Travel Day
Tuesday was another travel day to make our way back to Ballarat. As this was only a few hours drive, it gave us a chance to relax and enjoy some more of the local attractions. One bus made a unanimous decision with absolutely no complaints to visit Sovereigns Hill, a unique journey into the gold mining history of Ballarat and its accompanying crafts. The other buses decided on a more modern location and visited the “most rustic vineyard in Victoria”, Michael Unwin Winery. This gave everyone a chance to improve on their local knowledge and stock up for the coming 10 days.
Dinner was at The Lake View Hotel overlooking “the natural heart of Ballarat”, its man-made lake. Thanks once again to Anna for organising another good meal for us.
Maryborough Rifle Range
An early start from Ballarat was required on Wednesday morning to grab some breakfast en route to the Maryborough Rifle Range. As we set off in the morning, one bus discovered why the car was beeping at them every time they took a sharp lefthand turn. It turns out that the righthand side passenger door sensor was only just engaged and a sharp left turn would be enough to disengage it, making the car think the door was open. Although on this morning, the bus thought the door was open when turning sharply or gently left, right, going forwards or stationary. Fortunately the bus included an automotive engineer and another very practical gentleman, the historian wasn’t much help but he took photos instead. Fortunately, there is nothing that can’t be fixed with a bit of duct tape.
The Maryborough rifle range is nestled in the trees just outside the city (population 7,921). The trees give some shelter from the elements although they have encroached into the range meaning that at 1000 yards, the firing point on the right fires at the target on the left and vice-versa. Despite increasing the likelihood of a cross-shot, this was avoided by all competitors.
The trees, however, were not the main issues in the lead up to this shoot. Five days before the shoot, Doug Ratcliff and Shane Courtney visited the range to make sure the final preparations were in place. What they discovered, however, was that a group of local ne’er-do-wells had camped out by the targets, broken into the target shed and were burning both the targets and target frames for warmth. On top of this, there were four broken flag poles that had been used as bowling pins along the range. Our immense thanks go to both of them for their work to rectify this damage and allow us to shoot. When we turned up you could not tell that any of this had taken place.
As the forecast had been predicting, today was our first really wet weather day. Thankfully, we did manage to narrowly avoid the worst of the rain hitting the state of Victoria, but it was still intense and constant throughout the day. With good foresight, the club had organised some gazebos to shoot under. As long as you weren’t standing next to them when someone attempted to remove one of the puddles forming on the roof, you could stay relatively dry. If you did manage to get wet, their club house was all of 4 feet from the back of the firing point and included a lovely roaring fire.
Today’s shooting was three details at 1000 yards, each consisting of 15 shots to count, but only the first detail had any sighters. In essence, this was a 2 + 45 with two enforced breaks. The breaks did include an excellent lunch provided by The Lions Club. To add to the excitement of the day, a set of mixed teams was drawn, and coaching was heavily encouraged as well. The teams were not just mixed between shooters from GB and Australia, but also those shooting Match Rifle, target rifle and F-class.
We were once again using the excellent Shotmarker electronic targets, which performed almost flawlessly. The only time they stopped working was when Target 1 was caught by the wind, left the target frame and landed 50 yards in front of the target. Although I’m not sure if Shotmarker can really be faulted for that one.
As we are getting closer to the serious competitions, one member decided to remove the additional contraptions that he had fixed to his rifle, which he was sure would improve his shooting, reverting his rifle to a traditional back gun. As would be expected, his shooting rapidly improved. Whilst experimentation is encouraged in Match Rifle, I think the Captain is relieved that he might not do any more until getting back to the UK.
Day Results
On the day, we had some very impressive scores. There were three shooters who only scored bulls and V-bulls (even with only two sighters for the whole day). The best of these was Alain Blain with 225.32v (ex 225.45v) who therefore won the day, Fiona Day was second and also top lady with 225.30v. A special note must be made for her consistency, as she made 75.10v on each detail. Clearly she is shooting very well but doesn’t want to appear too greedy. John Lindsay III scored 225.26v to place him in third. Full results can be found here.
The scratch team match was won by Team C, captained by our individual winner, Alain Blain. There were also prizes given out to the top shooter on each detail. These were won by three different people who each managed exactly the same score of 75.12v. Congratulations to Alain Blain, Fergus Flanagan and Tony McGuigan.
Shipwreck Coast Challenge Results
Being the final range of the Shipwreck Coast Challenge, prizes were also award for the overall aggregate of the four ranges. Even through he dropped twice as many points today as the previous three days of shooting, Ashley Abrahams took home the honours dropping only three points over the four days of shooting. He finished on 622.75v (ex 625.125v). In second place was John Lindsay III (620.74v). Peter Maher was in third overall on 618.63v and was also the top Australian. Mike Judge was in fourth place and third GB shot with 618.53v. Full results can be found here.
Additional prizes were given out for most centres (V-bulls in the King’s English), which unsurprisingly went to Ashley Abrahams. Most magpies was won by Martin Townsend. Most misses by Alex Cargill Thompson, who would want me to make it clear that his misses were his two sighters on the first detail at the first range.
Joe Melbourne kindly gave a beautiful leather hat as a prize for the most consistent member of the GB team. The consistency was left up to the donor’s discretion. After much deliberation, he decided that Martin Townsend was the most worthy of this prize for his shooting consistency…..
Looking Forward to Stawell
With the Shipwreck Coast Challenge complete, focus now turns to Stawell which is hosting both the Australian National Championships (an individual competition) and of course, the reason for our tour, The Woomera Match.