I have talked before of a feeling I get when I participate in certain activities: when I throw an axe, knife, or spear, or even more mundane things of a less combative persuasion: sitting around a fire, or singing an ancient song (a new favorite of mine has become "Ja Nus Hons Pris" composed by Richard Lionheart). The feeling I get when I do these things is that of connection. Specifically, a connection to History. I keep thinking to myself "On this exact day, at this exact time, a thousand years ago, somewhere, a boy my age...was doing this exact same thing!" But this feeling, this connection, is never as strong as when I shoot my bow.
That sweet, beautiful feeling of tension, spreading across back and shoulders...there is a reaction that I call the Draw Effect. It happens on days when I'm "hot" and in tune with my bow. When my fingers curl around the bowstring, and the friction builds...the world..."fuzzes"...over...all except for the target. The target itself sharpens. It's kind of like tunnel vision, but it's not just visual; it's mental, too. I forget things that don't matter, like where I am, or what time it is, or what time period it is, or what materials all my equipment are made of.
I went to Conway in Arkansas, Saturday, to meet a friend of mine in the SCA named Kolr (pronounced "Cole"). He and I are two of the top five archers in the kingdom, and we met two more archers, one of whom was another of the top five. We watched a video called "Masters of the Barebow Vol. II" I knew two of the archers featured. One of them was Larry Yien, multiple time world longbow champion. The other was a man from whom my father and I had both had personal lessons, and had shot around with at an archery shoot. His name is Gary Davis, and there is probably no better maker of selfbows this side of the Mississippi.
After the video, we stayed and talked until finally, everyone left and it was just me, Kolr, and his wife, Karis. The highlight of the evening, and for me, the entire weekend, was when he taught me how to make traditional bowstrings!
It's much easier to show people than talk about it, so everyone's gonna have to be satisfied with that unless they actually want to watch me make one, which I will, once I have the Dacron for it.
The next morning, Kolr and I started shooting a competition called an IKAC, or Inter-Kingdom Archery Competition. It basically consists of shooting six arrows at a target from forty yards, scoring them, shooting six more, scoring them, then a speed round to see how many arrows you can shoot in 30 seconds, scoring those arrows, shooting another speed round, and finally scoring those...then you do that whole thing over again at thirty yards, and then again at twenty yards. Kolr and I each average about six arrows in thirty seconds, so all told, we shot 72 arrows in one IKAC...but then we shot two more! Overall, including practice arrows, we EACH shot more than 200 arrows in a single day! A perfect score in a single IKAC for me is 360 or higher (if I get off more than 6 arrows in 30 seconds). My high score so far is 189, which isn't bad, but I came SO close to beating it yesterday! It hurt when my high score was the exact same thing. I'll get it...I know I can.
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I know what you mean-it's kind of the same thing when I play the piano. I sit down at the bench, and my fingers start to move, seemingly of their own accord. The world fades. I hum along, and soon I am lost in another world, where work and grades and failures don't matter as much. It's a world of inifinite possibilities.
I'm glad you did well at the shoot! Don't worry, you'll beat your score.
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