Twelve of Great Britain's finest met at the Surrey RA at 7am, most of them having squared off and weighed their luggage the evening before. Captain Nigel Penn was there to see the advance party off and to ensure we were all organised.
However, there was one incident that morning that took everyone on the team completely by surprise, nearly resulting in Debs Fenn having to take some extra hand luggage on tour with her. Her boyfriend Alex, who had been with us on Tuesday evening but gone home fairly early, had returned and was waiting for Debs when she emerged from the North London RC... to propose! So now Debs is engaged. Alex has taken the ring back though, for safekeeping...
The rest of the day was spent travelling, with arrival in Kingston (surely just a quick bus ride up the A3?) only coming at 11pm (5am Bisley time after a 23 hour day). We flew from Gatwick to Montego Bay with Virgin, and the captain of the plane was none other than Andrew Lothian! Champagne all round after take off (which was a very good take off!). The Captain's pre-flight PA announcement was most entertaining:
"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, it's the captain; my name is Andrew Lothian. With me on the flight deck today are SFO's Adrian Leonard and Mike Copplestone. Looking after you in the cabin today is our flight service manager Denise Dolan her and more than capable team. Welcome aboard; it's nice to have you with us. We shall be departing ontime today, if not even slightly early.
"We have one door to close in order to make the Hull airtight. Once that's done we will pass message 1 to air traffic control and get the Shaw on the road. Once lined up on the westerly runway here at Gatwick, we'll open up the Taps and get airborne. During the early part of the climb, those of you with window seats may be able to see the Calvert across the River Mole shortly before the Surrey
villages of Century and Stickledown appear out on the right hand side. Our route will then take us towards Southampton via Odiham, well known for its Sparky solicitors. During the latter stages of our climb, we will be overhead the Somerset Fenns and the Charlton orchards in Taunton as we track toward the ocean, flying over the Underwood forest on Dartmoor and the Rylands holiday
cottages in Cornwall.
"Our predicted flight time to Mo Bay is 9hrs 23 mins. We shall be routing overhead Bermuda, the Bahamas and the eastern end of Cuba. As ever, the forecast for Jamaica includes a chance of some tropical rainfall, when the Evans seem to open, tho' Mo Bay will be fine and Rosey for our arrival. Enjoy the flight, the galley ovens will be Crispin your meals to perfection. If you want to see where
we are at any stage, you will be able to find that on our IFE system. I'll speak to you again prior to our arrival in the Caribbean."
The flight was at least blessed with a good entertainment system. Quote from the movie Jack Reacher (which, by the way, features an ammo press more heavily than Tom Cruise in its early stages) on the plane: "Who's your best shooter?" "James Barr." Now if we can just persuade our ex OURC and Scotland friend to unretire from TR...
On arrival in Montego Bay we went through some lengthy formalities and were then whisked almost the full length of the island in a hair raising journey by mini-coach, with a van full of rifles and a police car following in convoy. We stopped off for barbecued chicken and pork before climbing over some hills and arriving in Kingston with lights blazing, sirens blaring and traffic lights largely ignored. Phew. Now it's time for bed - it's just gone midnight and I've been up for 24 hours...
Today's was a much more leisurely start. Breakfast at 9ish, team chat at 10 then the rest of the morning by the pool. Air and water temperature were both perfect. At 12:30 the team was picked up to go to the range. A warm feeling permeated the group as we passed both town and country scenery and the realisation set in - we were in Jamaica!
At the range, we were met by John, Dennis, Basilios and others who were going to practice alongside us and ensure things ran smoothly. We were also introduced to our UK trained army range officer and met some of the army buttmarkers (whose camp between 900 and 1000 yards would preclude our shooting at 1000 this week.
Not long after arrival, Jon Underwood realised he had left his padlock keys at the hotel and Dave Crispin had done the same with his shooting glasses. Jon unloaded our mini coach so that he could take it for the hour round trip... but the round trip was substantially shortened when our police escort took him instead in their car... with siren and lights clearing the way!
Practice was a very sweaty and tiring affair but everyone found their zeroes and we felt prepared for shooting the next day (with 150 grain expanding rounds designed for hunting black bear!), instructions for which were very encouraging: "There will be beers available after 900 yards, this is compulsory."
