I tell the following story as a cautionary tale. In my opinion in archery, shooting form is king but it is also a commodity (yes, a commodity) that must be carefully monitored, refined and maintained. Proof in point, over the last two days of shooting I've discovered that I have introduced a significant cant (tipping the bow to the side, think of an old western) to my bow at full draw. Exactly where this came from who's to say; maybe it was my body attempting to mitigate fatigue or maybe I've just been watching too many movies lately, the point is; however, had I not been diligently monitoring my form I most likely would not have been aware of the error until much later.
When situations like this arise, my best suggestion; or at least my most effective solution I've found so far, is to simply allow for more blank bale time in your practice routine. It is a highly underrated tool in our training arsenal, mainly because most people think shooting at nothing is boring. However, boring thought it may be, the opportunity to step back and concentrate on proper shot execution can be a figurative life saver.
Tuesday, July 9, 2013
One for the record books
Two weeks ago German archer Kristina Berger established a new women's compound FITA record; this week Peter Elzinga of the Netherlands established a new record for the 90m FITA with a 352/360. To put this in perspective, the bullseye is just under 5 inches in diameter and placed almost the length of a football field away from the archer.Congratulations are definitely in order for Mr. Elzinga.
I would also like to point out that he is the current record holder for the men's compound FITA format with a 1419/1440, shot back in 2009 with one of my all time favorite bows; the venerable Hoyt Vantage Elite.
...well the results are in...
After more waiting and more speculation the official press is in and the new bow by Bowtech is indeed a carbon riser bow dubbed the Carbon Knight. (We'll ignore the fact that it appears that the name and images of the new bow were leaked via the official Bowtech twitter account about 5 days ago). We won't spend a ton of time on the official release since 90% of archery related blogs and forms are a buzz with news but the basic run down is as follows:Mass weight: 3.2 lbs (marginally lighter than a Hoyt Carbon Element)
ATA: 32 inches
IBO: 330
Brace: 7 inches
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Sports Science
So I realize we haven't had a video on here for a while.
This little segment originally came out around the 2012 London Olympics on ESPN. A pretty good overview of recurve archery.
This little segment originally came out around the 2012 London Olympics on ESPN. A pretty good overview of recurve archery.
Saturday, July 6, 2013
The Foreigner
While it hasn't been a long time since I've last had my hands on a compound bow, it has definitely been a fair amount. I believe the last time I shot a compound in training was the middle of May and the last time I shot one in competition was during the Pekin Archers Spring Opener.
Today during practice I picked one back up for an end, incidentally just to try out a piece of old recurve gear (a bubble ring aperture), and boy did it show I was out of practice with a compound. I had always figured archery was archery, regardless of discipline but apparently this is only true to a point. Shooting a compound was almost completely foreign to me. Embarrassingly I had difficulty with pulling over the hump, whacked my arm because I've grown accustomed to a high wrist grip and even found it difficult to load an arrow.
Now, on the bright side, I was able to observe a few good habits I had picked up in the recurve world cross back over. My ability to employ back tension is through the roof and my grip on a release aid is much more of a shallow grip (the accepted best practice for a hand held release) as seen in finger shooting and much less like the "fist" that I used prior.
However, even with my foray back into the compound discipline I have to admit I have almost zero interest in fully returning... ever. As long as I am of sound enough body to ride the curve then I will.
Today during practice I picked one back up for an end, incidentally just to try out a piece of old recurve gear (a bubble ring aperture), and boy did it show I was out of practice with a compound. I had always figured archery was archery, regardless of discipline but apparently this is only true to a point. Shooting a compound was almost completely foreign to me. Embarrassingly I had difficulty with pulling over the hump, whacked my arm because I've grown accustomed to a high wrist grip and even found it difficult to load an arrow.
Now, on the bright side, I was able to observe a few good habits I had picked up in the recurve world cross back over. My ability to employ back tension is through the roof and my grip on a release aid is much more of a shallow grip (the accepted best practice for a hand held release) as seen in finger shooting and much less like the "fist" that I used prior.
However, even with my foray back into the compound discipline I have to admit I have almost zero interest in fully returning... ever. As long as I am of sound enough body to ride the curve then I will.
Monday, July 1, 2013
Draw length confessions
One of the cornerstones of effective archery is the establishment of an accurate draw length. This is the measurement of the distance between the string at full draw and the deepest part of the grip/center of the plunger (plus 1.75 inches for AMO). In the case of a compound this is where the wall is placed and in the case of a recurve this is where the clicker is placed. So really, in summation, draw length is the foundation upon which an archer builds their equipment and with out an accurate value, form suffers (over draw and under draw causes inconsistencies).
I have to confess that I have never been accurately measured for draw length.
