Re: Atlantian University Combat Archery Class Results

[blackbow@sprynet.com]

Poster: blackbow@sprynet.com


[and yes, I'm aware this is being copied to the Merry Rose...]
Sir Jon:

Just thought I'd bring you up to date on the combat archery classes I taught 
yesterday at University in Danville, VA.

The first class was Combat Archery 101 as taught by me, with a disclaimer that 
everything I said was what I had learned, and not necessarily sanctioned by the 
SCA.  The class proceeded fairly well, and one interesting note (especially in 
light of our recent discussion on the state of archery in Atlantia) was that 
there were about 25 participants!  (Ranging in age from about 9 to who knows?) 

The ratio of experienced archers to newbies was about 1 to 5 or 6, which was 
encouraging; I didn't really think I needed to teach the Elvegast people 
anything, and I was right; they ended up catching several issues I missed or was 
mistaken on.

The most important issue that they knew about that I didn't was that the 
Atlantian military structure, as of the 12th Night fighting symposium, is 
foursquare behind combat archery.  HRH Cuan told Dealla (Kingdom archery 
marshal) that there would be archery at Pennsic using golf club tubes.  Gee, 
darn...;>

I did mention several times in that class that if you had the money to sink into 
it, that wood shafts were the way to go, but if you don't, or if you just don't 
like shooting wood shafts, that the golf club tube was an effective weapon as 
well, and that the replacement cost on the arrow was much lower than wood 
shafts.

The class went fairly well (in my estimation, anyway) and there were more than 
enough of the summary sheets I had prepared to go around.  Particpation was 
pretty good, with questions coming from just about everybody in the room at one 
time or another.

I've got the text of the summary sheet I typed up available if you want it, and 
can email you a copy.

The other class was fairly straightforward, and was about how to build the 
Thumper.  Fortunately, Dealla attended that class, and brought along a standard 
golf club tube for me to demonstrate with.  Her GCT was pretty well constructed; 
it flew straight about four times.  Then I shot it at the wall at about 15 yards 
distance and it did its standard sideslip.  The golf club tube didn't fly 
perfectly straight either, but the body was warped and hadn't seen daylight in 
about a year.  It still managed to shoot the "handicapped" sign and make a 
satisfactorily loud smacking noise, which I emphasized as one of the Thumper's 
biggest attractions.  

Again, there were a LOT of people in that class.  I was pleasantly surprised on 
both class sizes, since I only had three or four preregistrations for each 
class.    They acted like they were genuinely interested, too!

I ended up giving away just about all of the Thumpers and spare rebar caps I 
had, since I'm planning on making more sooner or later anyway.  In short, I had 
a good time, the class participants seemed to as well, and there were only a 
couple of points at which I managed to confuse the class, which were cleared up 
with the help of a couple of the experienced archers in the class.

All in all, I'd say it went well.  I plan on doing it again.  Dealla had an 
interesting point on the making of the Thumper; she said that since the hot 
water was there, you might as well use it to soften the end of the arrow before 
you shoved the dowel in, to aid in that part of the process.

I was also able to pass on my thanks to Sir Forgal for giving me the idea to use 
the harness to attach the rebar cap to the body of the arrow.  

One other point about the head of the arrow:  I had one that had cracked across 
the face of the rebar cap, and Dealla said that she would put a strip of duct 
tape over the crack before she fired it again,  just to be on the safe side.  
The amusing part was when somebody pointed out the crack and said, "What would 
the marshal say about this?"  I had to reply, "Well, the marshal probably 
wouldn't notice it, but if they did they wouldn't really know WHAT to do, since 
I'm about the only person with any real experience on these things."

Happily, Dealla was there to take care of it.

That's about it, Sir Jon; if you have any specific questions I can answer, feel 
free to reply.

In service,

Lord Jonathan Blackbow
House O'Shannon

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