The Final

Posted on 09 Mar 2014 by WH

Saturday evening had been most amusing for half of the team, who had gone to the Saloon Bar in tiny Plymouth for a bite to eat and a quick drink, only to find not only Mike and Mrs. Dunia but also Elvisesque club singer Jack Magee, who not only told us what a great (caber) tosser he was, but also proceeded to instruct Claire in how to line up foresight with rearsight so as to achieve a good shot. Thankfully his promise to come to the range on Sunday to repeat his up-tempo rendition of Flower of Scotland didn't materialise. But Claire, borrowing Matt's spare rifle, kinda wishes he'd made it.

In the rest of the USA, the clocks went forward for Daylight Savings Time on Sunday. In Sacramento, however, this was seen as nonsense and was promptly vetoed in order to gain more early morning shooting hours - we were told not to change our clocks until after shooting.

The flags certainly got the memo and failed to show their often feared presence at 300 yards; a fairly still, overcast morning allowed high scores to flow (almost) effortlessly into the centre of the target for many competitors, with Dennis Flaharty leading the pack on 100.10. 600 yards was the same story and many managed to retain a clean scoresheet or close to it. Dropping back to long range produced a similar result once again, with the tournament so far seeming to take the form of a test of pointing the gun straight, not being caught out by wind direction switches and not making mistakes. Sadly Noma Mayo, the overnight leader, made one of those mistakes and recorded a miss.

By 1000 yards, however, the flags decided to show up to work. The mirage had appeared too (as it had in the latter stages of 900 for those with decent scopes) as the cloud cover began to break. At 1000, the mirage showed a truer value and direction of wind compared to the mainly dozy and misleading flags, which often hung in the opposite direction.

The final result produced some very good news for the Scots. Ian Shaw (late replacement on tour for Sandy Gill) managed to grasp overall victory after into going into 1000 in second place. Ian finished with a clean sheet on the day - 400.22 - to finish with a 995.44X. Jon Ford had the second highest score for the tourists on the day and finished one off for a total of 399.19. He ended the competition 5th in Master, with Matt Charlton, Kenny MacDonald and Richard Scott 7th, 8th and 9th. Euan Maclean took the Expert crown with a knock of 977.29 (including a spectacular 100.1), with James Shepherd not far behind with a 968.28 for 3rd in Expert, with Will Hanley, Iain Hindshaw, Niall Duncan, Iain Thomson and Steph Dick 4th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th. The majority of the team scored 390 or more out of 400 on the day, showing evidence of the team's shooting progress on tour so far.

Post-competition proceedings saw the obligatory BBQ and prize giving for the competition, with the desserts and raffle tickets being sold in aid of the young Californian shooters - the Grizzlies. Onlookers were shocked to see Ian Shaw pick out the two pint glass tankard as his prize, ahead of a flower vase. This uncharacteristic behaviour is currently being investigated by the FBI. Matt awarded the coveted (but empty) claret jug trophy to the winning American team for the VIIIs match, and expressed the wish (enthusiastically received) that US and Canadian VIIIs should compete for it in future years. The team also donated 1000 of our empty Lapua cases to the California Grizzlies (juniors), who had been pulling targets for us all weekend.

Your lead diarist is becoming increasingly excited as tonight will see the team dinner at Taste in Plymouth - on the night before an R&R day. A reconnaissance mission was deployed to the restaurant last night and initial research suggests it's going to be a great evening of gastronomy, lubricated by fine local wines. Await the review in tomorrow's edition.