HIT/MISS TARGETS

I made up a hit/miss face target face today so that the gold was only 100mm in size. I needed to see if the dot I have been using was still small enough for use with this new face. It turned out I did not have to change a things and I could just concentrate on shooting and fine tuning things. Once I had settled in with a few practice ends, I scored 6 ends(36 shots) and ended up with 33 hits and 3 misses and it scored a 352... pretty happy with it, just need to fine tune the draw length now and play around with the B-Stinger stabilizers some more and the click in the releases.

GETTING READY FOR WORLD CUP #2 - TURKEY

Again it seems a spot has become available but this time due to an injury. I have accepted the spot and I am looking forward at having another crack at the worlds best.
This time however, it will be the first time that compounds will be trying the new compound round at 50mtrs and also the new hit/miss system.
Going to be a busy week with testing new equipment and getting ready.

B-STINGER STABILIZERS ARRIVE

The posty dropped off a package this morning and in side were the NEW B-STINGER stabilizers to try and test out.
There has been a lot of talk about these rods and I chatted with several archers at World Cup #1 who were using them.... all said they found an improvement with their aiming and less vibration.... they had even done testing to see the vibration that runs through the body after the shot and found that using these rods, the body was having to deal with less shock/vibration.

Anyway, I will test it out and see how it all goes and feels.

RELEASE AIDS - USING THE CLICK

I have been getting very frustrated lately with the inconsistent timing of my shots, I feel that I have been losing a lot of points due to some shots taking longer than others to go off. While I was in Croatia, I had a chat to a few archers that were using a back tension and how they were getting consistent timing or if it was something they cared about. One archer I wanted to speak to was Peter Elzinger of the Netherlands... the current World Record holder for the fita round(1419) and both 70mtr and 50mtrs(358 for each). Peter has always been great to talk with and is very open to questions. I watched Peter for a while to see how he was using the release and I could hear very a distinctive click once Peter had got into anchor. I spoke with Peter and conveyed that I had always found it off putting when aiming to hear and feel the click go off. Peter said that he set the release to click so that it was in position as he got into anchor and just before he started his aiming... that way it kept the timing very close for each shot and he could just focus on aiming. He said it took a couple of weeks to get used to the click but now it is just part of his shot routine.
I will definitely be trying this out in the coming weeks. I am waiting on a NEW model of the 2 finger "ONLY" that has a click incorporated into it and also the 2 finger "ATENSION" with a click..... both by CARTER RELEASES

AUSTRALIAN FIELD CHAMPIONSHIPS

The field event was the first time in 3 years that I had been on a field course and the first time that I had shot the new 6 ring scoring system. It got off to a rocky start as I arrived to the venue with what I thought was plenty of time to set up and have a practice but to find out that the groups were mustering to head out on the course.... the scheduled time had changed and not all archers had been notified.... oh well. I headed out in my grouping with Dennis Carson and Craig Tyson and we slowly made our way around the 24 targets spread throughout the field. I ended up scoring 400 points for the round and that gave me a 4 point lead heading into day 2.
Day 2 started much better and I arrived in time to have a practice and settle in a bit, the day went well again but I was frustrated with the time that it was taking for my shot to go off as they seemed to taking longer than normal, I tried relaxing into the shots more as I thought I might have been trying to hard to score well. I kept trying to make good shots and at the end of the day I finished with another 400 points but my fello group shooter Dennis shot a 409 points to take the lead and the gold medal. I was very happy to finish with the silver medal. Craig Tyson finished with the bronze.

Congrats to Dennis and Craig... good shooting with you guys

AUSTRALIAN TARGET CHAMPIONSHIPS

The national champs were being held in Brisbane at mount petrie bowman with the target event being over the first two days and the field event held over day 3 and 4.
The conditions for the target event were challenging with having to deal with a shifty wind and after the first day I ended up with 1383 and a 4 point lead. Day 2 was much the same as day 1 for conditions but maybe a little more tricky but I managed to shoot a 1378 with gave me a win by 18 points.
This gave me my 10th National Target Championships and my 30th overall..... very pleased

WORLD CUP #1 - CROATIA

Aside for taking forever to get there.... some 44 1/2 hours, it was great to finally arrive and get settled in for the tournament.
I had a chance to practice on the unofficial field(which was a hockey field) for 3 days before the official practice day. This gave me the time to get over the flight there and relax into my shooting. I was happy with my shooting for all of the practice days and I was looking forward to getting into the tournament.
Qualification: The tournament started and although I was a little nervous, I had my focus for the tournament for what I wanted to achieve and I set about shooting for those goals. Aside from my first end where I got caught by the wind on one and shot a 7, all other ends in the first 36 arrows were great and I finished with 347 with a 54 start. The second lot of 36 was a little more windier than the first but I tried to be more patient with my shooting to wait for the breaks in wind and execute the shots a bit quicker. I managed a 345 for the second 36 arrows and that gave me a ranking of 11th heading into the eliminations.
Eliminations: I had a goal of at least winning my first round match and to achieve this I wanted to keep my same focus as I had in qualification and shoot the best shots I could. Not only did I win my first match but I won my second match also... I was feeling pretty good at this time and I was disappointed to not progress past the 3rd round. It just so happened that the guy to knock me out went on to win the event. My final placing was equal 9th
I was included into the team event and we won our first match against Sweden but were knocked out by Denmark in the next round. I was happy with my shooting in this event also and in the second round I shot 79 points out of a possible 80 point.

I managed to pick up 5 world cup points due to my 9th placing, hopefully I will get the chance to earn some more points with the other 3 world cups and gain a spot in the world cup final.