We started September with a talk on the Science of Archery. We can all recall the days of yesteryear playing 'Cowboys and Indians' as it was known, and even tales of Robin Hood. Both involved the use of bow and arrows as weapons of war, as well as a means of catching and killing your food! Everyone in the Group joined in singing the song, Robin Hood, and everybody could remember the words after all these years.
We then went on to learn about the different types bow and see how the technology of bows and arrows has improved over time, moving towards modern day materials, e.g carbon fibre composite bows and Dacron based bowstrings.
Compound bow - uses cables and pulleys as a levering system
Build spec for a recurve bow
Recurve bow - currently the only bow permitted in the Olympics
We also learnt that the archers body was equally important to get it tuned to give a good sense of direction and distance. Posture and use of the correct muscles was most important. The heel of the hand has to be in a position as if to be pushing the bow, whilst the fingers are relaxed to allow the bow to pivot after release of the arrow. The body posture is to form a T shape with the firing elbow pulled back in line with the arrow and then starting to move round the body as part of the follow through after release of the arrow. Consistency is essential and so, in the set up you always need to locate the arrow nook in the same position on the bowstring and pull back the bow so that the fingers are just stroking the cheek, such that you can sight the target directly along the arrow. By being consistent it is possible then to make small changes to get closer to perfection.
Obviously safety is a priority. It is wise to have an arm guard to make sure the bow string does not hurt your arm - just remember that there can be 15kg of tension in the bowstring so a slap of the string can easily leave bruising on the arm.
Finally we were also shown how to take arrows out of the target without putting anybody behind in danger.
Luckily nobody volunteered to stand with an apple on their head as a target, so we did not have to consult u3a Health and Safety rules, nor apply for special dispensation from our insurance provider.