Wind!

[steve58]

Have just had a very annoying day! Our longbow shoot was just called off after 4 dozen (which was a good decision by the feld captain in the ridiculous wind). At that point I had scored about 25% of what I had hoped to score (and had broken an arrow and lost the piles off three).

So, tips for shoting in the wind please, my whole shot went completely to pot and I need some ideas to think about. I did come to the conclusion (after switching to a heavier set in the hope they would get through the wind better) that arrows with a lower flight path did better.

[crispy]

Hey, sorry to hear about your shoot. I've been watching the rain persisting it down all day and have been thinking 'by 'eck I'm glad I didn't bother entering a local shoot up in the Black Mountain today, not much fun I could imagine, 'ere not that there's ever much rain in wales.
They'll be others, I'm still waiting to get outside, I'll probabaly have to move back to Engalnd, just so my bow can see the light of day!

[buzz lite beer]

To improve your shooting in the wind you must totally commit to the shot even more so than in "normal" conditions, pick the spot you intend to aim off say in the blue zone, and don't look anywhere else then make the shot, if the 1st shot was off some from that alter the aim off position accordingly, don't worry too much about the sound of wind reducing or even the visual indications of the wind dropping either.

[alanesq]

I suspect a heavy arrow is better in the wind
My arrows are about 60 grams and the wind doesn't seem to bother them as much as other peoples arrows

also, I have heard the theory but not tested it myself that the idea of the fletchings is that as they fly, any cross wind will tend to turn the arrow and so compensate for the cross wind
If this is true then it may be that the size of the fletchings need tuning to give the correct amount of turn ?

I find the biggest problem with wind is if its a cross wind it will tend to snap my arrows when they go into the boss

[bkupris]

Wind is difficult no doubt. Isn't it the effect it has on blowing your body around more of an issue than the arrows themselves?

[pHz]

Originally Posted by bkupris

Wind is difficult no doubt. Isn't it the effect it has on blowing your body around more of an issue than the arrows themselves?

i personally believe so yes (for all types of archery and not just trad)

so an open stance helps

and to echo what has been said you really need to commit to the shot and have confidence in where you are aiming off - but also to have the confidence to come down when things are just too bad - dont be rushed into your shot (this is possibly less of an issue with most trad style archers than it is with recurve / compound though)

being a shortarse i find a low centre of gravity handy too but thats not necessarily something you can influence too much - my only two wins have come in windy conditions where i seem slightly less affected than others

slainte rob

[Longbow_Gold]

It sounds like it's been a rough day for you Steve, but at least you did the best you can

When it comes to shooting in windy conditions, I think that 2 main factors needed are, Cmpensation, Patience and Timing

Compensation - which has already been mentioned previously by others, by aiming off accordingly to where the first arrow hit.

Patience & Timing - This is something that I think would be essential for shooting in windy conditions, by being patient untill there are moments when the wind isn't blowing as heavy, and then picking the right time to shoot, to have the best chance of being as accurate as possible.

Granted, shooting in windy conditions is not easy, especially when you have the cross wind from hell blasting through, but it can be done and I think that keeping these factors in mind, may help to be more accurate when shooting on windy days

I hope that this os some help at least

Willie

[Araglin]

Originally Posted by crispy

.. I've been watching the rain persisting it down all day and have been thinking 'by 'eck I'm glad I didn't bother entering a local shoot up in the Black Mountain today, not much fun I could imagine, 'ere not that there's ever much rain in wales.

Wouldn't be the Dinefwr Red Kite Shoot would it? It was cold and wet and windy. I now consider myself an expert on cross-winds but not, regrettably, on how to hit the target when subject to them. Shooting something other than a low-poundage longbow would probably be a good start....

[crispy]

Originally Posted by Araglin

Wouldn't be the Dinefwr Red Kite Shoot would it? It was cold and wet and windy. I now consider myself an expert on cross-winds but not, regrettably, on how to hit the target when subject to them. Shooting something other than a low-poundage longbow would probably be a good start....

I, it was the Dinefwr shoot, who won the Longbow?

We had our interclub spring championships today (Portsmouth round), I won the Longbow, not hard seeing as I was the only L/bower there, but best of all I won the 'best placed gold' amonst all the recurves and me as a longbower! I've got a really stupid cheesy grin at the moment, who needs sights, stabilisers, longrods and carbon arrows to get a 'dead eyed dick' compound ten??? LOL

[steve58]

Originally Posted by Yorker

Here is the way I would deal with wind as a trad archer:
With a heavy bow maintaining back tension and using an open stance you can be amazingly steady in the wind.
If you have to aim off a lot completely realign your shot, move yourself around so you are essentially firing in a straight line in a different direction. Just hope the wind doesn't drop between you loose

My instinct was trying to tell me to do just that! Trouble was I was so freaked out by the gale force cross wind (and this on a two way shoot) that I was THINKING instead of trusting the shot routine.

The point a couple of people have made about the need to commit to the shot also strikes a chord, again I was over-thinking things and with hindsight realise I was not doing this.