Off to the JRA for a Meet and Greet to end the day. Tomorrow the competition starts... at the very welcome hour of 10 o'clock.
What an interesting Meet and Greet! Held, after the Governor General had come to our hotel (where we were all waiting in team shirts and a variety of colourful trousers), at the JRA's smallbore range, the reception featured characters ranging from a coastguard who had been involved in Operation Trident to a Jamaican beach netball team manager. It also involved a birthday cake for Ian Shaw and copious quantities of Appleton V/X rum.
Friday dawned and, after arrival at the range, team members were introduced to Colonel Edwards who was opening the matches on behalf of the Chief of Defence Staff. Shooting started with a very hot, sweaty, pulse-ridden 2ss+7 at 300, followed by 10 shots at 500 before a delicious lunch on the range. Partly because of the heat, everything was done slooooowly. After lunch were 7 shots at 600 and 10 at 900, which was quite tricky as the wind was very fickle and the flags were not nearly as usable as the Twickenham Park mirage when the latter disappeared for a while early on. We were learning the range though...
We also learned, courtesy of the Jonathans and their cross-shooting partners, that the "B" sign above targets 6 and 7 on range B could easily be mistaken for the target number 8. And David Crispin learned that, if you get up after 7 shots and nobody else has finished by the time you've packed all your kit into the bus, it may be worth checking to see if it's actually a ten shot shoot.
Top scorer for the day was Jon Underwood on 168.13 out of 170, followed by Messrs Calvert and Crispin on 166.14 and 166.12. Good deeds of the day were by Tom Rylands, who cheerfully fixed a couple of local rifles.
Tomorrow's shooting will be at the same ranges, followed by a team shoot for teams of eight on Sunday over a Queen's II course of fire, with reserves firing at the end. But first, a trip to shooter Basilio's Lebanese restaurant tonight and perhaps a quick dip in the pool, although we suspect the sun (and with it the BA cabin crew) may have left the pool area by the time we get back from the range.
Our guest diarist writes:
Last night we were kindly looked after by shooter Basilio at his Lebanese restaurant Y-Not Pita, where we were pleased to be able to entertain some of our hosts. We enjoyed some very good wraps (and ice cream), with some having more spicy ingredients than others only to learn the next morning that it may have not been all that bright an idea...
We shot 4 times again today, starting with a 2&10 at 300 followed by another 2&10 at 600. It was much hotter today, so sun cream was slathered onto the fairer skinned members of the team! The wind was very tricky, yet Mr Underwood prevailed once more with a 174 ex 185. Matt Charlton was second on 168, proving that the wind must have been very fickle! 900 proved to be a huge challenge, with scores ranging from low forties to mid twenties with some of the best long range shots in the world only managing mid thirties. Jon Underwood top scored from GB with a 44, followed by Dave Rose and Matt again on 43 - the latter's being extraordinarily unlucky with all 7 inners' spotting discs spanning the bull line. Dave Crispin was most upset after finishing his 900 shoot for not getting all seven scoring values... not sure you should be upset about that Dave!
Two members of the team were again photographed and interviewed by telephone for the local papers, this time after 300 yards, reiterating how keenly followed our visit is to Jamaica and how gratifyingly important it is to their rifle association. Charles and Jon Underwood both featured prominently in today's Observer newspaper. http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport/J-can-rifle-men-in-showdown-with-Brits_14157165
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport/PHOTO--TOP-SHOT_14162420
A mention is owed to our sterling bus driver Russell who has excelled in his imitation police chase to and from the range daily and in keeping us well supplied with loud reggae music. We couldn't have been better looked after on the range by our hosts, who have supplied us with all forms of refreshment including our compulsory beers after 900!
We also realised last night that our management team for this leg of the tour is Chas and Dave... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOSseI1hao8 (song is NOT a comment on their management style!).
Tonight we are hosted at the McNair residence for a BBQ before retiring at a reasonable hour before our team match tomorrow. Fortunately we are only shooting a Queens 2 format so no disasters at 900 again! We will be shooting in a team of 8 and 2 coaches, with 2 reserves shooting as well.
