East Devon BR - 15/8/26

We were a little depleted today, only seven of us as both Tom and Gary had family

commitments. On the plus side, we had a new victim; Steve Squires decided that he’d

have a go at BR.

The usual faces were to be seen, Justin, Jeremy, Julian, Eddy as well as myself, plus

occasional regular Phil and as mentioned, Steve.

Straws were drawn…. well, bits of paper and two details plus a single shooter were

sorted out. I was on Bench 1, first details, which meant I was also able to take on scoring

duties for the match, while Jeremy and Phil both took on RO duties.

After the recent heatwave, the temperatures were forecast to be a little kinder and the

cover offered by the trees meant that at 8.30am some people actually had fleece tops on.

It soon warmed up to a very comfortable level as the shoot got underway.

The killer with BR is always predicting exactly what the breeze is doing. Today it was

probably around the 8 MPH forecast and unusually it was almost at 90 degrees to the

firing line, but…. and it’s a big but, the velocity of the breeze was constantly changing

from moment to moment and those that think all the wind flags and indicators we have

scattered up and down the range are a waste of time were silenced today, as every one of

them more than earned their keep.

I was once again using my shiny wind flag and ETS paddle, and during the second detail,

with Julian sat to my left, he suddenly realised just how useful the information gleaned

from these devices is.

My first card, on bench 1 was a good’un, watching the paddle to help time my shots and

using my sighters to help judge my POA, I was very pleased. Then when scoring the

cards it quickly became apparent that one end of the range was producing some solid

scores in the 240’s, where as the top end was typically in the 230’s. That breeze was

causing trouble for many.

The breeze had strengthened a little for my second card but more worryingly it had

become a lot more changeable, rising and falling rapidly and occasionally changing

direction completely, just to keep you on your toes. It was noticeable that the other guys

in my detail were seeing the same thing, as shots were being fired, or not, in sequence

with the rising and falling wind. Then it was back to the scoring bench and a steady

stream of 240’s were rolling in, clearly people were getting to grips with the conditions.

It is usual with scores to do a sub total after two cards, this gave me a narrow lead, but

also showed Justin and Phil on identical scores, with Phil ahead by a single X.

My last detail and once again the paddle and flag were my best friends. The wind was still

varying rapidly and to make matter worse, I was on the dreaded bench 3. I plugged away,

timing my shots as best I could but after a string of tens on the last line, suddenly an

eight. This is the killer blow to a good score and in a match as close as today’s, it could

really upset the apple cart. And so it proved. But I was not alone, Phil, shooting in the

second detail suffered too, a trouble shared and all that.

As I scored each of the cards, it was apparent who had fallen at the last hurdle and who

had mastered the breeze, with Justin shooting a 247 for his last card and Eddy putting in

the highest card of the day with a 248… me, ummm 242.

While all of this was going on, Steve was the last shooter in each detail and was putting in

some steady scores, highly creditable for his first ED club shoot and ending the shoot

with a somewhat biblical total!

Final scores were 1st: Justin 733 17x. 2nd: Me 731 18x. 3rd: Eddy 730 22x. 4th: Julian

722 19x 5th: Phil 722 11x. 6th: Jeremy 689 11x. 7th: Steve 666 8x.

As always seems to be the case, we had another fun shoot with the added bonus of Neil

Walton being there, frying pan at the ready to fry up some bacon on request, thank you

Neil.

And again, as always, I am going to suggest that BR is a fun and challenging way to

spend a Thursday or Saturday morning. We are a very friendly and encouraging bunch

and would love for you to join us.

Next round is the last of the summer and will be held on September 12th. 9.00 am start.

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