The Confessional

I started quite well yesterday with a 49-5 (just shouldered my 2nd shot out at 10 o'clock) and felt I could live with the result. That was pretty early in the morning at short range. My next two details weren't until 14:45 and 17:15.

Visited friends, skipping a big lunch as I'm wont to do on shooting days here and headed to the range about an hour early (forgetting my electrolyte-added 2litre bottle of water with aforementioned friends.

The shooting is in pretty warm conditions the last couple of days (over 80F yesterday and hitting 88F today). Somehow I ended up on the wrong section of the firing line (had my kit laid out and everything) before we discovered I was on Range 2, not Range 3 of Stickledown (they are 70-80 metres apart). So less than 5 minutes to go and I need to pick up everything and lug it over (2 trips). In sny event I was very hot and somewhat flustered when I got settled in my new position.

Cutting my story short, I ended up very dehydrated (and accordingly functioned at a very low level in the Corporation match) and fired a 32 with a cross-fire (shot on another target as my last record shot). Just disconsolate, as I was only down 12pts for the entire Grand the night before.

A mediocre 45 in the Wimbledon followed at 600 to put paid to any chance of improving my overall standing over last year.

I suppose it's all a test of character at this point. There are still quite a few important competitions that start today (the St. George's and the Queen's Prize) and I have to work on regaining my cheerful attitude and remember that I love this sport though it can, at times, punish one very harshly. Must keep my chin up and put it all behind me.

Not like I don't know about the dangers of dehydration.

Next match at 10:45 today (St.George's at 300yds) and then I'm free for the afternoon. I may head down to the museums at the Portland Naval shipyard for a visit to their newly-opened Jutland exhibition.

Somewhat better today

A 48-5 in The Duke of Cambridge. A 50 was definitely there as I was reading the wind very well.

A bit tougher in the Alexandra (600yds). There too I had a 1 minute elevation. Lost one for wind, and one for a mystery low shot after starting VVV.

Finally finished with a decent (almost very good) 72-6 in the Daily MAIL (500yds). Wind coming from 11 o'clock and moving to 6 o,clock. So a good 2 minute spread. Lost one on either side, both only out by 1/4 minute. Put the 15th shot low, just barely out at 6 o'clock, the worst thing being that I had brought the sights down 1/4 minute in the bright early evening light. Less than 1/4 minute out. Challenged to no avail.

Feeling optimistic, in spite of giving up four more points than I should of. But my elevations are getting better and better with my last match having all but 2 shots in a 1/4 minute elevation.

This is very good ammo (though a bit dirty) but everyone seems to be agreeing with me that it is very temperature sensitive. I'm seeing about a 1 minute elevation change in the shorts and almost 2 minutes in the longs. Frustrating as I'm used to starting with my sighters converted. I think it's a bit of local knowledge advantage for the GB shooters as we are the only ones who didn't seem to expect this behavior. LOL.

Parenthetically, for those who are not shooters, some notes:

• One minute is approximately one inch at one hundred yards, and ten inches at one thousand yards.
• In shooting in Commonwealth nations (essentially everywhere other than the US) your two sighting shots may be converted to scoring shots at your discretion. This can be a big advantage in difficult wind conditiond as frewer shots fired means less variation in the winds through which you must shoot.

  The best shooters in the world are here, which means the top 50-90 lost no points today. Every point lost equates to about 30 places in the Grand Aggregate.

More explannations in future posts.

Hutton Result!

My 50-7 at 900 was not only good enough to win my class (as top O) but it also placed me 6th overall amongst the 704 shooters who fired in the match. 4% earned 50s (about 25 I think) and the top score was 50-9.

First time I've ever beaten Jim Paton (probably currently Canada's best shooter) who had a 50-2. Of course, for all I know he was in a more difficult relay.

I've been told I may get a silver tankard that I can engrave for the result.

A tougher day yesterday

Read the wind well, but not quite well enough. Lol.

47-3 in thr Donegall (prelim), elevation zero way off initially (think it was my position)

70-7 in the Daily Telegraph (Grand), lots of close inners, didn't read the angle changes well enough

45-5 in the Lovell (prelim), good shoot, lost all my points in the first 5 shots

Starting with the Duke of Cambridge this morning. Looking forward to the day (and working on having fun).

Self doubt

My sister asked me in an email why I think I may have entered the realm of world-class shooters with yesterday's long range performance. I guess it's a bit complicated.

