A Purple Season

Did you know that purple is the official color of both Advent and Lent? It is listed as a color of anticipation, specifically of the arrival of royalty.

I am currently working to prepare for two archery tournaments. There will be other non-archery tournaments this Summer, hopefully. The first tournament, April 14th is the Drew U. 'That Medieval Thing' tournament. For details on how that works, check the first podcast episodes. Though the website is to be reworked, as the host has changed. So I'll be getting worked up with my 50# Welchman this weekend. In previous years, the second shoot would be in Syracuse, NY. But that has been moved to Labor Day Weekend.

NASP NJ State Qualifing Tournament is the next one on the list. This year there will finally be a State Shoot. Alas, it will be a paper tournament. Some call it a virtual tournament, but the tournament is very real, simply dislocated in the geography and time of its participants. Since it is a paper tourney and it is just as easy to turn in 17 pieces of paper as it is 16, I set forth a friendly challenge to the other State instructors. The State Coordinator liked it so much, he offered to give the school of the winning instructor a new bow. I promptly posted it to the national web site and mentioned that I'd post pictures after I'd won the bow and thrown some custom paint on it. So, I'm also excited about the first NASP NJ Instructors' Challenge Tournament, ICT. Plus, I'm brewing some backup trouble for the TMT21 shoot, in case we get rained indoors again. Did you know there is an article out there some where citing a study that states the current crop of college 'students' is the most narcissitic ever? Hand me the cash, I'd have told you the same in short order, and for less money.

Get some sunshine and go shoot. Hey, make bows when the sun doesn't shine.

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Februrary and still no new episodes

Better luck on Ground Hog's Day? Pop your head up later and find out.

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More updates in September
Category: Sports

I recently discovered ArcheryPodcasts.com and I'm listed. Cool! I expect to do more updates and new episodes starting in September. School time gives me some more free time. See you then.

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Sunshine brings more shooting

With all the sunshine lately, I've been getting in some more practice. I put in a busy week from April 1 to the 7th, including making a new set of gift arrows and posting a new episode of the podcast, getting ready for Drew University's "That Medieval Thing" number 20. In a five hour time span we saw rain, hail, and snow. 30 minutes after the event was over, with no real archery, the sun peeked out. No complaining, simple statement of facts. The only archery to be had that day was with a Lord of the Rings crossbow, that shoots foam arrows. I still got the highest scores, but it was a bit hollow. I got re-aquainted with marqulin / foam simulation swords.

Easter was great. We were fortunate enough to get a four day weekend. I hope the true meaning of Easter visited your house and hearts this weekend.

I'm planning to attend the Appalachain Bowmen's 3D traditional shoot this comming Saturday. It takes place at the Whittingham Wildlife Management Area. Last Fall we saw Byron Ferguson there. After that, the next event for us is the Delfwood SCA archery day in Syracuse, NY. The kids shoot for that event is the best, hands down. Listen to episode three to get more info.

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Recommended Bowyer

Well, I was unable to attend last weekend's NASP training, due to vehicle issues.

I am pleased to announce the launch of a website for a true champion of archery and an man of great character. Gerald Welch the bowyer of Welchman Longbows has posted a website. www.WelchmanLongbows.com has a few articles that are well worth reading. You will get a small window into learning more about this accomplished archery, and possibly even learn something about yourself. I found a few good personal reminders in there. You will also find the descriptions of his current offerings, prices, and a printable order form. I had the good fortune to speak to Mr. Welch last year. A friend and I both have Welchman Longbows and we were discussing switching one from shooting righty to shooting lefty. Mr. Welch was kind enough to talk with me about the bows that he makes, and we get to enjoy. "There's no problem moving the arrow rest to the other side. But why would you want to?" It turns out that Gerald is right handed, left eye dominant shooter. His level of accuracy is more than enough to prove the point. If you think you know everything about your favorite passtime, you haven't been paying attention. So stop by Welchman Longbow on the web and tell him I said hello.

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GSOSS wrap up, plus NASP and string-bow

The second episode of PurpleArchery.com podcast was posted a few minutes ago. I'm excited to get that done. It is far bigger and better than the initial episode. Have a listen.

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GSOSS part 2

Saturday at the GSOSS made Thursday and Friday look like no one was there. A very strong attendance put a lot of energy in the air, and noise in the building. I managed to put about three hours of instruction in at the NASP range for NJ F&W, and Hunter Ed. Also on the plus side I have an interview with the head of NJ Hunter Education and NJ NASP to download and put into the next podcast episode. There is still more to cover, once the show has closed tomorrow.

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GSOSS, come to the show

My son and I spent 5 hours at the GSOSS, aka NJ Huning & Fishishing Expo, today. We helped man the NJ Fish & Wildlife / NJ Hunter Education / NJ National Archery in the Schools Program booth. They have a two lane archery range set up for a free quick lesson, or just to test drive the NASP equipment. The main goal is to let people know about NASP, especially in NJ.

