SERIAC 2014: Fly on the Wall Photographer

I didn't get to shoot SERIAC because of the whole I'm no longer eligible to shoot as a collegiate archer. Graduation does have its down-sides! Here's the link to the FULL suite of photographs: http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/GuenhwyvarAnCrosaire/library/SERIAC%202014

Links to videos will be in a later post as they become available. YouTube is rather ... slow. In the meanwhile, here are a few of the more interesting shots that I've taken out of the literally 1900+ pictures I ended up keeping... out of 3000 or so I actually took. Archers can be very difficult to photograph!

Old Project Revived and Completed

It's been a while since I've actually posted any actual stories but it's *finally* up even though it's still a very, very early draft that I've finally hit a pausing point. This story has been around for quite some time, with its earliest roots starting in 2005 or 2006 after a friend told me about the ecosystems of north-central FL but it's never really developed past the occasional puttering around. 

Without further ado, here is draft 1 of The Legend of Tesaka

And a gratuitous lucky group at 70 meters, ends of 3 as practice for elimination matches. Slowly learning the way of the Olympic recurve and hopefully will eventually break either a 36-arrow score of  300/360 or a 72-arrow composite score of 560/720. 

Prowler Fun!

Today's WOD: 20 minutes of practice on building up to toes-to-bars which was basically me flailing around trying to figure out how to kip and get my knees to my chest in proper rhythm. And then our Metcon was 3 rounds for time of : 100 meter 75# prowler push, 6 hand-stand push-ups (or in my case, on the box so I'm not fully upside down to avoid puking), 9 75# power cleans, and 12 knees-to-chest.  Completed in 18:30... which was pretty slow but I also held back a lot on the prowler push because it was hot and I didn't want to have to get scraped off the pavement.

Post-WOD silliness after frying my legs and my butt... total weight of this setup is only 75 lbs. One day I'll Rx it at 115 lbs!

Routine Camera Cleaning: The Rise of the Firewolf

Even after a few weeks of having this new camera, I'm already behind on cleaning it out! I think I'm bonding a little too much with the bowstring! My current setup involves a 25" Samick Vision riser, 42# short carbon-wood Sebastien Flute limbs, Easton Carbon One 730 spine shafts, silver Kurly Vane shafts, random Shrewd stabilizers and sidebars I yanked off the compound, a Shibuya Dual-Click sight, and an AAE sight-mounted clicker..

First Try at CrossFit Open 14.5

Note to self: Work on training the photographer a little better and make sure I eat better. Overall summary of my performance: great until I barfed and then I had to stop and call for a re-attempt. My appetite had been extremely poor and it took immense effort to make sure I even ate for the last several days due to some crushing news that has also made it too painful and difficult for me to continue working on Project Silver Wolf. I am determined to complete CrossFit Open 14.5 though!

Some sample clips:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bUVjXXePK8Q&list=UUSj2_g7FnjAO7GBYi-HyFWw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kKg8NPKbPxY&list=UUSj2_g7FnjAO7GBYi-HyFWw

Silver Fire?

I got new arrows and new limbs! I will be posting an updated picture of the bow once I can get it photographed with me, preferably at full draw and with a nice background. My new arrows are 730 spine Easton Carbon Ones with pin nocks, silver Kurly Vanes, and 110 grain stainless steel points. I can also both use my clicker properly and set my sight to somewhere reasonable to get 70 meters and if I dared, 90 meters!

 A single arrow's fletching... these Kurly Vanes are a little tricky to put on but very much worth it with their lower profile and significantly reduced wind drag!

 Part of my calibration process... this happened many times as I tried to figure out where I had to place the sight bracket.

Skraaak! Boom! Looks like I'm about as close at it gets given I'm not a particularly consistent shot!

In other news, Project Silver Wolf (aka the novel) may be on a bit of a hiatus as things are developing and unfolding in this side of the Veil, at least the portions of the story concerning the two main heroes: a wolf born as a human who gradually learns of her true nature and the prophecy she can choose to fulfill or not ... and an aspiring Olympic archer who constantly defies all odds and has a tendency to threaten to redefine the criteria for winning a Darwin Award.

Preview of one of the Silver Wolf's "scribblings"

Coming soon: a draft of a side-project tentatively titled "The Legend of Tesaka Fire-Fang"... possibly, depending on how events in the next several days pan out.

Any Guesses?

Anyone want to venture a guess on what happened to this 1" board?

Day 1 at 70 meters...

Today was my very first day shooting 70 meters with the recurve. Let's just say I can't get my sight down far enough to actually have a spot-on mark for 70 meters so I've been forced to shoot gap. I can't quite move my sight any further in without interfering with my sight-mounted clicker, so for now, I'm stuck...

My first attempt extrapolating where I bottomed out the sight and lined it up on the top of the housing for the target butt. This was after my initial shot spot-on where I was significantly under the paper, about 75 cm, so I knew to raise my aim approximately that much. This was the result of my initial guess. Ok, but not quite good enough...

This was after I raised the sight a few clicks after realizing that straight gapping wasn't going to work very well because of the way my eyes work. When my form is actually good and consistent, this is what I'm capable of combining sight adjustments and gap-shooting. Now if I can actually do some tweaks to actually be able to aim spot-on...

Silver Medal from FAA-NFAA Indoors

FAA Indoors 2014: Recurve Style!

As far as I know, I took a 2nd at the state level on the NFAA indoors in the adult female Olympic recurve division and 4th at the state level on the NAA indoors in the adult female Olympic recurve division.  Without further ado, here's some of the photographic highlights! You can find the rest here: http://s1281.photobucket.com/user/GuenhwyvarAnCrosaire/library/FAA-NFAA%20Indoors%202014

I also have some video clips here:
http://youtu.be/MDs4JF70_WQ Clip 1, mixed bits and pieces
http://youtu.be/xanOl82MXCk Clip 2, mostly barebow
http://youtu.be/I-4Uyh-3bwM  Clip 3, mixture
http://youtu.be/h_Kub7wOilo  Clip 4, mixture of kiddies