Archery…

Today I got myself a tattoo…it’s something I’ve considered a few times over the years. When a mate started talking about getting one and asking me if I’d ever get one my response was “I don’t think there’s anything I could see myself getting as my interests change too often”.

My only abiding passions are football and archery. He suggested something along those lines and pointed me at a photo of someone’s ankle with (what looks like) the easton archery archer logo. So out of boredom over a few evenings I looked into designs and came up with a few that I liked.

Then come the other two reasons for not getting one in the past. I have a low pain threshold – useful information if you ever need to torture me, and I also suffer from psoriasis and I wasn’t sure how it would affect things. A visit to a local Tattoo Palace gave me the opportunity to ask a few questions, get an idea of cost and generally get the feel of the place.

This morning I went back armed with a little of the money from my fleabay sales and purchased myself some pain.

Well, there it is, my tattoo, it measures approx 4″ square and is placed on my upper arm so that it doesn’t causes issues at work.

OK….I exect someone to tell me that the shooter has terrible form as it appears his head is tilted down towards his chest. He does however resemble me in that respect.

Last but one n00b night of the year, 11 down, one to go! HURRAH!

While inhaling fumes, from both the glue and the isopropyl alcohol used for cleaning/degreasing I had a chat with one of the bods with regards to my issues with tuning.

The way I see it with my arrows being too stiff I essentially have two options – whilst retaining the same shafts. I can increase the poundage on my fingers or I can increase the pile weight. As I have only recently increased the bow weight from 30-32# to 36-37# I don’t want to increase it again for the time being. My arrows currently have 100gr ACE piles installed, I could increase this to 120gr to see if any difference is made.

And guess what..because all my arrow repair stuff is at the club, so is my mini blowtorch and hotmelt glue…my arrows are here…I thought to myself “the last thing I must do is forget to take them” and sure enough, the last thing I did was forget to take them.

After I’d finished the stack of club arrows that needed ‘maintenance’, I at last got round to using my jigs to refletch the 660 Navs that I had returned to me the other week. On went some neon green and white shield cut vanes (I like shield cut – I have no evidence they are better or worse..I just like them).

The idea being that I will try these as an alternative (29.5″ Nav 660′s with 80gr piles) as an alternative to the current ones (29″ Nav 610′s with 100gr piles)to see if they are closer to a match. The only drawback is that if they are, I only own 4. Which aren’t enough. But another 4 will be cheaper than a full set. There is a slight problem of course in that Navigators are no longer available. They have been replaced by ACGs, I need to find out if ACGs are simply rebranded Navs or if they have been redesigned from the ground up. I will find out later…someone on AIUK is bound to know.

If these prove to be a better match I will need to decide what to do next…I can’t afford a full set, I don’t really want to up the weight on my fingers just yet and I’m unsure about increasing the pile weight.

Any suggestions dear readers?