flight archery: women needed!

[joachimM]

Looking at the flight archery world records, it seems that for certain categories in the women's class (especially broadhead) it suffices to pick up any decent bow and shoot it to set a new world record. Which indicates to me a general dearth of female flight shooters. A <100 m distance record standing already 26 years is starting to look a bit ridiculous...

So ladies, pick up a bow and start shooting. Eternal (well at least temporary) fame and glory are at your fingertips!

Also in the men's categories there are some world records that seem quite attainable in the broadhead section. Let's hope the next Polish flight archery shoot will be official, so we can see at least a few of those American records crushed 

I'm training my daughter in the mean time (pic from two years ago, with a PVC bow DOH!)

[Badger]

    I agree with you, lots of womens records could be set especially in the broadhead division. I would really like to see the 35# division in primitive extended at least into the ladies divisions. Several of the ladies records in the 50# classes were shot at 35#. We have a good group of ladies comming to Wendover now that I expect will be breaking more and more records.

    I am not so sure how much longer I will be attending but I do hope to continue to build bows for the shooters that want to shoot them. I am hoping some of the bow builders around the country will donate or loan bows to shooters if they feel they have a hot bow. Allen has started listing the names of the bowyers and arrow makers so there is some incentive for bow makers to have their bows shot even if they do not attend the shoot. Anything we can do to make this sport more attractive and inclusive will help to insure its survival in the long term.

    Another thing I have wondered about is how do the American and other international flight groups communicate with one another when it comes to rules and things like that?

[avcase]

It is an interesting question. I have five daughters and four of them have participated at our flight tournament at one time or another. I think my daughters plus a few of their friends make up a significant percentage of female flight archers in the US right now.

I know much of my daughter's success would not have been possible if it wasn't for Steve Gardner and others providing a tremendous amount of support!

I don't know if additional weight divisions would help or not?  Would more divisions just dilute the competition? It is true that most of the flight bows shot by women in the 50lb division fall between 30-38lb of actual draw weight, but draw weight doesn't seem to be such as big a factor to the archer compared to making sure they shoot a bow they are comfortable with (and doing a good job of matching the arrows to the bow).  I imagine draw weight makes much more of a difference for a broadhead flight shot compared to a regular flight shot. On the other hand, the broadhead flight events are for hunting equipment and 35lb often represents the legal cutoff for hunting in many states, so what would be the point of shooting broadhead bows with the upper weight cutoff at the minimal practical hunting  limit?

Alan

[joachimM]

Well that brings us once more to the >10 gpp discussion. A possibility would be to add (or replace) a <40# weight division with 400 grain broadheads, but only for women. That would level the playing field with men <50# bows shooting 500 gr arrows.

A 35# bow shooting a 500 gr arrow (14 gpp) will hardly shoot faster than 140 fps, giving a max attainable distance of give or take 130-140 m. That just doesn't give you a lot of satisfaction when you see your male peers shooting 200 m at 10 gpp. At these heavy arrow weights it's also becoming pretty hard to shine with a particular bow, as even a mediocre bow can shoot well at 14 gpp.

just my 2ct

[AliciaArchery]

I going to be there. I was there last year and broke records in primitive self bow, simple composite and in broad heads. I am into shooting heavy bows and going to shoot heavier then last year. I spent a lot of time going up in strength and going up north in July to get ready for the flight shoot. I work a lot on drawing and release. I am planning to also do a warbow demo.

[JW_Halverson]

I going to be there. I was there last year and broke records in primitive self bow, simple composite and in broad heads. I am into shooting heavy bows and going to shoot heavier then last year. I spent a lot of time going up in strength and going up north in July to get ready for the flight shoot. I work a lot on drawing and release. I am planning to also do a warbow demo.

Way to go, Double A!  Go kick butt and leave your name in the record books!

[AliciaArchery]

Me breaking a record. 70#@24

[joachimM]

Allright!!