The team is:
Brooks coaching Calvert, Hull, Fenn, Underwood (reserve Tapster)
Charlton coaching Crispin, Rose, Evans, Shaw (reserve Rylands)
Last night's barbecue at Wayne McNair's was superb. Pork chops and chicken with a sweet rub and jerk sausage were the main offerings in theory; in practice it was an opportunity for our hosts to ply us with rum before their match against us the next morning. They certainly managed to tempt us - the Appleton Reserve was excellent, as was the company of the Jamaican shooters and their families. It was hard to get everyone to leave - especially Ian!
A brief refreshment at the hotel followed before bed. At the pool bar a few of the team made the acquaintance of some of the BA crew. Brits on tour... they'll have found us very dull, going to bed before midnight.
The plan in the morning was to start at 09:30 and complete the match (Queen's II for teams of eight plus reserves) before lunching. But we ended up kicking off at 10:15 snd stopping at 1pm before shooting 600 yards after lunch.
It was another hot day - though John Nelson once again expressed a wish that it be hotter for us - and 300 yards was, for some, a nervous affair. Others coped well, not least the reserves, who scored 99 between them while the team scored 383. We didn't know at the time that that was 26 points better than Jamaica.
At 500 the wind was harder but the shooting was better. GB scored 381 against Jamaica's much improved 372, with David Calvert the only firer clean after two ranges. And at 600 the wind was trickier still. It ranged between 1 left and 3 right, moving between those values with gay abandon, I mentioned and, because it was coming from behind us, changes would often happen before we could see them in front of us. We did station someone to look at the wind behind us but, with only one flag at 900 yards for him to try and factor in, the tactic wasn't as useful as we'd hoped. Scores varied and we ended up with 374.19 to Jamaica's 367.21.
The final result: GB 1138.78, Jamaica 1096.59. Messrs Calvert, Crispin and Tapster (reserve) were the highest scorers on 146, while Jamaica's highest scorer was Jose Nunez on 140.
Range by range:
| 300x | 500x | 600x | Total | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gt Britain | 383.33 | 381.26 | 374.19 | 1138.78 |
| Reserves | 99.11 | 97.7 | 93.4 | 289.23 |
| (Calvert 146.15 Crispin 146.12 Tapster 146.11) | ||||
| Jamaica | 357.13 | 372.25 | 367.21 | 1096.59 |
Prize giving at the JRA tonight, where we should find out where we placed in the Grand. We look forward to seeing our marvellous hosts again.
Sunday night’s prize giving was a blast. All our tables for the sumptuous buffet also contained Jamaicans, who were in great form as they brought their magnificent hosting of a grateful GB team to a climax. The speeches were gracious, the rum flowed and the head of the Firearms Licensing Authority presented the prizes after vowing to reduce the time Jamaicans wait for their permits in future. Major Nelson declared the Scots in our party to be honorary West Indians during the introductions; then Charles thanked our many good hosts and praised the Jamaican team’s tremendous improvement at the longer ranges of the team match. It would be hard to overstate how convivial the locals’ company was, as it had been since our arrival. They have also done an excellent job of publicity - we are promised clips of the Monday evening TV appearance that we will miss, by a PR lady introduced from the world of squash by Karen.
We also owe our thanks to Dennis and to “CC” (Canute Coley) for accompanying us to the airport on Monday and helping us clear the rifles through security and customs. They have gone out of their way to help us throughout our stay, starting with their having picked us up at the opposite end of the island at Montego Bay.
Monday was all about travel. After breakfast and an all-too-brief stint by the pool for some in the not-yet-strong sun, we left the hotel at 08:30 for a lunchtime flight to Bridgetown (Barbados), where we would stay on the plane and continue to Port of Spain (Trinidad), before waiting two and a half hours there for a flight to Georgetown (Guyana). We would eventually land just before 10pm and arrive after midnight.
The flight to Barbados was shared with another team – the Combined Campuses and Colleges cricket team. We figured they must be a first class outfit, as their defeat by Jamaica had featured alongside some of our exploits in the Observer newspaper. Certainly some of them looked fearsome. A couple of them dragged maroon West Indies Cricket Team bags. And then Charles recognised one of their party as none other than Curtly Ambrose! Seeing him in the flesh made one realise how scary it would be to face his bowling. He looked frightening while he was relaxing! Unsurprisingly, he was given an exit row aisle seat, to try and accommodate those very long legs.
