Finished the Pagoda/Pergola

I can start on another project now, which is to be a 110# @ 30" (I stand corrected 100# @ 32" ! ) Warbow from a stave of Pacific Yew that belongs to one of my friends (another John... you are never more than 25 yards away from a John... or Dave), he's been waiting on it getting done for a long time now, so it will be good to pick it up.

Over the last weekend my mate JT shot at the Mary Rose shoot where unfortunately the Ash backed flight bow got broken on their test rig due to a combination of factors, which are being amicably resolved.

The flight bow in question had been drawn to 90# at 27" on the tiller and had some tentative test shots which seemed very promising.
The big misunderstanding was that all bows would be tested at 28" draw, which should have been ok... but I had said it should only be tested to 26".
BUT they insisted on drawing to 28"and were measuring to the belly which isn't how ELBs, warbows and selfbows are normally measured!
The only time measurement to the belly is used, is for weight classified flight shoots (e.g Not exceeding 50#), where the arrow length is used to measure draw to the belly. This is to stop anyone drawing an extra inch or so to gain extra draw weight.

You can see that drawing the bow 28" to the belly when it is 1.25" thick at the grip is actually drawing it to 29.25" measured in the normal way to the back!
Note:- To corroborate my assertion that ELBs should be measured to the back, here's a brief Youtube video from the respected Richard Head:-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVcd9a1CfWA&t=63s
No wonder it broke!

The disappointment is that we never got to evaluate the performance. It was to be shot with flight arrows from 28"-32" in length and as such may have exploded anyway, but to break a bow is really the prerogative of the bowyer or archer and no one else.
Anyhow, as I said, changes to the rig, specification and rules are all under consideration in an amicable manner.

On a happier note, JT still won the afternoon flight shoot with "Smooth-Hound" the second string bow :-) .
On the overall 2 days he was narrowly pipped to second place by arch rival Gunther which of course will spur us on for next year!