Archery
Archived posts from this Category
Saturday, 20th June 2009
Posted by Judith on 21 Jun 2009 | Tagged as: Archery, Flying
We organised an archery have-a-go session for the Long Mynd club today. Last year we were completely oversubscribed for the event, but had to cancel it because the archery club was burgled and all the equipment was stolen. This year we had fewer takers, with 10 people showing up. It was great fun and I think everyone enjoyed it. Even little Izzy, who is only four, got to have a go and it was so sweet to see her with a tiny bow. Tom, Pete, Norman and Trevor from the archery club were brilliant and made the session really enjoyable.
Turns out that Paul is an experienced archer, although he hasn’t shot for a few years. He happily spent the morning shooting. Once we finished, we went to the Church Stretton Summerfest. We had a walk around, looked at the stalls and soaked up the athmosphere. Frank treated us to the most delicious strawberry tarts ever!
On driving back home over the Long Mynd there were lots of hang gliders flying, so Geoff grabbed his kit and headed back up for a fly.
See Paul’s photos of the Church Stretton fair.
Geoff writes: a pleasant evening’s flying on the hang glider. Cloudy, mostly ridge life, one or two light thermals. Max height I got was 860′ ATO – people were getting higher earlier in the day. Two flights, two top landings, spoilt only slightly by me and another pilot both deciding to land simultaneously from opposite sides of the ridge, both coming in at high speed on the downwind leg, and neither of us clearing our approach properly. Very sloppy, and just shows how easy it is to make a mistake.
Still, in spite of that bit of carelessness, a really nice couple of flights.
Thursday, 18th June 2009
Posted by Geoff on 18 Jun 2009 | Tagged as: Archery, Boring stuff
Geoff writes: windy, cloudy but dry. Not too much of a problem since it gave us the chance to do some (paid) work, some Long Mynd committee stuff, and then go to archery.
And, most important, finish off and upload a new podcast, with Judith interviewing Tom Payne about his preparation for the X-Alps. Just listened to it myself, and it’s really interesting. It will be followed by another by Tom after the X-Alps is over. We’ve got more in the pipeline too, not least because we’re getting pretty good feedback about them, and they seem both popular and useful. They do take a while to create, both doing the interview itself, which we usually do over Skype; and the subsequent editing, which takes some hours. But they’re fun to create, and we’ve learnt a lot from the people Judith has interviewed, as, I hope, has everyone else.
See the tab at the top of the page for the link to the podcasts.
Tuesday, 9th June 2009
Posted by Judith on 09 Jun 2009 | Tagged as: Archery
Another grey day, although the promised rain in the afternoon didn’t materialise. We toyed with the idea of going flying, but it didn’t look much of a sky, so we went to do archery. I must have pulled a muscle in my neck yesterday, because I progressively stiffened up as I was shooting and can barely move my head now.
As we were driving back home over the Mynd our decision not to go flying was vindicated. It looked rubbish to the west. This evening I recorded another podcast with Tom Payne, all about his preparation for the X-Alps. Should be available by next week.
Monday, 8th June 2009
Posted by Judith on 09 Jun 2009 | Tagged as: Archery
More bad weather, although in comparison to Sunday, it was actually ok. I.e. it was only windy and cloudy. Ho hum.
It’s good working weather at the moment, but by lunchtime we were getting cabin fever, so we went to do some archery. My shooting is terrible at the moment. Working on the advice that our coach gave us has made my accuracy shockingly bad and now I can’t seem to move back to improving. Actually, maybe the strong wind didn’t help. That’s my excuse anyway…
Wednesday, 3rd June 2009
Posted by Judith on 03 Jun 2009 | Tagged as: Archery, Flying
We were hopeful that we could get a flight in (and maybe go XC) before the cold front came in from the NE. It was all looking good for Corndon and we set off at 10.30am with cumulus in the sky and a gentle breeze blowing. In preparation, we dropped off a car in Church Stoke to make the retrieve easier and even there it was all looking very good. Downwind of Corndon were cumulus and haze caps galore.
In the 15 minutes it took to drive up to launch, the spreadout had started and there was wall-to-wall cloud upwind. We had a fly anyway, but Geoff got low, while I managed to top land. The air was lumpy and I had a small frontal, just over the rocks, which isn’t really what you want to happen at Corndon.
The sun started to break through the gloom, and there were swifts everywhere, so I took off again and managed to get a bumpy thermal to 850′ ATO which was about 100′ below cloudbase. I considered going with it, but where to? Downwind was a mass of clag and with base only approximately 2600′ AMSL, it didn’t seem worth the effort. I headed back to the front and then couldn’t get down. Lift was everywhere and I narrowly escaped being hit in the face by a rogue swift who turned at the last second. I’ve never come so close to one in flight.
After about 20 minutes I landed – I didn’t really like the air and I was a bit knackered from yesterday. Corndon is worth the effort if it is possible to go XC or if it is a nice evening boat about, but roughish conditions just for the sake of a bit of air time at that site isn’t for me. There’s always another day and another hill.
Geoff had another flight, but we decided to head home and do some work. After looking at the forecast for the next couple of days we changed our mind and went to do some archery instead, since it might be our last chance for a few days, what with possible flying and the predicted rain.
Congrats to Mark’s student on the Hook who successfully top landed and got his CP.
Monday, 1st June 2009
Posted by Judith on 02 Jun 2009 | Tagged as: Archery
Another hot, gorgeous sunny day, but as usual this year, lots of wind. The trees were moving from the word go and it was obviously blown out even at 8.30am. We fixed my glider, which involved sewing (a strange experience sewing up bits of cell) and changing the line. Then off to archery…
Tuesday, 26th May 2009
Posted by Judith on 27 May 2009 | Tagged as: Archery
Sunny but howling…
I have finished editing the book! Hoorah! Now I am working on the index and will do the final formatting in the morning, then it is off to the printers. By 4pm my eyes were nearly popping out of their sockets from staring at the screen all day, so we went to archery for a pleasant, if blustery shoot, and then to Tim and Raye’s for delicious dinner.