A Day of Highs and Lows

Today's archery practice was … interesting. Let me start off, though, with some most excellent news:

JOHN MADE BOWMAN!!! WOOOOOO!!!!!

During the last timed end, I was actually watching where his arrows landed rather than where my own did. I'm SO over-the-moon excited for him!

I began practice today with a right-handed longbow. It was every bit as awkward as I expected it to be--every muscle in my body tried to revolt against what I was asking it to do. I had to consciously think of everything, from which foot was on which side of the line, to which eye I was aiming with, to where my aim point was. It all felt so foreign.

I scored 8 points on my first end at 20 yards, and 5 points on the second end. 😂 I do think that with monumental amounts of practice, though, I could become at least proficient in shooting right-handed.

Then I switched back to my own bow and began both a Royal Round and the IKAC with a timed end at 20 yards. It was like my entire body heaved a sigh of relief and relaxed … and it showed in my shooting. I scored 21 points!

That was immediately followed by what is probably the worst untimed, 20-yard end I've ever shot. I scored three points. THREE! I don't even know what to do with that. I tried to cut myself some slack, given my mental state this weekend, but oy. That bugged me for the rest of the day.

I managed to bounce back, though, with a decent 9 at the 30 and 5 at the 40. I went right into my second Royal Round. Ironically, both RRs were a total of 38 points (yay, consistency?).

20: 3
20T: 21
30: 9
40: 5
TOT: 38

20: 16
20T: 15
30: 5
40: 3
TOT: 38

WELL below where I've been shooting this season, but again, given everything, I guess I'll take what I can get. We did the timed ends at 30 and 40 to finish off the IKAC, and my score wound up totaling 95 points--just 4 points shy of my current record. That was surprising. If I hadn't had such an atrocious 20-yard end, I'd have had a new record.

20: 3, 16
20T: 21, 15
30: 9, 5
30T: 4, 11
40: 5, 3
40T: 3, 0
TOT: 95

We were pretty tired by the end of the IKAC, but wanted to take a crack at the SSAC as well.

It didn't go well, score-wise. BUT! I did manage to do this:

And I was pretty proud of it. 😊

Archery in the Fall

Our outdoor archery season is rapidly drawing to a close here in the northeast. I've been trying to get in as much shooting as possible in the time we have left.

On September 29, I had a really off day. I shot both the IKAC (including two RRs) and the SSAC.

20: 14, 20
20T: 9, 14
30: 3, 5
30T: 3, 3
40: 1, 2
40T: 0, 0
TOT: 74

The higher of the two RRs was:

20: 20
20T: 14
30: 5
40: 2
TOT: 41

Ugh!

The SSAC was equally awful that day. I did the Full Course and the Par 3.

Full
Timed: 30
Untimed: 17
TOT: 47

Par 3
Timed: 13
Untimed: 21
TOT: 34

For comparison purposes, my scores on record for the SSAC are 32 (shot the following weekend) for the Full Course and 29 for the Par 3 (which I shot the prior weekend).

That awful day notwithstanding, however, I have some good news to report: as of the September update, my Royal Round average has increased to 54.67! I am sooooo close to Bowman, I can smell it. If I can figure out a way to practice frequently throughout the winter, I feel like I may be able to kick off the 2020 archery season with a 60+ average.

On a non-score-related front, I had an epiphany at the range today. Elena let me try shooting her (right-handed) bow. To do so, I had to adjust my gear. I moved my shooting glove to my right hand, and I FLIPPED MY BACK QUIVER TO THE OTHER SHOULDER.

Why did I yell that, you ask?

My quiver is DESIGNED FOR A RIGHT-HANDED ARCHER.

That's why it slips constantly, and I feel like I'm wrestling with it all the time. This thing has driven me bonkers for more than a decade, but I just assumed that that's kinda just what back quivers do when you're a well-endowed woman (my seatbelt in my car also slides all over the place on me, so the logic seemed sound). But OMG. When I put that quiver on the other way this afternoon, it was like night and day. That thing was glued in place.