Otherwise the flights were largely uneventful, save for the discovery by three team members (or rather, by airport security) that they had left some of their tools in their hand luggage, having used those bags as range bags in Jamaica. Such are the perils of a tour where repacking is such a common occurrence. What was odd was that two of the discoveries were made in Trinidad, so the relevant tools had made it through two flights already! In two cases the tools were checked into the hold at the gate; in the third, a pristine multi-tool was given to the VIP lounge receptionist in exchange for some printing and a handful of some welcome (and current) UK papers – FT, Independent and Daily Mail.
Having been confined to aeroplanes, air bridges and departure lounges all day, it was a relief to descend the steps at Cheddi Jagan airport in Georgetown and be returned to the real world… although it was very warm and extremely humid. It’ll be interesting to see what it’s like in the middle of the day! We could not have been made more welcome on arrival. Lt. Col. Stewart greeted us next to the luggage carousel, having already done his best to smooth our path with customs in anticipation of our arrival. He was joined by Ryan Sampson and they helped us with our luggage and with having the rifles cleared. By the time the last of the team cleared immigration, we had finished loading the luggage onto trolleys and were almost ready to move out… and on emerging from the airport into the night we were confronted with a full squad of armed and helmeted soldiers sitting, smiling, on the back of a military 4x4, ready to escort our rifles to their home for the night. And on the way to the hotel, we saw “Great Britain Rifle Team takes aim…” scroll along the electronic ticker hanging outside a building. What a welcome!
On arrival at the hotel after midnight via a distillery and a brewery (no, we didn’t stop), we were paired off with our new room-mates. This correspondent is now sharing with the Vice- (and until Nigel’s arrival Acting) Captain… “Charles In Charge” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=km22zWPz4uY)
We have already managed to visit all four of the countries that feature on this tour. And we managed to get in and out of Barbados without dropping a single point! Oh for similar fortunes next time we are there…
GBRT in the Guyanese press:-
http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2013/04/29/great-britain-rifle-shooting-team-due-today
Our very late arrival in Georgetown led into a sub-optimal night's sleep for some, before a late breakfast by the pool and a team meeting at 10 prior to a 10:30 departure for the Timehri Range.
The range is about 75 minutes from the hotel, up the Demerara River and not far from the airport. It extends back to 1000 yards, appears well looked after and has shady shelters beside the range at the 300, 600 and 1000 yard points.
After being greeted by Mahendra, Paul and our other hosts, we started shooting at 1pm at 300 yards, with Brits mostly paired with local shooters. Although rain threatened, conditions were very hot and humid, with a tailwind that started to fishtail later on.
It should be noted that team members' sartorial approaches to dealing with the climate (while remaining ever so stylish) differed greatly. Some use neck coolers and wicking tops, some wear trousers (or even jeans!) and others are in shorts and flip flops. Chloe, brilliantly, wears her pyjamas, which can be rolled down for shooting (and sunburn and insect avoidance) and up the rest of the time. David Calvert arrived today without a shooting sweatshirt so borrowed one from Jon Tapster - to good effect, as he managed a pair of 50s at 300 and 900 to lead the pack, with Tom Rylands next best on 99.
By 900 the fishtail had arrived. For the first detail, it amounted to a range from three-quarters left to two right, with one minute right being a good number for almost all the shots. In the second detail, the wind would change quickly, with three-and-quarter minutes seen in both directions in quick succession. Unsurprisingly, detail 2 averaged just over 43 to detail 1's 47. Gratifyingly, the wind coaches did relatively well as the conditions got harder.
The Army took away our rifles at the end of the day and the long drive back saw us arrive at the hotel after dark. Sadly we arrived too late to see Charles's appearance on Guyanese TV, but there is still the "International Jazz" in the hotel's Latino lounge, before we gather for dinner by the pool. It's a nice bunch, this team, so lots of time in each other's company is grand.
