[Archers] My take on the Royal Round and hand strap question.

[Andre Detommaso]

My Lord, 

I appreciate you answer, but I don't think you
understand the issue here regarding hand straps. The
bow type or its weight has nothing to do with being
able to hang on to the bow. A loose hand is a
requirement for accurate shooting. This increases the
chance of letting go of the bow. Hence the need for a
bow strap to avoid possible problems. If you hold on
to the bow tight enough to guarantee that you will not
let go of it, then you will not be shooting as well as
you can, as you will torque the bow and affect arrow
flight. This is not an opinion, pick up any archery
book and it will say the same thing. The hand strap is
a safety device, pure and simple. Banning it makes the
range less safe. What happens when an archer
accidentally lets go of the bow and the bow explodes
or the arrow flies who knows where and injures
someone? Do you tell them, "excuse me my Lord, you
need to hold on to your bow"? A little late at that
point. And don't think it can't happen. I've seen it
happen to very experienced archers, who correctly
concentrated on aiming instead of maintaining a tight
grip on the bow. As I said, why should Atlantia be the
one and only Kingdom to take the step of banning a
safety device?

Regards,
- Lorenzo
--- David Peno <dpeno at yahoo.com> wrote:
> All,
> 
>      As to the question regarding hand straps and RR
> averages. I feel that hand straps should not be
> allowed. The SCA archery ranges must be able to
> accomidate all archers that come to the line. If an
> archer is unable to maintain his or her grip on the
> bow they need to be using  a different bow. Yes, I
> understand that this will not cover every archer
> that
> comes to the line, but in the interest of safety we
> can't take chances. With regards to RR averages, you
> only need to shoot 3 RRs to get an average. The
> investment of time is very small and a marshall
> needs
> to show he or she understands how RRs are run and
> scored. They may be asked to run a RR range at some
> point and they need to know how they are run.
> Anyway,
> this is just my 2 cents.
> 
> John de Lochabre
> 


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