I'm so mad.

I'm also relieved, because as a leatherworker it should be a simple matter for me to alter it to a left-handed setup.

What will it be like to not have to fight my quiver anymore?!

I can't wait to find out.

September (So Far)

I went from No Archery Whatsoever for most of the summer into All Archery All the Time for the past few weeks!

Hunter's Moon was Aug. 31 and Sept. 1. I didn't shoot at all on Saturday, because after being on my feet for two hours straight retaining for Her Highness, I just didn't feel up to more standing/walking. But Sunday I got my bow out. There was a novelty shoot in addition to the standard RR. I started off the day focusing on 40 yards, which turned out to be a Series of Frustrating Events. No matter what I tried, I couldn't seem to even hit backstop, nevermind achieve scoring arrows.

...until I shifted one gate to the right.

I literally spent an hour shooting from the same spot, trying to control everything from my aim point to my stance to my breathing, with no success. I don't know WHY shifting one gate to the right made the difference, but it was a good reminder of a lesson I had learned earlier this season (and then forgotten about during my hiatus): if something isn't working, change things up.

I only shot a 44 for my RR that day, but I submitted the score anyway. It won't affect my average, and it helps document archery participation (go, Omnibus Peerage!).

The following weekend was Panther Vale's annual archery event, Lost Tip. It's one of my three favorite archery events of the year (along with On Target down in Atlantia, and the Coppertree Holiday Shoot out in AEthelmearc). It featured three ranges: a static range with RR targets and two timed novelty shoots, a walking range with 3D targets in the woods, and a roving range that involved lobbing shots at unknown distances, trying to get as close to a stake in the ground as possible.

The last time I went to Lost Tip, I did the static range and the roving range. Therefore, this year I really wanted to make sure I did the walking range. As a fully warranted marshal, I got to lead my own group through the course, which was cool. The two archers that accompanied me were delightful, and though we lost a few arrows in the brush, we had a great time!

I wound up with a final score of exactly 100 points for the day, which landed me in third place of the archers who submitted their scoresheets! First place was 169, and second was 137.

Lost Tip RR
20: 15
20T: 19
30: 10
40: 10
TOT: 54

The very next day was Concordia's archery practice, which I was actually running because John was out of town. Elena was my hero, though--she came out to support me even though she couldn't shoot (fresh arm tattoo), and she actually ran the line the whole time so that I could actually shoot! I nailed down two RRs, the higher of which I submitted, and then I went on to do the extra timed ends to complete my first-ever IKAC!

9/8/19 Practice RR
20: 18
20T: 12
30: 16
40: 7
TOT: 53

9/8/19 IKAC
20: 18, 14
20T: 12, 12
30: 16, 11
30T: 3, 5
40: 7, 1
40T: 0, 0
TOT: 99

Yesterday, John was back in town for archery practice. I drew up a target face for the fall SSAC, and we set that up along with the 20, 30, and 40 RR targets. Counting the score for the SSAC was … trying. It requires math! For this particular shoot, a LOW score is better.

Fall SSAC
Timed: 20
Untimed: 14
Total: 34

Then I switched over to shooting the RR. At the 20, I adjusted my stance slightly--after drawing, I kicked my left hip back a tick, which I think improved my total body alignment, because … wow. I mean, the difference was measurable and immediate. I explained to John what I had done differently, and he tried it too--with the same immediate improvement. 😮 I'm not seeing a LOT of difference at 30 and 40 yards with this yet, but John also saw improvement at 30.

9/15/19 Practice RR
20: 25
20T: 16
30: 10
40: 4
TOT: 55

We're going to offer a special, extended practice option next weekend, explicitly for folks who want to shoot the IKAC. And the EK's top IKAC archer (and newest Tyger of the East!), Peter the Red, may be joining us at a practice in the not-too-distant future--I look forward to the opportunity to watch him shoot, and maybe even receive some guidance from him!