I think
GNAS may have jumped the gun in making their rule changes. The
GNAS longbow specification comes directly from the specification laid down by the B.L.B.S. The BLBS changes to the long bow specs are based on an "assumption that the reflex/deflex limb gives an unfair advantage in cast/ draw weight ratio's compared to a conventional straight limbed Long bow. This assumption of superiority of performance has never been quantified in a bow for bow comparison. The changes to bow rules was put to the 2005 AGM of the BLBS but will not be ratified until the 2006 AGM. Therefore the reflex/deflex bow is still legal at BLBS events until ratification in 2006, but it seems to bave been banned from
GNAS events forthwith.
Another part of the specification
GNAS has spectacularly misunderstood, is the nature of the self bow and the 5/8th ruling. I have an Osage self bow that, because of the shape and make up of the wood grain, the bow has a section where in order for the limb tiller to work correctly the depth of the limb at a particular point is below the 5/8th specification.
This bow, by ruling definition, is now illegal by a rule instigated, and ratified by, I suspect, someone that knows or understand very little about longbows.