Becoming a Celtic Archer

for the last couple of weekends i have been taking a longbow course at the Celtic Harmony Longbow Club.
taking place in beautiful Hertford fields, we were first taught to shoot with familiar round targets, learning how to hold the bow, draw the string, aim and ... release.
then repeat. repeat. repeat ...

the goal of this practice is to start to become consistent not to hit the gold (although that was very satisfying!). any variation in how you hold the bow, or how you hold yourself changes where the arrow hits, and we wanted to hit the same place over and over.

once we could shoot straight (and safe), we tried out field archery, which is altogether much more fun!
wandering through woods you find targets in the shape of deer, boar, fox, etc, hidden behind trees, obscured by bushes. sometimes you have to shoot from a ditch, sometimes crouching to avoid branches. first one target may be close, then the next is at a distance. the course is designed to throw you off, stop you getting used to a pattern.
all very challenging, and as someone pointed out, quite like golf. the difference of course is that we were using lethal artillery!

in addition to practice, we had to do some theory research into the Archer's Paradox: essentially the arrow does not go where you point it. this is because the way the arrow rubs the bow when you shoot causes it to bend and flex.
so, the archer has to compensate for this, which would be more simple if all arrows behaved the same - but they don't. the flexibility of the arrow shaft is its' spine, and you have to match the power of the bow with the spine of the arrow. this is further complicated as longbow arrows are (traditionally) made of wood and so like all organic things, they vary. it wouldn't be fun if it was easy, would it?!
here is a good explanation with a picture, and here to some high speed video, including a bit that shows what can happen if you get the balance wrong...

my membership cheque is in the post. see you there!