This goes completely against my mantra of careful, deliberate and intelligent shooting, but I've managed to "fall into" or establish through trial and error a correct draw length, I just don't know what the quantifiable measurement is.
For example, I started with a 27 inch draw length module for my compound bow and used a combination of cable twists/untwists and limb bolt rotation to fix my draw length.
I had a cursory measurement done two years ago when I bought my first bow so at least I have a ball park figures (27.5). In actuality I suspect I am closer to 27.75 - 28 inches, as a review of my recurve set up reveals a 28 inch arrow with a clicker set just under two inches in front of the grip apex.
I have to confess that I have never been accurately measured for draw length.
This goes completely against my mantra of careful, deliberate and intelligent shooting, but I've managed to "fall into" or establish through trial and error a correct draw length, I just don't know what the quantifiable measurement is.
For example, I started with a 27 inch draw length module for my compound bow and used a combination of cable twists/untwists and limb bolt rotation to fix my draw length.
I had a cursory measurement done two years ago when I bought my first bow so at least I have a ball park figures (27.5). In actuality I suspect I am closer to 27.75 - 28 inches, as a review of my recurve set up reveals a 28 inch arrow with a clicker set just under two inches in front of the grip apex.
The rumor mill is working overtime on the Bowtech Knight
With the planned launch of Bowtech's new bow only about a week away (we think? that may also be a rumor), several interesting rumors regarding the design and specs of the new bow have begun to circulate around the internet. The prevailing rumor, and fortunately most interesting one, is that it will be the company's first foray into carbon fiber riser territory.
So a brief history lesson for those of you who have not been following archery news (90% of the population), in 2009 Hoyt released their now famous Carbon Matrix. It was for all intents and purposes the worlds first production carbon fiber riser compound bow; and the market response was ground breaking. During the first years of production, between the Carbon Matrix and the shorter Carbon Element, Hoyt's sales went through the roof. For example, sales from the Carbon Element (I am told) bumped a dealer in Central Illinois from a top 20 ranked dealer to a top 10 in the course of a year.
Since then three years have passed and it's all pretty well old news. Hoyt released the third generation of their carbon bows this year, which were pretty much the same a last year but with a few minor alterations. However, at the same time the tech conscious consumer maintains their demand for a carbon riser bow. This is of course where Bowtech could be stepping in. Finally seeing a challenger to the Carbon Matrix/Element will certainly make the compound market very interesting.
On a personal note, I am not that much of a fan of carbon fiber risers. I owned a Carbon Matrix once upon a time and while it was a beautiful bow (dead sexy red paint job), it just didn't fit my needs and shooting style. I'm sure it's great for the weight conscious hunter who is trekking across hill and vale but for a target shooter not so much.
Anyway, that aside, at least according to the rumor mill; we'll all know the substance and identity of the Bowtech Knight by July 10th ... or maybe the 7th....
So a brief history lesson for those of you who have not been following archery news (90% of the population), in 2009 Hoyt released their now famous Carbon Matrix. It was for all intents and purposes the worlds first production carbon fiber riser compound bow; and the market response was ground breaking. During the first years of production, between the Carbon Matrix and the shorter Carbon Element, Hoyt's sales went through the roof. For example, sales from the Carbon Element (I am told) bumped a dealer in Central Illinois from a top 20 ranked dealer to a top 10 in the course of a year.
Since then three years have passed and it's all pretty well old news. Hoyt released the third generation of their carbon bows this year, which were pretty much the same a last year but with a few minor alterations. However, at the same time the tech conscious consumer maintains their demand for a carbon riser bow. This is of course where Bowtech could be stepping in. Finally seeing a challenger to the Carbon Matrix/Element will certainly make the compound market very interesting.
On a personal note, I am not that much of a fan of carbon fiber risers. I owned a Carbon Matrix once upon a time and while it was a beautiful bow (dead sexy red paint job), it just didn't fit my needs and shooting style. I'm sure it's great for the weight conscious hunter who is trekking across hill and vale but for a target shooter not so much.
Anyway, that aside, at least according to the rumor mill; we'll all know the substance and identity of the Bowtech Knight by July 10th ... or maybe the 7th....
Arrow rests, to stick or to screw?
A recent discussion of the short comings of a certain type of stick on recurve arrow rest (I don't have a pony in this race and it's irrelevant to our discussion so I won't identify it), have caused me to start wondering about recurve arrow rests. Specifically, I am revisiting my question of why stick on recurve rests remain so widely accepted.
To be fair, simple, "low tech" arrow rests have proven themselves in the past with multiple Olympic, World, and National titles to their name; so it's not really a question of performance. I suppose in my mind it's more a question of economics.
