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A wonderful weekend shoot in Gondelsheim, Germany |
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With so many events coming by, ETAS members can’t go to every event (with ‘normal life’ interfering as it does). Some events however are special: events where an ETAS ‘regular’ personally invites you! In this case it was Steve Heckler, who has visited the ETAS Batsford shoot for years. He invited his fellow European archers to the German Black Forest for a challenging 3D shoot and the Dutch ETAS branch answered the call: Gert, "little" Hans", Linda, Mark, Lex, and ETAS 'newbie' Albrecht. On Friday, the six of us arrived in Gondelsheim for the Kraichgauer Blankbogenturnier, an annual event which had its 5th reïncarnation this year. A medieval tent where we could sleep (and drink) was prepared for us by Steve.
This offered a luxurious space to rest and share stories in. Unfortunately a good tent for sitting inside was badly needed -- as it rained from Friday night until Saturday night. This made the first day of shooting a wet and muddy one indeed. Fortunately, at the grill place, the fire was always going so we could warm our feet and hands. After the first day shooting, we were also treated to a few rather nice schnapps by the organisers.
The rain stopped however, and the second day offered a more pleasing temperature. The course itself was beautifully laid out in the edges of the Black Forest. The countless blossoming trees in green meadows, and the blackish beech trees with their brand-new bright green foliage gave the scenery a surreal beauty at times.
The animals, often in pairs, were set up in nice natural scenes (well, besides the odd ‘horse’s arse’ or ‘owl on wood stump’) which made the track all the more pleasurable to shoot. Some longer shots proved quite difficult for the instinctive archer but overall the difficulty was quite feasible, with few branches or shrubbery in the way of targets and medium distances making for a pleasant shoot. On day one, the course was shot as a standard 3-arrow course; on day two however, it was shot as a 'double hunter'. This meant you had to shoot 2 arrows at every target, mostly from two different pegs and sometimes at two different animals.
After two days of shooting the ETAS team (well… Linda D.) even managed to take home a prize, consisting of a basket full of pasta. Our team mate Felix (8) also took home a special prize: a hand-made target from '3d-to-do', for being the youngest archer to shoot every target from the official pegs -- which meant that on day 2 he shot the same course as the adults! This concluded the event for the organisation and for our fellow German archers, although the Dutch group stayed for another night in this wonderful spot.
Special notice has to be made of the catering on the shooting grounds. Never have we in The Netherlands had such a feast available (and for such reasonable prices; 50 cent for a coffee and 2-3 euros for meat on bread). With big hot meaty sandwiches, cold cakes, pies and cookies there were too many options to try out, but the quality was enough to make you come back every year.
We would like to thank Steve Heckler and his friends Alex and Tanja, for making us feel most welcome and providing us with a lovely breakfast. Of course, we also kindly thank the organisers for setting up such a wonderful event. And maybe, in the future, we can drag some other ETAS members across their borders to join us in Germany.
Story by M. de Rijk and L. Doornbos, pictures by L. Oosterbaan and L. Doornbos. More pictures at the website of the organisers: bruchsaler-blankbogenschuetzen.de. |
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Goodbye to a dear friend |
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Today, we received the devastating news that a very good friend of ETAS, mr. Scott Young, has passed away of cancer, before he ever got a chance to fight it.
Scott was a regular at Batsford, and although he was not one to put himself to the foreground, he certainly made an impression on everyone with his kind and cheerful nature. As the many, many reactions on Facebook prove, even those who only met him briefly remember him as a friendly, reliable soul and a true gentleman, as well as a fine archer.
On behalf of ETAS, we send our sincerest condolences to his family and friends. His passing is a true loss to all of us.
May you rest in peace, Scott. You will be remembered.
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