 70m, 122cm unscored

6x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm scored

6x 6 arrow ends @ 50m, 80cm scored

6x 6 arrow ends @ 30m, 80cm scored

Total 168

I tried to shoot a FITA90 practice today, and besides one hiccup, I got through the arrows, rather mediocre though.  I forgot to move my sight pin for the first shot of 70m, so just decided to use the round as a practice end for sight setting purposes.

I was a bit tired, didn't sleep so well, and had release problems all afternoon.  Poor releases sent my shots right and high regularly.  Being able to send shots down with very relaxed releases went straight, but the winds were playing up with switching left and right inconsistently.  Enough so at distance to be pushing my shots around quite far.

Score wise, I put down 248, 297, 286 and 320.19 10's and 6 X's.  Total 1151.

Looking at them score wise, they were all down across the board, though I was happy with the 297 at 70m as it was decent relative to how I felt they were shot.  90m was solid at least, though 50m and 30m were a bit ordinary.  I haven't shot a 320 at 30m for a while, usually up in the 330 area.  That said, a 1151 total isn't terrible either for how I felt I shot today.

Monday 12th September 2011

@ Northern

Warm, Sunny, no wind of note, brief cloud period

3x 12 arrow ends @ 90m, 122cm unscored

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

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

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

Total 144

I tried to get in some strength and distance practice today, alternating between 12 arrow ends and 6 arrow ends, and I can say I definitely felt my back in use by the end of it.  I was finding that as I got tired, my hand was lifting off my face so I was losing my anchoring, so something to be aware of when shooting tired.

Sunday 11th September 2011

@ Northern

Some wind, a little gusty at times, warm, sunny

4x 6 arrow ends @ 60m, 122cm warmup

FITA900

Total 114

Felt good today, some very solid shooting, improving in terms of not shooting most bad shots and letting down, a few odd shots that might be anchoring related or something to do with finger pressure, but I was pretty happy overall with how the shoot went, good execution.

For the distances, I shot 264, 272 and 277, so a small creep in scores as the distances got shorter, to be expected when on the large face, moreso less 8's than more 10s.  Total score being a 813 which turns out to be a new PB for me by 7 points so very happy with that.

Saturday 10th September 2011

@ Northern Archers

Very windy, some sun, some cloud.

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

12x 3 arrow ends @ 50m, 80cm unscored

14x 3 arrow ends @ 30m, 80cm unscored

Total 96

I visited Northern today with the intention of getting in some light practice and to join up as an Associate member since my other club I used last financial year no longer accepts Associate Memberships due to 'political' reasons.

When I arrived though, I found that some guys from UNSW had started shooting a FITA90 practice for the State Open in a fortnights time.  So, I joined in with them, finishing off the shoot, but not scoring at all.  My 70m execution was a bit fiddly because the wind gusts were really kicking the buggery out of me in holding still, and 50m wasn't much better, but when we got down to the 30m, I was happy enough to finish strongly, shooting my way through and only dropping 1 arrow outside the gold into the 8 ring, so a very solid finish I felt.

Tomorrow is the Northern FITA900, so will see if I can get over the 806 I shot at the start of the year at Waringah.  My estimates put me at about a 810, so if I can make that, I'll be happy enough.

Friday 9th September 2011

@ St Pauls

Cold, light rain at times, light wind, not of note to shooting but to windchill, sunny periods at times generally cloudy and overcast.

1x 7 arrow end @ 60m, 122cm unscored

1x 8 arrow end @ 60m, 122cm unscored

6x 9 arrow ends @ 60m, 122cm unscored

5x 9 arrow ends @ 50m, 122cm unscored

5x 9 arrow ends @ 40m, 122cm unscored

4x 9 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored

1x 9 arrow end @ 90m, 122cm unscored

Total 213

I wanted to get some practice in for the Northern FITA900 on Sunday, so put through some 60,50 and 40m practice.  But to bulk up my shooting fitness I put through 9 arrow ends instead of the six and pulled through okay.

For most of the ends, I was getting a good 7 or more arrows into the gold, so settings were pretty decent and form was in a good shape, with the exception of the 70m and 90m that was conducted at the end as someone from UNSW visited wanted to try them with their new bow setup.