I really don't know if there is a simple answer. In the last year, I've had occasional very good results (winning the 1000 yd line at Rattlesnake against a good field, an 18x shoot at 600, and this performance in the Hutton. So perhaps they are coming more frequently.

For a while I questioned if I "deserved" it. Was I shooting from a legal position? Or I would "sabotage" myself by shooting very well and dropping a point late in the string. Part of this is being in a "comfort zone". Comfortable being pretty good, but not winning the overall match.

Now, it feels more like the key for me to shooting well is remain calm, get there early, and just take it shot by shot. Not get outside myself.

The Grand starts this afternoon and I plan to carry on as I've started.

First Friday's shoots

Today and tomorrow are the five preliminary matches (one at each distance we'll be shooting in the Grand Aggregate). Their is also the first match in the Grand (the Daily Telegraph at 300yds tomorrow). So looking forward to the day.

Today's matches were 600yds, 900yds, and 500yds. I resolved this year to take every match seriously as they all have medals and cups to be won, even though they aren't in the Grand. I've learned from my shooting friends that you try to win every match, not just the "important" ones.

The first match was the Century 600. I held well (my core group a minute) but completely misread the angle changes and came off with a 44-2. I later in the day shot witha fellow I admire greatly for his accomplishments and attitude, David Luckman, and learned he had a 48-5 in the same relay. So the wind wasn't easy.

I put on some Hawai'ian slack key guitar music and just watched the wind at 900yds. I thought I was on target 31 and I was supposed to be on 32. So I put my first sighter on the wrong target (a bullseye!). The wind changed by three minutes and I had a magpie (a 3). Fortunately I read the wind well on my first record shot and it was a V. A good recovery, I thought.

More Vs and bulls followed and when it was done, I had shot my best score at Bisley, a 50-7. Over the moon.

My next and final match today was in the light rain, with David Luckman shooting with me in a pair (we normally shoot in threes). I read the wind as three minutes, resolving to watch the angle of the flags against the backstop to measure the strength. It ran up to 5 minutes in my sighters, and I kept taking off wind, but not quite enough, leaving my first record shot out for a 4, perfectly at 9 o'clock. A bit frustrating but I knew I was holding well.

Our match finished with Lucky firing a 50-8 and me a 49-5. That won't win me anything but I'm shooting quite well when I can remain calm.

I have high hopes that I might win something with my Admiral Hutton score, as it was quite good, even if I was classed an X. I'm an O, so there is some potential there.

Rattlesnake

I really think over here have no concept of how difficult Rattlesnake is.

I realized this morning that I've never seen (or heard) or a 150 at Rattlesnake from the 1000 yd line. I'm sure it's possible but I wouldn't be surprised if it may only have been done half a dozen times over the 20 years since it opened.

I'm mentally contrasting that to Stickledown yesterday where 4% of us shot perfect scores. I'd wager that's not that uncommon here, as difficult as it is.

The Opening Shot

Yesterday morning was the Opening Shot match. This is the match that traditionally kicks off the Imperial Meeting. It's held at 900 and 1000 yds and is 2 sighters and 15 shots for record. It's a quintessentially British match with many of the best young shooters and club teams vying for the title. I was dumbfounded that Canada never entered a team (four people and a coach), so I approached four friends to form an adhoc team and challenge for the prize.

One key requirementfor the team is that there may be no more than 2 "X" class and 2 "A" class shooters in the group of 4. If you're X you finished recently in the top 100 shooters in a recent Imperial, A means you finished in the 2nd 100. We had one X (Irish shooter Martin Miller), two As (Andrew Wilde and Tom Laing-Baker), myself (an O for ordinary) and a top Scottish coach, Matthew Charlton.

I personally had a tough time at 900, pulling three shots low right (a bit wobbly still and trying to get used to my heavier trigger weight). That cost us 4pts we needn't have lost. My teammates performed superbly and we went to 1000 yds, I'm quite sure thinking that I had cost us any chance of a medal.

Our Canadian team picture was at 11:30 and it was already 10:15 so we were a bit pressed for time. Matt had to have Mark shoot through some pretty tough winds (a 15 minute spread flipping across zero) and Mark tooK a 67. This was, I later learned, an effort to get me back to Canada House in time for my picture. Martin was 2nd up and then it was my turn. I shot quite well, calming down as I shot and came away with a 70-7. Not bad, given the conditions.

Tom and Andrew had, I believe the highest scores on the range (out of 16 4-man teams) which is a testament to both their shooting and Matt's coaching.

