The Great Outdoors.
So I got back from BUSA Outdoor last night, a day earlier than planned. Basically, the weather was absolute crap XD It rained - nay, shit it down - on and off constantly throughout the entire competition on saturday. I was without waterproofs, so I just had to stand there and get soaked in my two t-shirts, jeans and trainers. I alternated between dry and warm, to soaked through the skin more times than I cared to count >_>
And speaking of my trainers, I found out Saturday morning that my tent leaked during the rains on Friday night. So I had a nice puddle of water where my shoes were, and where my rucksack was. There was actually water under my roll mats, but thankfully they didn't absorb water. My sleeping bag got a little soaked but that dried easily enough. I had to use a cup to remove the water from my tent in the morning XD My shoes, especially my right one, were soaked. My socks were a little wet too. So I had to spend the entire day in soggy shoes X( My spare clothes were also a little damp, as they were stored in my rucksack which, thankfully, doesn't take up water that well.
We were meant to arrive at Lilleshaw sports centre by early evening to set up, and maybe get some practice in if there's still enough light. But we didn't get there till about 11pm XD
On the way out our minivan had a tire blowout. Not puncture. BLOWOUT. As in the tire disintegrated, pretty much.
And weren't even out the county yet XD
We spent ages trying to find a jack to try and switch the wheel out. We found what appeared to be a compartment under the dirvers seat. I figured maybe that was where the jack was. It took several people to side open the top of the compartment, and all that was in it was the car battery XDDDD Also, Nick was looking around and thought he saw a box under the rear passenger seats that might contain a jack, but we'd have to unload the back of the van. So we did that, and then realised that what Nick saw wasn't actualy a box with a jack in it. Or a box at all! It was some random plastic construct on the support struts of the seats!
We then gave up and phoned the AA guy to come help us. So we got out the chairs and camped out on the verge of the M52 for a bit and admired the scenery...
We moved to the otherside of the crash barrier, and a little further away from the van after a bit XD There were some horses wondering around down there, and we could see a train station for the county line from where we were sat XD
We got there at about 11pm and pitched our tents in the blackness. Luckily, we managed to recruit Ross from Leeds archery to give us a hand in carrying stuff and lending us a lamp...
That's Naomi's Union Jack tent with the lamp inside. I thought it made a pretty good camp marker in the dark XD
Went to bed at about 1am to be up and ready for the competition to start at 8:30am. Got woken up at 4am by some duck which landed next to my tent (the side where my head was closest to) and started squawking really loud for about half a minute before flying off -_-
The day was the epitome of the term "scattered showers", except it was more like "scattered torrential downpours" 'cos that's what it was more like.
You can't tell in those photos, but it's raining pretty heavily XD
On rare occasions the sun would actually come out for a bit and it would be really warm and nice...
During the shoot, I hit the target number sign!
Unfortunately, that does not mean that I get 33 points D= Though I like to think I got 33 WIN points! 8D
The plan was that we'd stay and get absolutely smashed, pass out in or around our tents, wake up on sunday and go home XD However, the weather was very shitty, and looked like it would be extremely shitty for the night. So we decided to pack it up and move out. During which, the sky decided to really open up on us the whole time while we were packing up >_>
Am planning to start buying my own equipment now. I saw some "Full Metal Jacket" arrows, and was tempted to get them, if only for the name XD They're carbon cored with an metal alloy jacket. However, they're heavier than ACCs, which is what Nick recommended to me. And I'd like to be able to shoot outdoor distances without much trouble. So I'll guess I'll have to go with the ACCs.
All in all, this is probably going to cost me at least £300 @_@
And speaking of my trainers, I found out Saturday morning that my tent leaked during the rains on Friday night. So I had a nice puddle of water where my shoes were, and where my rucksack was. There was actually water under my roll mats, but thankfully they didn't absorb water. My sleeping bag got a little soaked but that dried easily enough. I had to use a cup to remove the water from my tent in the morning XD My shoes, especially my right one, were soaked. My socks were a little wet too. So I had to spend the entire day in soggy shoes X( My spare clothes were also a little damp, as they were stored in my rucksack which, thankfully, doesn't take up water that well.
We were meant to arrive at Lilleshaw sports centre by early evening to set up, and maybe get some practice in if there's still enough light. But we didn't get there till about 11pm XD
On the way out our minivan had a tire blowout. Not puncture. BLOWOUT. As in the tire disintegrated, pretty much.
And weren't even out the county yet XD
We spent ages trying to find a jack to try and switch the wheel out. We found what appeared to be a compartment under the dirvers seat. I figured maybe that was where the jack was. It took several people to side open the top of the compartment, and all that was in it was the car battery XDDDD Also, Nick was looking around and thought he saw a box under the rear passenger seats that might contain a jack, but we'd have to unload the back of the van. So we did that, and then realised that what Nick saw wasn't actualy a box with a jack in it. Or a box at all! It was some random plastic construct on the support struts of the seats!
We then gave up and phoned the AA guy to come help us. So we got out the chairs and camped out on the verge of the M52 for a bit and admired the scenery...
We moved to the otherside of the crash barrier, and a little further away from the van after a bit XD There were some horses wondering around down there, and we could see a train station for the county line from where we were sat XD
We got there at about 11pm and pitched our tents in the blackness. Luckily, we managed to recruit Ross from Leeds archery to give us a hand in carrying stuff and lending us a lamp...
That's Naomi's Union Jack tent with the lamp inside. I thought it made a pretty good camp marker in the dark XD
Went to bed at about 1am to be up and ready for the competition to start at 8:30am. Got woken up at 4am by some duck which landed next to my tent (the side where my head was closest to) and started squawking really loud for about half a minute before flying off -_-
The day was the epitome of the term "scattered showers", except it was more like "scattered torrential downpours" 'cos that's what it was more like.
You can't tell in those photos, but it's raining pretty heavily XD
On rare occasions the sun would actually come out for a bit and it would be really warm and nice...
During the shoot, I hit the target number sign!
Unfortunately, that does not mean that I get 33 points D= Though I like to think I got 33 WIN points! 8D
The plan was that we'd stay and get absolutely smashed, pass out in or around our tents, wake up on sunday and go home XD However, the weather was very shitty, and looked like it would be extremely shitty for the night. So we decided to pack it up and move out. During which, the sky decided to really open up on us the whole time while we were packing up >_>
Am planning to start buying my own equipment now. I saw some "Full Metal Jacket" arrows, and was tempted to get them, if only for the name XD They're carbon cored with an metal alloy jacket. However, they're heavier than ACCs, which is what Nick recommended to me. And I'd like to be able to shoot outdoor distances without much trouble. So I'll guess I'll have to go with the ACCs.
All in all, this is probably going to cost me at least £300 @_@