A final article about the GB team in the Jamaican Observer is here: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/sport/Sharp-shooting-Brits-pick-off-Jamaica-in-rifling_14164873
GBRT in the Guyanese press:-
Our guest diarist writes:
The day dawned with the rain sheeting down, testament to the fact that it was a Guyanese public holiday! The team breakfasted by the pool whilst the failed guttering deposited copious volumes of water down onto the poolside (a job for the team’s resident plumber perhaps!). By the time we had loaded up the coach the rain had eased to a drizzle. We were all armed with copies of the Stabroek News to read on the way which, like the Kaieteur News, seemed keen to report on our progress: http://www.stabroeknews.com/2013/sports/05/01/calvert-perfect-on-first-day/
Today’s course of fire was ten counting shots at 500, 600 and 1000 yards. The local press reported Dave Calvert leading with “Ryland Thomas” in 2nd place and “John” Underwood 3rd who could only manage 46 at 900! The leading Guyana shooter was Lennox Braithwaite on a total score of 96.7. As ever, the long ride to the range – today through flood water – took us past the Demerara rum factory (which, for the uninitiated, emits a smell more akin to a sewage works) and Cuttsies hair salon, which is presumed to be Paul Cutts’s (incumbent adj for the Surrey RA) most recent business venture. Shooting started late, since the rifles didn’t arrive with their (many) armed escorts until after 10am, but once shooting did get under way scores were very solid. Humidity was high and the two details at 500 sweated for their efforts. Messrs Calvert and Underwood were joint top with 50.8 and lowest score on the team was 48.4. Rain came down at the end of the first detail and again at 600 it came down briefly just before the first detail were about to get under way; it threatened throughout the day. Scores at 600 were just as good as at 500. By the close of the second shoot, Dave Calvert led with 100.16, Jon Underwood was next with 100.13 and the team plumber (JT) was 3rd with 100.12.
Following lunch we moved back to 1000. Rain threatened but stayed away. The breeze stayed readable from 2 minutes left dropping to zero and staying down for the 2nd detail. Some cross shots were experienced, resulting (claims the team plumber) from the marker boards (sheets of fabric strung between two poles above each target) becoming a tad indistinct to various eyes and the order of scores changed about. Dave Calvert won the day with 149.21 (and the individual grand aggregate to boot). Jonathan Hull was 2nd with 148.12, following a superb 50.5 at 1000 yards. Chloe Evans also had 148.12 on the day but was counted out by the team Doc (JH) into 4th place. Jon Underwood was 5th with 147.18. Second in the Grand Aggregate was Tom Rylands and Jon Underwood was 3rd. Full results should be elsewhere on the site.
Shooting concluded and the highly agreeable Caribbean custom of compulsory beers following the shooting was strictly adhered to and a bottle of extra mature (XM) Royal Demerara rum made its appearance to help the beer go down. The Guyanese Finance Minister informally dropped by to see everyone and welcomed us all to Guyana; we suggested finance for schools shooting and offered help with it. Photo opportunities were had before we piled kit and ourselves back into the bus for the trip back. Team matches beckon tomorrow with a 3 range shoot in teams of 5 at 300, 600 and 900 yards.
The evening consisted of a huge Chinese meal at “New Thriving”. We may well not need breakfast before the match. Teams are:
GB Royal Blue
Charles Brooks (coach)
David Crispin
David Rose
Chloe Evans
Jonathan Hull
Ian Shaw
GB El Dorado Red
Matt Charlton (coach)
Tom Rylands
David Calvert
Deborah Fenn
Jon Tapster
Jon Underwood
Thursday started with torrential rain and amusement at the degree to which the hotel car park was flooded. The bus successfully navigated Lake Pegasus and braved the traffic jams that came with Georgetown's return to school and work.
There was only really one order of business today - Great Britain's first international target rifle match in South America for over a decade, against Guyana Gold and the Guyanese All Stars. We knew Guyana Gold, as a pre-eminent force in Caribbean shooting, would be strong. Rather than shooting as customary teams of eight or the fours that Guyana had initially suggested, we were in teams of five to allow all our members to shoot or coach.
Rain caused a delayed start and threatened throughout the day. A tailwind dominated which, at each range, just about qualified as a fishtail but in reality came mostly from one direction at each range with only minor forays across zero. Nevertheless its strength was quite punchy and angle changes needed to be looked out for.
At 300 the GB El Dorado team came up with a strong shooting performance, only dropping one point out of 250 to lead by three from both GB Royal and Guyana Gold.
