[Archers] Ideas for future WoWs and some issues that need to be addressed.

[Garth Groff or Sally Sanford]

Mistress Lorelei,

I would be happy to discuss this with any and all, though I think all 
our postings should be on, or cc to, the Atlantian Archery discussion 
board. Sadly, I still cannot receive posts from that board (though I can 
still post there), and so far the kingdom web officials have not 
responded to my requests for help. [Hint, hint!]

I agree completely about needing more marshals. But where were they? Our 
turnout for experienced archers/marshals was very light. Most of those 
pitched in at least a little, and some a lot. Some of us (Lady Sarah 
especially) were trapped on the range and couldn't leave without walking 
out on guests that needed inspections or supervision. Could it be that 
WoW is no longer of interest to the general archery community? Is it 
that we don't have enough targets/enough variety/enough jazzy shoots to 
attract many of our serious archers. Or is it that the short field we 
have been given almost every year discourages the senior archers from 
attending. I really would like to hear from any archers who didn't 
attend because they thought it wasn't worth the trip--not to argue with 
them, but to learn whether or why WoW has turned them off and how we can 
fix it. Since this post is also going to the archery board, please help 
us by responding.

My main gripe is that once again we were assigned a range space that was 
too short for a legal safety zone.That track to the barn was within our 
safety zone and screened by trees. Yes, there were people walking along 
it. I was extremely frustrated with the short field this year, and even 
expressed the idea of not coming next year to Lady Sarah (I've since 
mellowed a bit on this point).

Maybe the WoW management doesn't realize the liability implications if 
someone is injured by an arrow that goes into those woods. If a range is 
not legal, then our insurance carrier would be within their rights to 
refuse any claims. Not just archers, but many officers of the event, and 
all the kingdom officers from TRMs on down who have any supervisory 
responsibility over archery will be in court if someone gets hurt and 
lawyers get their teeth into us. It is time we archers put our 
collective feet down and demand that the kingdom and event managers 
realize the gravity of shoehorning us into illegal range spaces. And I'm 
not just talking about WoW. The situation at Ruby Joust is even worse, 
as there are homes with children just beyond those narrow woods on two 
sides of that property. This sounds like a good topic for Unevent, but 
we probably would only be preaching to the choir.

We needed more netting, especially behind the youth range area. Most of 
the arrows that went into the tall grass there were never found (metal 
detector not withstanding), and I probably lost as many arrows as you 
did (all the Isenfir youngsters and a couple of the adults had shire or 
my personal loaner gear). It would have been nice if the grass on the 
rest of the field could have been mowed shorter, as a lot of arrows 
apparently weren't recovered from the adult range, or they turned up 
several days later.

As for expenses, I considered saving our receipts, but didn't. We would 
have blown your whole budget just on the night shoot, and some of our 
stuff can be used again at another event. I consider what we spent to be 
our contribution to archery and don't regret it at all.

I hope that arrangements for the next WoW can be announced early enough, 
and an archery marshal chosen promptly. Whoever takes on this job should 
get plenty of input from those of us that have worked this event, and 
hopefully get it early enough to make a difference in the negotiations 
for space and other resources.

By the way, I really only have myself to blame, but the damage to my car 
from wandering off the so-called road into that ditch on the way to the 
archery range will be $1000 plus. The radiator wasn't punctured, but its 
support was badly bent and the radiator is just 1/4" from the AC 
generator. This certainly puts a damper on wanting to bring targets and 
other bulky stuff down next year.

Yours Aye,


Mungo

On 10/30/17 3:47 PM, Lorelei Elkins wrote:
> I'd love to have a discussion about how archery at WoW can run 
> better.  I agree with Lord Janyn's comments about signage so that 
> people can find the range easier.  This year had some unique 
> issues....like walking through the battlefield area or navigating the 
> berm.  One could have a golf cart to bring you up there but that means 
> walking to someplace to find a golf cart to bring you up there.  It 
> was proposed that next year we have designated routes and stops for 
> the golf carts for those with mobility issues.
>
> My biggest concern is that we need more marshals.  Seriously.  We had 
> about half of what we should have had this year. We need more people 
> involved in planning prior to the event.
>
> What I'd like to do is form a work-group dedicated to addressing WoW 
> archery.  Currently we have the range open half a day Thursday, all 
> day Friday and Saturday and a few hours on Sunday. There is a plan to 
> make WoW a week long event. The way archery is happening right now, we 
> can't support a week long event.
>
> Two years ago or so I wrote a document called, "How to run archery at 
> War of the Wings".  I'm happy to share this and add to it from the 
> work-group suggestions.  We need to get some things set as the event 
> is likely to be turned over to the Kingdom.  We need to start treating 
> it as a Pennsic-style range, which means some hard and fast rules and 
> whatever else we want to do.  What do you like about Pennsic archery?  
> Gulf Wars?  Other big, multi-day events you've been to?
>
> The current budget for archery is $100.  That's not enough.  I've been 
> trying to get it bumped up to at least $150...which still isn't enough 
> but it's better.  Every year I eat some of the cost.  If you volunteer 
> to run archery next year, plan on doing that.  Naran spent a lot on 
> his prize shoot and so did Mungo and Sarah.  Creativity appreciated!  
> This is ours to write the way we want it to read. I am not running 
> archery next year for WoW but I'd like to get some of the details 
> worked out.
>
>
> What do you think?  I can start a google chat/messenger or a Facebook 
> page or an email forum.
>
> Mistress Lorelei Greenleafe
>

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://seahorse.atlantia.sca.org/pipermail/archers-atlantia.sca.org/attachments/20171030/c825c2d8/attachment.html>