Cancelling a shoot

[steve58]

Anyone point me to any guidelines on calling off a shoot part way through?

I went to a record status Rose award York on Sunday and the judge offered us a vote about half way through the first distance and then called it off "on safety grounds" at lunch.

Fair enough there was a good steady wind blowing and some of the gusts were a bit stiff, but I have shot in worse. Yeah the scores were going to be well down, but same for everyone.

We longbowers were perfectly happy and prepared to finish the round, the recurvers seemed OK (and surely the clicker keeps the arrow on the rest anyway?). But there was a problem with one of the compounds. Not sure quite what happened, but I think the arrow may have blown off the launcher, leading to a dry loose, or near enough, and a problem with the bow.

Perhaps the judge might have sent all the compounders home? (If she felt they were particularly at risk?) Or did she only have two options available, ie continue or call off? Please note I am not asking anyone who was not there to second guess the decision taken, just asking what possible choices there were.

I had had a 50 mile trip to get there wasted, and other longbowers had travelled further, so we went off in a bit of a huff, as we would happily have finished the shoot.

[pHz]

didnt realise you were there steve or id have said hello (i was on target 3 - you must have been one of the twigchuckers on 1 yes ? )

i have to say i didnt personally agree with the lunchtime decision either - ive shot in stronger winds (shooting in the fens you dont often have much choice ! ) and as you say its not an issue for those of us recurvers with clickers and you longbowmen didnt seem to be struggling either

i do however UNDERSTAND the judges decision slightly - the compound with the problem was shooting on my target and when his arrow blew off as he released the arrow only ended up about 6 feet in front of the archers on target 2 and it hit the ground with a fair bit of speed - i guess the judges have a duty of care and if they have the slightest doubt ...

all the other compounders also voted to stop the shoot at the first break so it was obviously borderline conditions for them i guess

common sense solution would perhaps have been for the judges to have expressed their doubts about the conditions and then asked any archer with any doubt as to their or others safety to consider withdrawing - but im not sure where that would leave the judges or hosting club if anything did happen ?

slainte : rob

[Little Miss Purple]

As far as I see it.. and have been discussing matters with a few judges recently...

It is the responsibility of the judge in charge & tournament organiser to determine if & when a shoot should be cancelled. Hind sight is a great thing and as ever you have each persons own view regarding level of risk. Their choice is final and really no other options are available.

(It has been argued that a vote should be taken and that the responsibility is on the archers... but that would not be the case if things went wrong!)

ps.. be grateful you only travelled 50 miles!!

[The Meggy]

I admit I was one of the compounders who voted to stop. I agree it was a tough decision for the judges to take. Maybe the shoot could have carried on with no further problems, although the wind did seem to have got up even more during the prizegiving. I think a big problem is what happens if someone does get seriously hurt, however unlikely this may seem - the judges/organizers could then face legal issues: any lawyer would ask "why did you continue the event in such obviously dangerous circumstances?" and it would be hard to argue. Plus someone had already been injured, so they had to take that into account.

It was a tricky one I agree, and I do feel for people who had travelled quite a way to be there.

[Watch_Man]

I heard from one of our club members who was there, that IC from Pilgrim Bowmen injured his wrist when the arrow blew off causing the string to catch his watch and cut in. Hopefully it was only a minor injury.

However disappointing I think the judges call has to be final, as has already been pointed out, they would be held responsible if there was a serious incident.

[The Meggy]

That's pretty much correct Trevor, the wind blew his arrow off the string just as he was loosing. The string then hit his metal watch bracelet on the dry fire, causing a pretty nasty looking bruise/weal on his wrist. I heard the dry fire "bang" followed by cry of pain from IC. Although unpleasent, I don't think the injury was serious in the sense that he should recover given time. Not funny though, and although he managed to sort his bow out (the string came off) using a portable bow-press, he cannot be blamed for calling it a day at that point.

Incidently, congrats to Wendy for a superb performance over the two days at the BTC. Sounds like the weather was pretty naff for that too, especially on day one?

[Watch_Man]

Originally Posted by The Meggy

That's pretty much correct Trevor, the wind blew his arrow off the string just as he was loosing. The string then hit his metal watch bracelet on the dry fire, causing a pretty nasty looking bruise/weal on his wrist. I heard the dry fire "bang" followed by cry of pain from IC. Although unpleasent, I don't think the injury was serious in the sense that he should recover given time. Not funny though, and although he managed to sort his bow out (the string came off) using a portable bow-press, he cannot be blamed for calling it a day at that point.

Incidently, congrats to Wendy for a superb performance over the two days at the BTC. Sounds like the weather was pretty naff for that too, especially on day one?

Hopefully Ian will be OK for the Jack Oliver Shoot this weekend.

Weather was awful at Lilleshall on Saturday and a little better on the Sunday. I hear you made a good choice on your new longrod

[pHz]

Originally Posted by The Meggy

I admit I was one of the compounders who voted to stop.

another face i can put to an AIUK username then

slainte rob

[steve58]

Originally Posted by The Meggy

That's pretty much correct Trevor, the wind blew his arrow off the string just as he was loosing. The string then hit his metal watch bracelet on the dry fire, causing a pretty nasty looking bruise/weal on his wrist. I heard the dry fire "bang" followed by cry of pain from IC. Although unpleasent, I don't think the injury was serious in the sense that he should recover given time. Not funny though, and although he managed to sort his bow out (the string came off) using a portable bow-press, he cannot be blamed for calling it a day at that point.

Makes me wonder whether he would have been better off if he had had a bracer on (I admit I am assuming he didn't as compounders seem not to use them on the whole) and had not had his watch on? I always wonder what might happen if the string catches the watch, so it goes in a pocket or on my belt (I have to confess that my worry is for the string as much as my wrist!)

One of our club had a compound string break on loose the other week, horrible noise and a nasty looking welt on the bow arm, again no bracer.

I work for a county council, so I do understand the "what if" in this day and age from the judge's point of view, but I also think that responsibility for safety starts with the individual. If they don't think it's safe for, then they should stop. Others may draw the line in a different place to me because they shoot different equipment, or because they are more risk-averse, or both. But their safety is their reponsibility first and foremost and they should not be waiting for the judge.

But just to clarify, was an option open to the judge to rule it unsafe for a specific bowstyle?

[Hidden Hippo]

I don't wear a bracer for compound, but I'm thinking of getting a Beiter one. I don't like the large ones, even when I'm shooting recurve as they just start to feel really sweaty and uncomfortable towards the end, but the Beiter looks like it would protect against a mishap but not be too obtrusive.