Would it not make more sense to buy a bolt on rest so you can set it and forget it; possibly replacing the arm wire about once a decade?
Maybe I'm just cheap, but as effective as rests such as the Hoyt Super Rest are, but I wouldn't want to be shelling out $2.50 (or more for magnetic stick on rests) on a recurring basis for the life of my bow. I now use an AAE cavalier rest (or something to that effect, it was graciously left on the riser when I bought it used) on my primary bow and a Spigarelli ZT on my back up. They are both solid bolt on rests, with plenty of adjustment (more than bending things with pliers or using foam shims), and while they come in at a price point well above a stick on, I expect to have them for several decades.
I guess ultimately this is a post with out an answer, or at least not a universally correct answer.
 |
| Hoyt Super Rest |
To be fair, simple, "low tech" arrow rests have proven themselves in the past with multiple Olympic, World, and National titles to their name; so it's not really a question of performance. I suppose in my mind it's more a question of economics.
Would it not make more sense to buy a bolt on rest so you can set it and forget it; possibly replacing the arm wire about once a decade?
 |
| AAE Cavalier |
 |
| Spigarelli ZT |
I guess ultimately this is a post with out an answer, or at least not a universally correct answer.
Friday, June 28, 2013
Review: AAE WAV Vanes
Earlier in the year (I believe it coincided with the AAE Arizona Cup) Arizona Archery Enterprises introduced a new plastic vane specifically designed for recurve shooters, the WAV vane. It also happened to coincide with when I was switching arrow spines so I decided to give them a try (limit variables? hogwash haha).
So before we get into the nitty gritty lets do some background. For the most part the gold standard for recurve fletching is the range-o-matic spin wing. There are other great vanes like the Eli, Kurly, and Gas Pro that have, in recent years, made huge gains against the spin wing but for the sake of illustration, the spin wing usually comes out on top. The primary disadvantage to the spin wing is durability. Most archers, particularly of the compound persuasion are used to just gluing a plastic vane to the back of their arrow and forgetting about it until it falls off, potentially, years later (for compound, unless it gets destroyed I re-fletch once every six months). Spin wings on the other hand are mylar vanes that are not glued on but rather taped on. If you are a top level competitor who is very nice to your arrows then the spin wing is perfect, but if you are like me and a lot of other shooters out there then: A) your arrows get smacked together a lot during practice and B) you don't want to be carting your arrow set around like they're nuclear launch codes. Which leads to a constant need for re-fletching. The purpose of the WAV vane is to bridge this gap in durability and provide a system that is equally accurate but can stand up to the run of the mill mistreatment that comes with not having a national title to your name.
Starting first with the good news, the WAV vane does seem to deliever on AAE's promises of accuracy and minimal weight but with durability (but with a caveat... put a pin in it we'll come back to that part). It is a great little vane that groups well when oriented properly and is as simple to install as a basic Bohning Blazer vane. I had absolutely no problems with accuracy and other archers conducting their own comparison tests (mostly more rigorous than mine, such as John Magera's head to head comparison of WAV's, Eli's and Gas Pros) came to the same conclusion: that under optimum conditions WAV vanes will perform as well as or better than mylar type vanes.
But unfortunately that is not the end of the story. After only a few days/weeks the collective archery community began to circulate the tongue in cheek joke that the WAV vane got its name due to their propensity to turn "wavy". Most likely due to their extremely light weight and thin profile the WAV vane will indeed begin to wrinkle under normal shooting conditions (normal being the bumps and bangs from shooting groups etc). And as you would expect the inconsistent variable of a wrinkle or wave will affect accuracy at longer ranges. It is however, MOSTLY, imperceptible indoors when shooting at an intermediate level.
So granted AAE did maintain their promise of durability, a spin wing would have done more than wrinkle in most of these cases, but I'm not sure that's what the archery world had intended.
Ultimately, I do like these vanes under perfect, fresh out of the box, conditions; but the wrinkling does bother me a bit. Not enough that I've ripped them off my arrows but it does have me questioning if I'll continue to use them. (In fairness, there are some archers who have had good luck reversing the wrinkle with heat). Unfortunately, it's time for me to place another fletching order so I'll have to decide pretty quickly if I'll be continuing to ride the WAV or try something new... again...
