This past weekend was a first for me, my first chance to get together with several other wood bow enthusiasts here on Vancouver Island. Originally it was supposed to include Jamie McDonald from Ravenbeak, but due to his tight schedule he couldn't make it. Wizardgoat and I decided to make it happen anyway. The event was held at the beautiful Cumberland Lake Park on Comox Lake, in Cumberland BC, at a wilderness group campsite. Surrounded by mature second growth including yew, osier and Doug maple, and the usual hemlock, Doug fir and red cedar.
We arrived on Thursday, along with DC(Don) and Tree Ninja(Jason), and Goats cousin Ryan. My wife and kids were around various times through the weekend, as was Goats family including more cousins and Ninja's wife was there as well. We had a mixed bag of rain, wind and the sun even teased us briefly. Tarps blew down, I almost lost my tent, and the grounds were pretty muddy in places, but thankfully there was a large covered structure that we did most of our bow work in, with a concrete floor to boot!
While lots of shavings happened(many by headlamp after dinner) only Ryan, the newbie, finished his bow. What dedication! I think he was sanding in his sleep lol. Watching him shoot that new yew flat bow was a treat. Don also got one shooting, and will be making it great at his home shop. He did some tip alignment with the heat from the fire and some clamps on the picnic table. The gangway to the dock became a workbench, and you could track my movement around the fire pit but the piles of fine shavings of Doug maple that I left around. A couple folks made some juniper spoons that were beautiful and we did some group shooting. That was a lot of arrows after 8 or so archers loosing half a dozen each at the targets! We witnessed the daily flight of the ravens, where seemingly every raven in the area fly up the lake to roost. Dozens and dozens of them. A beautiful thing to see and hear.
For first ever event it went off perfectly. Everyone got along and worked together. It was a weekend of skill sharing, community building and friendship forging. A diversity of backgrounds, generations and knowledge base created some great subject matter to chat about, not to mention the bountiful woods that we have in our area for making our tools with. Looking forward to being a part of year two of this gathering. And thanks to the hardy participants who I shared this weekend with!
Our accommodations, for bow building anyway
The lake, and our wonderful, overcast Island weather.
Unique work bench, with a view!
Lots of arrows!
A new bowyer and his art.
A gnarly old timer that has passed on
My little Kate loving the mud and rain
Baby Goat keeping warm and dry!
Easy clean up. So much yew in that pile!
Our commemorative pin. Thanks for making these up Goat!