Tuesday 6th September 2011

@ St Pauls,

Warm, slightly breezy but not particularly gusty or strong, sunny

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

17x 6 arrow ends @ 70m, 122cm unscored

1x 7 arrow end @ 70m, 122cm unscored

Total 181.

Was practising my longer distances for the State Open Championships since 90m scores always kill my FITA90 score.  I had a good 12 ends for 90m I felt, scoring consistently in the low to mid 40's, average score but the execution felt better.  The smaller pin allowed me to feel more relaxed as I could see more of the target than before, even though I still had obstruction from my stabilizer.

I moved up to 70m, and put down a extended session.  I had good ends, reasonable ends, and normal ends, putting in between 45 to 57, with a good half in the 52, 53 point range.  Consistency is still lacking as some ends will be quite tight, while others are ballooned out.  But on average, it is showing that there has been good improvement though in the last two months.

I have pretty much settled into finishing this year shooting wise, I don't see much point in me caring about national rankings anymore, or winning events, rather, returning to the feeling of enjoying my shooting, as it is paramount to me shooting long term.  The Northern FITA900 is on this weekend, then a fortnight for the State Championships, then in December the City of Sydney.  There are a few other QRE's in the middle that I may or may not go to, since it really doesn't matter anymore for me at this point, even if I have the same goal long term, but rather enjoy what I'm shooting, and slowly creep up in my improvements.

Friday 2nd September 2011

@ St Pauls

Windy to start, quite cool, settled down and turned warm late afternoon

7x 6 arrow ends @ 30m, 80cm unscored

7x 6 arrow ends @ 50m, 80cm unscored

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

Total 120

Tested out the AAE pin today at standard distances, though it was hard to tell exactly since the wind was pushing me around quite considerably.  It made it hard to shoot so harder to gauge how the pin behaviour would affect my shooting as such.  I think shooting in the wind also has strained my shoulder a little bit as I am feeling somewhat from it.

30m and 50m in good light conditions, I was able to float the pin fine, though at 70m as light was fading a little and cloud cover appearing, the target shade went dull which made it difficult to aim as well with the brighter pin.  I would imagine though that a normal shoot conditions means closer at the end of the day, so it wouldn't be as much of an issue, at least for target shooting, not sure how it would be for field shooting.

Execution for 30m and 50m was pretty solid I felt, but 70m was a bit lacking, either just because I wasn't really happy with how the light was helping me not aim or just from being tired with the wind and cold.  Was scoring 54-57's at 30m, and 50-52 at 50m, and 45-52 at 70m, so while not terrible for 70m, probably mediocre really.

Thursday 1st September 2011 - AAE Gold Aiming Aperture

@ Sefton

Warm, average day

6x 6 arrow ends @ 8m, blank

Total 36

I received a new sight pin, so installed and tested it out.  The AAE Gold Aiming Aperture isn't cheap by most peoples standard, but it does come with a good array of features.  The pin has a similarly sized ring to the stock Shibuya pin that comes with the Ultima Recurve but the main 'feature' really is that it has a 0.019" (or 0.5mm) fibre optic pin.  The problem I had with the Shibuya is that their pin comes with a curled spring metal insert with an orange blob that was just simply way too big to be of any decent use.  It wasn't an overaiming issue but rather obscured vision too much for my preferences.  I had replaced it with the end of a tailors pin I put in, but this 0.019" fibre makes that look obese.

The fibre holder is very snug, and in the kit it comes with a pink/orange, blue, yellow/green fibres.  Up to you what you want to use, I switched out the defaulted pink to the green.  It has a soft plastic sleeve to thread the fibre into, and there are two attachment points for the sleeve that hold it quite firmly.

The quality of the fibre is also really great, it isn't a brittle fibre like the fibres that used to come with the Titan Scope that I have, quite soft, flexible and suits this application perfectly.  In average-moderate light conditions, its bright, and in sunny conditions, it looks like a LED light source.  Originally a concern that it might be too bright.

It seemed to be okay shooting at home, so will put it to the test out on the range.