So before we get into the nitty gritty lets do some background. For the most part the gold standard for recurve fletching is the range-o-matic spin wing. There are other great vanes like the Eli, Kurly, and Gas Pro that have, in recent years, made huge gains against the spin wing but for the sake of illustration, the spin wing usually comes out on top. The primary disadvantage to the spin wing is durability. Most archers, particularly of the compound persuasion are used to just gluing a plastic vane to the back of their arrow and forgetting about it until it falls off, potentially, years later (for compound, unless it gets destroyed I re-fletch once every six months). Spin wings on the other hand are mylar vanes that are not glued on but rather taped on. If you are a top level competitor who is very nice to your arrows then the spin wing is perfect, but if you are like me and a lot of other shooters out there then: A) your arrows get smacked together a lot during practice and B) you don't want to be carting your arrow set around like they're nuclear launch codes. Which leads to a constant need for re-fletching. The purpose of the WAV vane is to bridge this gap in durability and provide a system that is equally accurate but can stand up to the run of the mill mistreatment that comes with not having a national title to your name.
Starting first with the good news, the WAV vane does seem to deliever on AAE's promises of accuracy and minimal weight but with durability (but with a caveat... put a pin in it we'll come back to that part). It is a great little vane that groups well when oriented properly and is as simple to install as a basic Bohning Blazer vane. I had absolutely no problems with accuracy and other archers conducting their own comparison tests (mostly more rigorous than mine, such as John Magera's head to head comparison of WAV's, Eli's and Gas Pros) came to the same conclusion: that under optimum conditions WAV vanes will perform as well as or better than mylar type vanes.
But unfortunately that is not the end of the story. After only a few days/weeks the collective archery community began to circulate the tongue in cheek joke that the WAV vane got its name due to their propensity to turn "wavy". Most likely due to their extremely light weight and thin profile the WAV vane will indeed begin to wrinkle under normal shooting conditions (normal being the bumps and bangs from shooting groups etc). And as you would expect the inconsistent variable of a wrinkle or wave will affect accuracy at longer ranges. It is however, MOSTLY, imperceptible indoors when shooting at an intermediate level.
So granted AAE did maintain their promise of durability, a spin wing would have done more than wrinkle in most of these cases, but I'm not sure that's what the archery world had intended.
Ultimately, I do like these vanes under perfect, fresh out of the box, conditions; but the wrinkling does bother me a bit. Not enough that I've ripped them off my arrows but it does have me questioning if I'll continue to use them. (In fairness, there are some archers who have had good luck reversing the wrinkle with heat). Unfortunately, it's time for me to place another fletching order so I'll have to decide pretty quickly if I'll be continuing to ride the WAV or try something new... again...
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Out of Ammo (addendum)
On an only slightly related note and while we're discussing arrows. I've also made the decision that if I return to compound for the indoor season (unlikely) I will not be using fat shafts. The large diameter shaft was created with reasonable logic; a larger projectile will have a greater chance of cutting a line and picking up the critical extra points, but fails to account for arrow spine. Yes, yes, I know all the top pros shoot large diameter shafts... but they're not normal mortals like you and me.
A large diameter shaft is spined ridiculously stiff. I was shooting Gold Tip Triple Xs and those spine out to 0.150 for instance. Now, if a shot is executed perfect and at short distance you will never have a problem with a stiff spine out of a compound bow. However, a stiff spine out of a compound bow is incredibly sensitive to minor errors in form or execution. Think of it like walking on grass versus concrete. Yes you can effectively walk across either surface, the solid surface of concrete in fact being slightly easier even due to it's firmness; but if you trip on something, a fall on to a concrete surface is far more catastrophic.
In contrast, a standard diameter shaft of appropriate spine will prove to be much more forgiving. Obviously it won't protect you from all errors and you do give up a lot of the line cutting advantages of a large diameter shaft but a bad shot won't (typically) ruin your 300, just your X count. My recent experimentation with arrow spine and a recurve have thoroughly proven this. Finger release is notoriously sensitive yet even with a bad release, I was able to maintain gold (9 or 10 ring) at 20 yards using a properly spined arrow.
A large diameter shaft is spined ridiculously stiff. I was shooting Gold Tip Triple Xs and those spine out to 0.150 for instance. Now, if a shot is executed perfect and at short distance you will never have a problem with a stiff spine out of a compound bow. However, a stiff spine out of a compound bow is incredibly sensitive to minor errors in form or execution. Think of it like walking on grass versus concrete. Yes you can effectively walk across either surface, the solid surface of concrete in fact being slightly easier even due to it's firmness; but if you trip on something, a fall on to a concrete surface is far more catastrophic.In contrast, a standard diameter shaft of appropriate spine will prove to be much more forgiving. Obviously it won't protect you from all errors and you do give up a lot of the line cutting advantages of a large diameter shaft but a bad shot won't (typically) ruin your 300, just your X count. My recent experimentation with arrow spine and a recurve have thoroughly proven this. Finger release is notoriously sensitive yet even with a bad release, I was able to maintain gold (9 or 10 ring) at 20 yards using a properly spined arrow.
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