[Archers] Archery at Ruby Joust

[Garth Groff]

Noble friends of the bow,

Ruby Joust is just four weekends away, and I am hoping to make this 
shoot a fun and worthwhile experience for both seasoned and novice 
archers. You will be testing the Target Archery Tournament in a Box, a 
concept of interesting but very portable targets (27 I think) that will 
stow inside my Honda. The theme is "Monster Mash", with lots of creepy 
things to fill full of holes. There will be targets reserved for 
children, middling targets, and some really nasty things that even Lord 
Janyn will have a hard time hitting (William Tell targets at 25 yards!).

I plan to open the range on Saturday morning at 10:00 with a fairly 
structured shoot (if it is crowded). After court and lunch, I will add 
some new targets and archers can just have fun potting whatever thrills 
them with as many arrows as they like at any target. There will be no 
scores recorded on Saturday, as the day is planned for fun, low-pressure 
archery. A modest supply of jetons (the correct name for what we call 
"fake coins" in the SCA) will be available for friendly wagers.

On Sunday morning there will be a scored shoot for children only, with 
prizes given to the top archers in three age brackets (hopefully by Her 
Majesty or Her Highness; this is still not settled). There will be more 
free shooting until lunchtime. This will be followed by an atlatl 
battle, hosted by Lords Allen and Ivaar.

There was a request for Royal Rounds, but sadly, the range area isn't 
big enough for 30 and 40-yard safety zones. Our maximum distance will be 
25 yards.

So now that I have your attention, at the moment I'm all alone. I could 
use the help of at least three MITs on both Saturday and Sunday (so 
maybe up to six MITs could earn signatures). I expect that they will 
help with set-up/breakdown, do inspections and run the line. They are 
going to work hard for that signature, and I promise they WILL learn 
something. If you are training MITs, please encourage them to contact me 
in advance, so I know who is coming and I can let them know when to be 
there.

I could also use a lot of help from my brother and sister marshals, 
especially during the children's shoot. I'm hoping to have three 
shooting stations open at once, and will need a marshal or MIT to 
shepherd the kids at each station, pull arrows, and take scores. I know 
that I can count on a bunch of you to step forward for this--you always 
do. It must be in our blood. If you would care to help, please drop me a 
note.

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, Ruby Joust TA MIC