Happy Halloween from Cardio Trek

 

Print out the above image to have a Spooky archery target this Halloween. Enjoy!

Arrow Hitting Bottle and Catapulting Back

 One of my archery students back in July sent me this GIF of their arrow hitting a bottle and then catapulting backwards. Seen in a loop it creates the impression that the arrow is hitting the bottle and just bouncing back and forth, while the lid goes flying each time.

Enjoy!

Photography Credit: Robin Kuniski / www.robinkuniski.com

Never Go Canoeing with a 5-Year-Old

Yesterday "for fun" I went canoeing with my mother and my 5-year-old son Richard.

I don't have any photographs of the lesson in physics because I was too busy keeping the boat upright and trying to prevent it from tipping over.

Canoes, if you're not aware, are a tad tipsy. A tad tipsy in this case means "very tipsy".

And 5-year-olds who don't like to sit still also don't like to listen.

This "comedy horror" experience is not for everyone. If you have any kind of heart condition, please (for the love of God!!!) DO NOT GO CANOEING WITH A 5-YEAR-OLD.

A ten year old? Sure. That sounds fine to me. A ten year old will have a better grasp of physics and that boats can tip over. A ten year old will also be better at listening and actually useful at using a paddle.

This is not to say a 5-year-old won't have fun in a canoe. My son Richard definitely had fun.

Meanwhile poor dad is having a heart attack whilst trying to keep the canoe upright and prevent said 5-year-old from tipping it over. Grandma also enjoyed from her position at the front of the canoe, but couldn't see their grandchild who keeps moving around every 10 seconds or so.

Then there's the matter of the wind.

Now you might not realize that canoes can be affected by the wind so much, but if the wind is strong enough it creates two factors:

1. If the wind hits the canoe broadside it rocks the canoe a bit, making it more tipsy.

2. The wind will make waves on an otherwise calm lake, leading to the waves rocking the canoe more strongly whenever the waves are coming parallel to the side of the canoe.

These two factors combined with an energetic 5-year-old who doesn't listen (and doesn't understand physics) leads to a catastrophic amount of tipsiness.

Is tipsiness a word?

It is now!

A Few Canoeing Tips

Always wear a life jacket in a canoe.

Never stand up in a canoe. (Again physics.)

Keep as much of your weight distribution towards the middle of the canoe as possible. A low center of gravity is best.

Whoever is in the rear of the canoe is the one in charge of steering. Everyone else gets to just paddle, unless otherwise instructed by the person steering the boat.

If possible wait until all occupants of the canoe are at least 10 years old before embarking on this (comedy horror) adventure.

 

 

Whitetail Deer at the Toronto Archery Range

Whitetail Deer

They're about 140 yards away, but there's three fawns and a doe in the photos below taken at the Toronto Archery Range. Just one of the benefits of practicing archery. You get to see wildlife on a regular basis.

Sometimes you can even get really close to them. I once got within 5 yards of a stag.

If you're at the archery range often enough you will see whitetail deer, red tailed hawks, foxes, raccoons, coyotes, rabbits, and more.

Depending upon the season + time of day I also recommend bringing mosquito repellent. That is one bit of wildlife we could do without.

A Beginner's Guide to Clout Archery

Look closely and you'll spot the arrows close to the flag pole shown in the photos on the right.

So what's the big deal?

Well, the flag is approx. 70 yards (210 feet) away from where the archery student was standing... And this was only their 5th archery lesson.

Oh and it was a tad windy that day.

That's why such results are worth taking photos of.

So what is Clout Archery?

Clout Archery is a long distance sport wherein archers compete to see who can get their arrows closest to the flag pole, which is generally placed really far away.

Usually 140 to 180 yards away, which are the competitive distances for Clout Archery.

However since the Toronto Archery Range is only 140 yards long (and lots of trees behind that) we have to use a shorter distance which is still challenging for a beginner, but also surprisingly a lot of fun.

Getting a cluster of arrows to land near the flag pole is also very challenging, even for experienced archers who are used to getting their arrows in clusters at shorter distances.

If you look closely at the photos on the right you will note that some of the arrows are touching or almost touching. That is some very good consistency for a beginner archer.

This isn't unheard of for my archery students however. I have periodically had students hit the flag pole or the flag itself at distances of 80 yards, 90 yards or more.

Getting to the point that you can do Clout Archery with this degree of accuracy isn't for beginners really. I generally only teach this to my archery students who sign up for 5 or more archery lessons.

When students sign up for 5 archery lessons they generally (I will sometimes customize the lessons for the needs of the student) get the following:

Lesson 1: Safety Lecture, Eye Test, Lecture on How to Aim Traditionally, Lecture on Proper Form, Field Archery Practice.

Lesson 2: Target Archery Practice, Lecture on Arrowheads.

Lesson 3: Long Distance Field Archery Practice, Lecture on Arrow Spine.

Lesson 4: Target Archery Practice, Lecture on How to Aim using Gap Shooting, Moving Target Practice.

Lesson 5: Clout Archery or Gap Shooting Field Archery (varies on the student).

Thus it really depends upon the student. Some students are more into learning Gap Shooting and others are more interested in long distance shooting.

Note - When someone signs up for 10 or more lessons I don't really have to choose so much. I will just teach them both, but I will still be customizing the lessons to the student's needs or interests.

Clout Archery Tips

Because the archer will usually have to aim at the sky in order to get their arrows to go that far you need to come up with a system for how to aim at the same spot on the sky.

Don't aim at clouds. They move. Instead you need to measure on the sky where you want to aim. I teach several different techniques for how to measure and aim at the sky so that students can choose which method works best for them.

Proper Form! If you don't know how to properly perform a shot then you should either get archery lessons or buy a book on the subject (I recommend "Precision Archery" by Steve Ruis & Claudia Stevenson).

And if you're in Toronto or the GTA you have no excuse not to get archery lessons from a dedicated professional like myself who teaches multiple different styles of archery and different archery sports like Clout Archery.

Browse the links below to learn more. Happy Shooting!

See Also

The Benefits of Clout Archery

Archery Lessons in Toronto