Unashamedly Naked

In spite of the endless and very cold winter, several members have been finding out what it feels to shoot Bare - but sensibly limiting the bareness to their Bow (so far as we know). This all started out with Max shooting B/B very impressively, followed by Steve wanting to try some B/B Field. Now Doug is probably going to do most of his archery Barebow, and we've been joined by Michaela who's followed her daughter Sidonie down the Barebow (and Traditional) route.

On a freezy and snowy day in March Steve, Rob and Rod attended a Field Archery Seminar at Furnace Wood near East Grinstead, which was intended for Coaches. Prior to this Seminar we'd been in touch with Steve Baldwin, a well known Barebow Archer and former National Champion (and current Regional Indoor Champ) and arranged for him to visit in April. Barebow is primarily a Field Archery style, and it was really informative to see how Steve dealt with the extreme differences in distance and ground-slope.

(As usual, click on the images to enlarge them)

 

We also were given demonstrations and a lot of insights from the current Recurve and Compound County Champions Ken Burge and Gary Cole, and Peter Damon talked us through the principles of Course Design.

 A couple of week later Steve Baldwin came over to Angmering and got 14 of our members shooting without sights, clickers or extended stabilisers. Wisely he started us off indoors before shoving us outside to get a taste of the skills needed to shoot close and distant targets. For the next few weeks several of the group carried out experimenting, with Doug becoming a true convert. Darren and Max already were.

Rob wasn't at Steve's Session, he was back at Crawley coaching their archers...

A month after Steve Baldwin's Introduction came the chance to try it out on Eastbourne Archer's Field Course at Five Ashes near Crowborough. Those who went had a great time and learnt a lot more. Several who would have liked to go were unable to (it was the Bank Holiday weekend), but we have an invitation to go back, so look out for more news of the next trip out.