Innehållsförteckning för Issue 165 från Bow International

It’s been a slow autumn shooting-wise in your editor’s household, but we’re hoping to change that soon enough. In the UK, most people’s attention is firmly on the indoor competitions coming up; as usual, it seems like as soon as the clocks change, Britain descends into drizzle, gloom, bone-chilling wind and encroaching darkness starting shortly after lunch – and there’s plenty more of it to come. Thanks to the readers who suggested items for this year’s seasonal Gift Guide; a long-running tradition which we don’t feel like stopping quite yet. Don’t forget, we’re always looking for interesting small archery businesses, either for product features or possibly to revive the column known as I Made This, if we get enough of them. Elsewhere this month we have a report from Anne…

UNDER £20 ZEBRA WAX Mathews Zebra High Performance Wax is suitable for use on most brands of string and cable. The wax increases the longevity and performance of your strings and cables, making it a useful gift for any archer. • £8.70 • Available from Clickers Archery USB RECHARGEABLE HANDWARMER For the cold days over winter when you want to get some training in without the risk of losing fingers to frostbite. This Bosoner one from Amazon has a 5200mAH capacity and doubles as a power bank for your phone. It should keep your hands warm for around four to eight hours, which should be enough time to get that frostbite round done. • £13 • Available from amazon.co.uk PARACORD BINOCULAR STRAP A full customisable strap, with a quick release…

Around the world, the outdoor season is becoming longer and longer, starting earlier in the year and ending later in the year. Having a break from the ‘athlete life’ is very important to recharge, recover and relax after the season. Whether you shoot domestically, internationally or recreationally, being able to have a break away from shooting can also ensure the flame and enjoyment of the sport is not lost. Breaks can help create a happier athlete life, encouraging you to stay in the sport longer and with a higher potential of achieving your goals. It can be difficult for athletes to take a break due to guilt over not training or worrying about losing strength over their break. This is not the case; the body needs to take a break…

The World Field Championships finally took place in Yankton, South Dakota, after a two-year Covid-19 postponement. This year is the first year that field archery has been included in the World Archery rankings, meaning it will fall into the Olympic qualification period for Paris 2024 as it is within two years of the Games. This added some pressure to the World Field Championships, as the points won could help influence places for the Olympics for the recurve contingent. 2022 has been a big year for field, with the World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, the World 3Ds in Terni, and this World Field Championships. Italian barebow archer, Cinzia Noziglia, won each event this year. Yankton was her first gold individual medal in field as well, after making the podium on two…

If you’ve been thinking about a trip abroad for a shot at the Indoor World Series in 2023, read on. I have been travelling to and competing at The Vegas Shoot since 2017 (obviously, 2021 was a write-off). I get asked every year, “how much does it actually cost?”. This article will explain what to expect from Nîmes and Vegas cost-wise. The indoor season for 2022/2023 will be slightly different in format to other years with the World Archery Indoor Series now counting towards the Sanlida World Rankings. The GT Open, Sud de France Nîmes Archery Tournament, The Vegas Shoot and the Taipei Archery Open make up the Indoor World Cup circuit for the season. World Archery introduced a new system for the world rankings at the beginning of October,…

Most of the time I see archers using arrows with three fletches. However, I occasionally see arrows with two or four fletches. Why might an archer choose to do that and is there an advantage to it? Or a disadvantage? The task of the fletches is to help align the arrow with its direction of motion. They do that using aerodynamic lift. They also contribute to the aerodynamic drag of the arrow, but the lift dominates. The lift is dominated by the fletches’ area – more area gives more lift, roughly linearly. Because the arrow’s centre of lift is behind its centre of mass, the lift tries to push the arrow into line with the airflow. Hopefully as well as flexing, the arrow will be rotating about its longitudinal axis…

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Four men dominated the bow-making scene during the 19th-century heyday of archery as a social recreation – Thomas Waring, Thomas Aldred, James Buchanan and Peter Muir. Others, principally makers of umbrellas and fishing tackle, added bowyery to their repertoires with varying degrees of success – but it was to these four that many turned for quality and quantity in their sporting goods. While Waring, Aldred and Buchanan serviced the English clubs and societies, in Scotland it was Muir who reigned supreme. He was born in Kilwinning, Ayrshire, in February 1809 as the youngest of 10 children of William Muir, carpenter and maker of bows. Kilwinning was then, as now, famed for its papingo shoot – an activity by then over three centuries old, and firmly established as fundamental to the…

Many frequent attendees said it was the greatest World Cup Final they had ever been to. Tlaxcala was proud, and it showed. (You pronounce it like the opera house ‘La Scala’, but with a T on the front). When a city warmly embraces the sport, it leaves an impression, and the spectacular, atmospheric city centre finals field, replete with colourful details, had a lot to do with that. It should be said first that one of the biggest contributors to the day was the crowd: sold out, loud, enthusiastic and so keen to meet their heroes that several medallists were stuck signing autographs for over an hour. Compound Saturday was all about one thing: Gibson Vs Lopez. The Big One. World number one against world number two. After two matchplay…

Since their introduction in the 1960s compound bows have stood out amongst more traditional recurves or longbows due to one specific feature: their use of a cam system. The cams on a compound allow the archer to comfortably draw and hold a heavier draw weight, they maximise the bow’s energy and efficiently store and deliver it throughout the shot cycle. Over the years cam technology has developed as manufacturers look for more efficient ways to deliver faster arrow speeds and create more stable, easy-to-tune bows. Today there are several different cam systems available, each with their own merits and disadvantages. The one you choose will be dependent on what you want from your compound bow. TWIN CAM SYSTEM The twin cam system is the oldest design still in use today;…

After a long lull in the international tournament scene of mounted archery, a private organiser invited people to a small town in Turkey with some big promises. Akinci Toyu was to be the biggest mounted archery tournament in the world – a superlative, demanding event, with full TV and media coverage. The organiser Enis Yurdakök painted a promising vision of his tournament in Sındırgı, a small town near Balıkesir, about 200km south of Istanbul. Originally planned for spring 2020, the actual date was postponed by two years until May 2022 due to the pandemic. There were detailed digital plans for a specially built, professional arena and presentations of new competition disciplines. In the end, 74 male and female athletes from 29 nations registered – a remarkable number. After two years…

In November 2022, the international archery world was treated to the depressing news that the Bangladeshi archer Ruman Shana had been banned for two years by his national association for violently assaulting a female teammate at a training camp, apparently caught on camera. The resulting press did not directly name the teammate, but the News18 website claimed it was one “who had also taken part in the Tokyo Olympics”. There was only one person this could have referred to: 18-year-old Diya Siddique, who competed with Shana in the mixed team competition at Tokyo 2020. Shana, an international archer for nearly a decade, had a breakthrough year in 2019 taking individual bronze at the World Championships. This performance gave him qualification for the Tokyo Olympics, and made him only the second…