ARCHERS OF WARRNAMBOOL NEWSLETTER #9
November 2020
Welcome to the AoW’s November newsletter.
Welcome, too, to new members of the club, Angela Gotzamani, Darren Wallace and Sarah & Kye Nilsen. It’s great to see new faces around the club, and we all hope that you get as much pleasure from the sport as we do.
Our club now has four additional Level 1 archery coaches. Paul Minifie, Charlotte Iverarch, Elliot Reilly and Denise Burrell attained their qualifications in August and join Mike Clark. All are happy to assist members who want some coaching, as well as those who come to try out archery as a new sport.
Keep in mind that shooting is ongoing on our outdoor range, & on the field course. Even with the current Covid restrictions, the club is open to members on Tuesdays and Fridays from 3pm, as well as Saturdays from 11am, for practice.
The indoor range will be open from the beginning of November, for both club activities and introductory sessions. Please be aware that we now have “Covid Marshalls” whose role is to check that minimum safe distances (1.5m) are being maintained on the shooting lines & around the club, as well as checking that correct recording procedures and cleaning/sanitising are being practised. Club members have volunteered to take on the “Covid Marshall” role so that we can operate indoors, so please assist by acting responsibly and complying with all requests.
Editor
MEMBER PROFILE: Peter Hill
Peter was born in Brunswick, an inner northern suburb
of Melbourne. After retiring in December 2018, he made
the move to Warrnambool in January 2019, and he now
lives in North Warrnambool.
Peter’s introduction to archery was when he first noticed
an archery club in suburban Melbourne, and joined
a “Come n’Try” session. He then joined the Box Hill
Archery Club, and over the next eight years became a
first class archer and a Level 1 coach. At that time, he won
several gold, silver and bronze medals in Archery Australia
competitions around Melbourne, both indoor (18m) and
outdoor at distances up to 90 m.
He then took a break from the sport for about ten years, but began again after his move to Warrnambool. He now shoots at distances up to 70m 0utdoors.
Peter uses a Hoyt Recurve bow with 34 pound Samik limbs; His arrows are Eastern A/C/E 780 spine carbon. He is aiming to get back to shooting 90m (St Peter) rounds.
Peter enjoys reading and is looking forward to libraries re-opening. He also loves the process of tuning recurve bows, and really enjoys working with intermediate archers to tune their bows and help improve their form.
“The Last Samurai” (starring Tom Cruise), closely followed by “Dances with Wolves” (Kevin Costner) are Peter’s favourite movies, and his favourite music can be from classical to folk or country – so long as it is played with a 5-string banjo.
He loves sitting down to a fillet steak with red wine sauce. It’s been a long time since he went on a holiday, but remembering motor cycle holidays in the past in North-East Victoria, Peter would love to return to Bright.
Readers of this newsletter would know that Peter’s articles on tuning recurve bows appear regularly, and those that have received assistance with tuning their bows on a Saturday morning are very grateful. Thanks, Peter for your valuable contributions to Archers of Warrnambool.
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
The AGM was held on 31st October, with committee members for the current year as follows:
Mike Clark (President) David Reid (Club Captain)
Denise Burrell (Secretary) Gerry Mahoney (Treasurer)
Jim Burrell Elliot Reilly
Charlotte Iverach Paul Minifie
Thanks to the outgoing treasurer, Charlotte Iverarch, for her sterling job in the previous year.
Incoming AoW Committee
(Left to right):
Gerry Mahoney, Jim Burrell, Denise Burrell, David Reid, Mike Clark, Elliot Riley, Charlotte Iverach, Paul Minifie.
SHOOTING DISTANCE QUALIFICATIONS
Recurve archers who have recently qualified for 70 and 50 metres respectively are Peter Hill and Denise Burrell.
Compound archer Alex Nesic qualified for 90 metres, whilst Chris Densley qualified for 40 metres with his compound bow.
Qualifying Distance Rounds (QDR) are run for members on the 4th Saturday every month, starting at 2pm.
TRY OUT THE FIELD COURSE
The field course is open for shooting on the first Saturday of every month – next date is Saturday 7th November.
FOR THOSE WHO ARE ELIGIBLE ….
Archery is one of the sports being celebrated at the XVIII Australian Master’s Games in Perth, 09 – 16 October 2021. Both recurve and compound competitions are included. There is no MAXIMUM age limit for competitors, however there is a minimum age of 30 years (at 31/12/21).
More than 8000 men and women are expected to descend on Perth to compete in more than 35 different sporting codes. Check the Master’s Games website for more details as they come to hand.
HAVE YOU HEARD …?
My partner asked how I got invited to the Archery Champions Ball.
I told her I had to pull a few strings.
Did you hear about the time Orion lost an archery match?
He was given a constellation prize.
TUNING YOUR RECURVE BOW
Here is the next instalment from member Peter Hill’s booklet – this month on plunger buttons, for those archers using recurve bows.
PLUNGER BUTTONS
The Plunger Button has 5 parts:
- 3 springs – soft, medium and hard
- A hard plastic or metal button which the arrow lies against
- An adjustable smaller collar, which determines how far in or out the button is
- A removable long collar which has a flattened part in the middle and which often has the number 5 imprinted on it
- A small rest which fits into the barrel of the long collar
Plunger Buttons are important as they allow us to do the following:
- Set Initial Centershot
- Set correct arrow alignment, and
Enable Bare Shaft Tuning for:
- Poundage (Tiller adjustment)
- Spring weight in the Plunger Button
- Final adjustment for Centershot.
For correct tiller adjustment (poundage):
Firstly, put 2 springs – soft or medium and the heavy, into the plunger barrel and tighter until the plunger is hard and will not move.
At 30 metres, shoot 2 fletched arrows and one bare shaft, and then one fletched arrow. It doesn’t matter where on the target face they end up, as long as it is a group.
To check for the correct spring to use on your plunger button, put in the Medium spring and set the large barrel to position number 5.
At 30 metres shoot 3 fletched arrows and one bare shaft.
> If the arrows are to the Right of the bare shaft, for a RH archer, then put in a stronger spring.
> If the arrows are to the Left for a LH archer, put in a stronger spring.
> If the arrows are to the Left of the bare shaft, for a RH archer, put in a lighter spring.
> If the arrows are to the Right for a LH archer, put in a lighter spring.
The ideal pattern should look like this:
X
X
X
X
Then use the large barrel to adjust Centershot in or out to bring stray arrows into the group. i.e. move the plunger barrel towards number 1 or 10 on the large barrel.
SAFETY ON THE ARCHERY RANGE
PERSONAL SAFETY
During the current pandemic, everyone must wear masks at all times whilst at the archery range. The only time it is permitted to remove your mask is whilst you are actively engaged in shooting – on the shooting line.
Essentially this means our procedure is as follows:
- Mask on, move to the shooting line, mask off, shoot your arrows, mask on.
When Approaching A Target
- Always walk towards the target,
- When approaching the target, walk to the side of the target to avoid any arrows in the ground, or arrows protruding from the target,
- When scoring, be aware of arrows protruding from the target butt,
- Ensure that no one is standing behind the arrows when they are being pulled from the target.
ARCHERY ETIQUETTE
When you are on the shooting line and if you drop an arrow or other equipment (eg. your bow) in front of the line, NEVER try to retrieve it/them until all shooting for the end has ceased and you hear the signal to collect your arrows.
INTERESTED IN A CAR STICKER?
Car stickers are available from David Reid, for $5.00 each.
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