The show also has a wildlife presentation by Wild World of Animals. We've seen their show before, the Bintarong tipped us off, and they are worth watching. Also, stop by the TalonsBirdsOfPrey.com raptor exhibit. Lorrie is having a great time teaching people about these amazing creatures. It is a lot of fun to stand next to a Harris' Hawk that has something to say.

It was great to get to meet Gene of Central Jersey Archery News. He, Ken, Bill, and Ed are definitely archery enthusiasts. Talking to people like them is always a great reminder of how 'new' I am to archery and how much there is still to learn.

My son was excited to help me with our show survey -
What is your favorite archery website?
Are you a member on an archery forum?
Do you know what a podcast is?
Do you subscribe to any podcasts?
Is there a podcast on archery?

Results will be posted at the end of the show, as well as mentioned on PurpleArchery.com. If you come to the show, come and say hello. I'll be the one in the purple shirt.

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Garden State Outdoors Sportsman Show
Category: Sports

The New Jersey Fish and Wildlife Dept., http://www.njfishandwildlife.com/ , will have a booth set up at next week's Garden State Outdoors Sportsman Show, www.GSOSS.com. They will have the the full National Archery in the Schools Program, www.NASParchery.com, archery range set up. Kids and perhaps adults can come by and get a free shot at learning archery. The equipment is superb for beginners: Genesis adaptive bows, aluminum arrows, and a great arrow catching safety net. I highly recommend the trip to the Rairitan / Edison Expo Center to see and do all the fun stuff. Dates are Jan. 12 - 15. Times are 1-9, 1-9, 9-8, 9-6 respectively. An admission discount coupon is available on the GSOSS website. See you there.

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Archery Target Design
Category: Sports

First posted at NASParchery.com

I propose a discussion of target design. I imagine that the manufactures may find this thread redundant to their research, but since we are not privy to that list of info, we'll have to start collecting our own. Here goes.

Good Features / Bad Aspects - two sides of a coin.

 Light weight - targets don't generally live where they are used. Design toward easy mobility, through door ways!, up and down stairs!, over non-smooth surfaces!, is a must. If the design answer is wheels, those wheels had better roll with the narrow direction of the target, remember door ways.

 Handles - a good, solid graps on an object makes it safer to move.

 Stand at ease - a target stand that is separate from the target is automatically more complicated and uses up more time. A stand that is complicated, or flimsy, or just plain awkward, or heavy, will be even more miserable to use.

 Compact - This is a direct issue of the materials used. So, it competes with Durability, and Performance for priority in design. Did I mention doorways?

 About Face - Have you noticed that all of the NASP delivered targets come with a pre-painted face? WHY!? Listen manufacturers, save yourselves, and us, some money and don't paint the face of the target. The first thing we have to do with these targets is find some paper to cover up the scoring face. Beginners need to learn to hit the barn door with proper form before they start thinking about competition and scoring. If you want to sell scoring faces, fine. But leave the targets blank. Perhaps you'll consider making face attachment simple, easy, and effective? Maybe even an industry standard, like hook and loop fastening?

 Wheels - these are a good idea, sometimes. Examples: the block targets come with stands that have wheels. But! the you will have to carry the target and the stand through the door separately, the wheels only roll in the widest direction of the target, making them useless for anything except changing the distance you are shooting, whooptie-doo. The wheels on the Morrell targets are castered and will let you roll in any direction, Bonus! While these wheels are necessarily smaller, to fit under the target, making them more challenged on rough terrain, this is still a better solution.

 Durability - Shoot for a bit and you will see that the center takes the lion's share of abuse. Being able to move it around and keep using the target is a super nice feature. Here the block target succeeds, if you bought those ratchet straps to replace the factory squeezers. Other targets, like one from a Swiss company, let you move the center chunk around in 1/9th sections. Here the Rinehart trys but gets a ricochet of the top. The locking mechanism is week and leaves a gap large enough to give the teacher or competive youth some concern about blow through. Then there is the need for purchasing an all new center, no moving around available.

 Performance - It may seem odd to leave the primary ability of the target for last, or nearly last, but it being obvious to the construct of a target, it was on your mind the whole time. The target has to stop the arrows. Not just stop, but catch and hold, as well. It would be nice to have a target catch arrows from a 10# bow kids longbow just as well as those from an 80# 330fps sceaming compound bow. Inexpensive, another important feature, Materials don't normally have that kind of range of use. Here it may be necessary to design for a range of draw weights, or more accurately a matrix of bow power vs distance from the target.

 Cost - If it is made of titanium and kevlar, it meets a lot of good criteria, and fails the acid test of customer purchasing. The cheapest target is the side of a soft dirt hill. That is a little hard to transport. A hay bale is a close second, but while technically mobile, it still has issues with transport and size. So it goes from "dirt cheap" to "if you have to ask, you can't afford it."

Feel free to add your comments.

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