I ran back for the team match arriving at 11:20 for a scheduled 11:30 picture. They were just breaking down the set, as the management of the team had decided to take it early! The photog stood me on a chair and said he would Photoshop me in. Fortunately he has me in full dress from last year which should make it easier.

I'll just say the Commandant wasn't pleased (I have to give up every dessert for the next week!).

Bill Richards, a senior coach for the GB team walked over to congratulate us after the match was over. He thought we had beaten every other team in the match. However, no one had thought to check the Australian national team scores). Their team of 2 Xs and 2 As had been us with a score of 575 to our 571.

For a few brief moments, we thought we had the Gold. That said, it was still a special moment to win the Silver and beat 16 other very high calibre teams.

Totally behind in posts

So let's catch up.

When last we met our intrepid adventurer he was a member of the team selected to shoot against the RAF team at the Purbright military ranges near Bisley. A prospect of rain was realized during the shoot but didn't affect my matches.

We shot at 300 and 500 yds. I had only four hours of sleep - returning my rented (two) pints kept me up until 2am the night before and we had an early start for the day. Let's just say it was a more miserable team shoot (with an accompanying performance) than I've had in the last two years (a 69 and a 67 - each out of 75). International standard, at which I'm expected to shoot should be at least 73 or 74. Conditions were tough but my groups on the target were both large in width and height.

Post-match analysis showed me that it was just something I have to put behind me (realizing that jetlag and lack of a decent night's sleep both contributed). After a pep talk from good friend Ian Robertson, I decided it was best to just put it behind me.

A visit to the Bike Shed

Last night was probably my sole trip into London. I arranged a visit to the Bike Shed with some friends.

I used to customize both my race and street bikes a lot but these guys take it to a professional level. I've followed their efforts for years and they turn out some beautiful bikes.

Two and a half hours on the train got us to downtown London (Shoreditch) and we had quite a good meal (and a few pints) before wandering through their exhibit (scattered throughout the restaurant just as I would have done).

Most were for sale, though oddly enough not the three I fell in love with!

Average price about £6000 pounds - a bargain I think for some of them.

Home by midnight too and we had some great conversation all evening. now the business of shooting must commence!

Practice in the rain

Shot in the rain yesterday at 600yds to confirm my zero. Wore rain pants but didn't cover my jacket. The new sealing treatment (Aussie leather conditioner which is primarily beeswax) worked a treat and rain had no effect. I wouldn't do that in heavier conditions but it was fine in moderate rain.

What didn't work so well is my 8B lead pencil - which I use on the Plotomatic. It literally melted in the rain! Absolutely useless. Fortunately I found my usual 4Bs at Sainsbury and can use those going forward.

No shooting today after checking both rifles at the zero range (both dead nuts on). Not selected for the BCRC match today (19 shooter team and 8 open slots) but get to shoot in the morning against a formidable RAF team at 500/600 yds so I'm happy.

Here's what the Plotomatic looked like during my shoot:

Evening with family

Sitting watching France v. Portugal with family. Tomorrow starts my Imperial (hopefully a Match Rifle event), paying my fees, getting my rental car, and getting settled into Canada House.

Many friends to catch up with and testing of the GGG ammunition to determine its speed.

More when I'm settled in.

Vive la France!

I have arrived in the UK

Je suis arrivee.

My local number is 07398 429750. Please feel free to test it out so I can verify it works.

On camp morning of 11 July.

Cheers, Stefan

Leaving tomorrow

Eager to get there. This year I've rented a car so I'm more mobile and walking to the range with all my stuff isn't such a burden. Could be especially useful if this proves to be a "wet Bisley" as some have feared.

Packing is such a damn hassle. Some of the guys leave gear there year 'round, assuming that they will make selection. I left some wellies and a good bottle of Scotch in my locker last year so I'll be happy to get to those items this year.

Tonight is cleaning the gun room, bedroom, and loading movies into my iPad.

I got a killer rate ($980 CAD) roundtrip on WestJet but it comes with no amenities (one has to pay for food and in-flight entertainment). Fortunately I have a 128Gb Ipad mini on which to store movies.

The biggest hassle with packing is the ridiculous size and weight limitations. I fear that I'll have to pay overweight or over dimension charges but at this point I will not choose to take anything further out of my bags. I would rather pay the charges.

This was supposed to be a relaxation period before leaving but it hasn't proved to be with all the stuff I have to get done. Fortunately, I have a week before the serious shooting begins to get adjusted.