January 9, 2011 Gig Harbor Sportsmans Club Clays Match Report

 

3 Ladies Class     Class won by Giti Anable with a score of 29

              2nd Place Lady, Carrie Morton - Score 26

              3rd Place Lady, Shirley Treat Score 13

 

_______  Open Class   Class won by Jay Schoonmaker with a score of 47

               2nd Place Open Ken Bagley Sr.  score 44

               3rd Place Open Hal Hansen - score 39

 

_______ Limited Class - Class won by Steve Tinner with a score of 40

              2nd Place Limited - Tim Anable Score 39

              3rd Place Limited - Chuck Treat Score 37

 

     Good afternoon Ladies & Gentlemen, and welcome to another Clays match at Gig Harbor Sportsmans Club.  Having completed the series of 6 Great Equalizer Matches again last week, this week is another series-ending HELTER SKELTER match.  The arrays the competitors see is limited only by their imagination, color of the appropriate clays and a limit of 4 colored clays and the black micro in the middle.  On one factor you can depend, it will be different each time you come to the line, and if you blink, it will change yet again. 

     Thanks to our Match Staff for another great series, and for putting on such a great match each week.  Thanks go to our Match Director, Chuck Nicodemus, our DJ and ScoreKeeper Doug Mclean and to our Arrays Impressarios Chuck Treat and Darren Foreman.  The year is getting off to a great start, with overcast skies but no rain, no snow and very cool temperatures, today hovering in the mid (to lower) 30s.  To offset the very cool temperatures, we have 3 very hot heaters, and they were all out and Roaring today.

     Since the arrays change with the mood of those changing and replenishing the supply of clays on the screen after each string of fire, a set description of the arrays would be problematic, not to mention inaccurate.  So let's skip right ahead to the results of today's match.

     In the Ladies Class, Giti Anable took the honors with a score of 29.  She was followed by our

2nd Place Lady, Carrie Morton who shot a score of 26.  Rounding out the Ladies Class victors today was

Shirley Treat shooting a score of 13.

 

     In the Open Class, Jay Schoonmaker won it with a score of 47.  2nd Open was won by Ken Bagley Sr.  with a score of  44.  3rd Open was claimed by Hal Hansen with a score of 39.

 

     The limited Class went to Steve Tinner who shot a score of 40.  2nd Limited was won by

Tim Anable, who shot a score of 39.  Rounding out the field of winners today was our 3rd Place

Limited Class finisher Chuck Treat,  who shot a score of 37.

 

     Now, we have a problem.  The Match Director, Chuck Nicodemus has asked me to make an announcement, right here and now.

Today we had the 3rd highest attendance at our Clays Matches in living memory, at 22 Guns.  The pairings were all established and set up in advance by our Scorekeeper, Doug McLean.  It seems that about half way through the match, 2 entrants just walked out

No notification to anyone.  Not only was valuable time wasted calling the (now) absent parties to the line to shoot, but the pairings were totally confused and needed to be redone before the match could continue.  We've never had this happen during a clays match before, and we hope never to have it happen again.  With temperatures hovering just barely above freezing, even with the heaters going it was still cold. For people standing around waiting for the match to continue it only got worse.  As long as everything moves smoothly, the cold isn't a problem, but with the remaining field standing around staring at each other while Doug feverishly tried to make the pairings work, the low temperatures were telling. 

     Our field of shooters varies, but the general trend is for more and more shooters coming out to enjoy the matches, hence bigger fields of entrants.  This is great, as more competitors make the match more varied and more challenging.  SO!,,  In the future, if anyone signs up to shoot the pistol matches at GHSC, and then leaves without a darn good reason and without notifying the Match Director and/or the Scorekeeper,  they will be banned from future matches.  So shall it be written, So shall it be done.

     OK folks, that's it for another Clays Match at Gig Harbor Sportsmans Club.  It was run smoothly and most importantly Safely,

and next week, barring surprises by our Arrays Impessarios, we'll start over with Pg 1 of The Great Equalizer Series.  Practice a lot, practice properly, and remember your priorities:  1st - Firearms Safety  2nd - Accuracy and only when those priorities have become second nature, concentrate on 3rd - Speed.  We'll see you all next week, and in the meantime always remember:

 

                            "SPEED IS FINE, BUT ACCURACY IS FINAL."

 

 

Hal