Body Tuning ... err ... Bow Tuning

SO -- Right before deer season this year, I bought a new bow, a Mission BX-1, in a 70 lb draw weight.  Many of you might have noticed, well, that I am not a very big guy.  I could pull a 70 lb. draw weight bow, once maybe.  The guys at Predators short strung it so I could pull it at about 50 pounds of draw.  Since I normally shoot a 50 lb recurve, this was manageable.  50 pounds of draw weight is enough to take down a deer certainly, but might have trouble with a bear or elk. 

Last week I had the shop set it up as it should be and we cranked the weight down to about 60 lbs.  This is a substantial increase.  I had to shoot it about a dozen times at the shop so it would settle in.  This was a challenge.  With a recurve if your body fails you can just pull till there's nothing left and shoot away.   With a compound bow, you have to get over the hump, or it's useless.   I had to rest more than once.

I've been going to the range every day and shooting about a dozen arrows. Every day I try to dial in the 20 yard pin on my sight.  Shoot three arrows, move the sight, shoot three arrows, adjust again.  It's hard enough to pull, so that each set of three shots isn't always accurate.  But I am getting stronger.  Today, it all came together.  I was able to shoot consistently for about 15 shots ... and looky; three bulls eyes at 20 yards.

... Woops!

Last week at the Kings Mountain Archery Range we shot this video (http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30487538&op=1&view=all&subj=756015537&id=1148126542#/video/video.php?v=1122811627658&ref=mf) which was cool because it was taken with arrows flying toward the camera. Really fun. Video © 2009 Angel Viloria. All rights reserved.
SO we went back this week to see if we could improve on it.

Photo of me at the Kings Mountain Range.

"Shoot this one a little higher," says Angel. "Are you sure," I ask. "Yep." "Ok." ...

Two shots progressively higher (one is hidden) and the third ...

The really disappointing bit was that the flight of the arrow that crushed the lens wasn't recorded by the device, so it died in vain. Well, there's not much else to say. The End.

Wow It's Freaky Windy ...

Today was freakishly windy ... You possibly noticed I was talking about the wind when I posted this.

When I shot these, the wind speed was 36-40 and the the gusts were 45-49 at the San Francisco Airport (SFO). Granted, I was in a bit of a sheltered location, because I was in the forest up on skyline at Kings Mountain, which is a bit higher than SFO and the highest thing around. So gusts at the top of the trees might have been hurricane force or higher, when I was shooting those arrows. Based on my crazy wind estimation skills, I think the winds where I was shooting might be about 15 mph, with gusts to 30 mph, since I was in a valley and under the canopy.

The weather today was crazy, and there were gusts as high as 58 mph today at the San Francisco Airport.


These two shots are taken somewhere close to the San Francisco Airport (notice the incoming plane), very near the height of the insanity, at 3:45 or 4:00 P. M. I cruised out there because I decided it was too dangerous to drive on the freeway, and I was wondering what it might be like to kayak in this kind of wind. There were three foot swells in a place that normally is calm, and swimmers, kayakers and windsurfers might be found "playing" around. For me ... it looked scary as hell.

Here's what it might look like in the morning.

On the San Mateo Bridge, about 5 miles south of these photos, there were several newsworthy events in the afternoon. Within a short period of time ... one, a truck turned over heading west on the bridge, two, a commercial fishing boat got pushed by the wind into the bridge causing damage to the bridge, and three, a kayaker (capsized and out of his boat), had to be hoisted up from a position in the water hugging the bridge pillars. Currently the bridge is still closed in the westbound direction, with current estimates for reopening at 4 A. M.

Never mind all this, I shot a bull's eye at 40 yards with an unpredictable gusty wind ...