Late in the morning, 600 yards proved more challenging. GB Royal won the range by 5 V bulls from GB El Dorado, who still led by 3 overall. Only Tom Rylands and John Tapster remained clean for GB ED, while Ian Shaw was also clean for GB Royal in a quick-fire return to top form.
900 looked, after lunch, like it might be tricky as the tailwind had strengthened and mirage was not plentiful - indeed GB Royal stopped early on as the conditions were so hard to read, while GB El Dorado carried on plugging away, using the tiny hint of visible mirage in combination with the rain angle and (for a change on this tour) the flags to help steer the shooters. Their approach paid dividends as they somehow managed to drop only one point at that range, to win by 11 from GB Royal and 15 from Guyana.
Some very encouraging signs were visible in a number of performances on our two teams. Prize giving is tonight. Match scores are below:
|
GB El Dorado - Coach M. Charlton |
300x |
600x |
900x |
Total |
|
Rylands |
50.6 |
50.4 |
50.5 |
150.14 |
|
Calvert |
50.7 |
49.5 |
50.4 |
149.16 |
|
Tapster |
50.6 |
50.7 |
49.7 |
149.20 |
|
Fenn |
49.4 |
47.4 |
50.7 |
146.15 |
|
Underwood |
50.6 |
48.2 |
50.2 |
148.10 |
|
Range Totals |
249.29 |
244.22 |
249.24 |
742.75 |
|
GB Royal - Coach C. Brooks |
||||
|
Crispin |
48.5 |
50.8 |
49.3 |
147.16 |
|
Rose |
49.8 |
49.5 |
47.4 |
145.17 |
|
Evans |
49.3 |
48.6 |
50.6 |
147.15 |
|
Hull |
50.5 |
47.4 |
47.2 |
144.11 |
|
Shaw |
50.6 |
50.6 |
48.3 |
148.15 |
|
Range Totals |
246.27 |
244.29 |
241.18 |
731.74 |
Guyana Gold 727.57 (Goodluck 147.14)
Guyana All Stars 658.22 (Dean 146)
Today's Press
http://www.stabroeknews.com/2013/sports/05/02/calvert-is-overall-winner/
Thursday night's prize giving was most entertaining, with finger food and drinks served in the balmy environs of The Georgetown Club and real gold representations of a map of Guyana given to the winners of the various individual competitions and a Perspex plaque each for the team match and top scorer. David Calvert will be dripping with gold on the way home after winning six.
Friday was to be our one R&R day in Guyana - our one solely R&R day of the tour so far in fact. And the plan was a great one - to go by (small) plane to Kaieteur Falls (tallest single drop falls in the world) and Orinduik Falls (on the border with Brazil, where we could swim in the lake). However, the weather didn't agree with the plan. We assembled, in torrential rain, at 08:30, drove to Ogle Airport (great name, partly lived up to... more of that shortly), and waited until 10:45 to hear if the weather would improve enough to allow us to fly, before decamping to the hotel to await a phone call if things changed. They didn't.
I am sure you feel oh so sorry for us poor tourists who don't get to go and see something beautiful when we're already in the Caribbean. As for why the airport partly lived up to its name... well, none of us did any ogling; but it was Debs who (as Treasurer) went in to pay for the flights (and later to get the refund), who strangely didn't appear again for an hour and a half or so. Turns out that the very interested guys (esp. guide) indoors were being told all about our tour, target shooting etc. but when the guide made it clear that he was really looking forward to showing Debs (and only Debs?) around both sets of falls, she pointed out that she had eleven friends sitting outside in the bus, most of them male, and that she really did have to get back to them. If only she'd had her engagement ring with her!
On return to the hotel, we had a coffee, packed the team bags up, had lunch and then the majority of the party were taken by Sean - our marvellous bus driver - to see some of the main sights of Georgetown. St. George's Cathedral - a tall and very airy wooden structure - was spectacular, with some interesting historical inscriptions as well as a set of etiquette instructions, on how to behave in church! The Guyana National Museum contained a huge (20 foot) representation of a giant sloth, as well as a number of other stuffed animals (sloths, tapirs, caimans etc.) and a number of old maps that explained Guyana's historical development and border disputes in a thankfully well air conditioned room. And an unexpected highlight was that, when we went to have a look around the outside of the Parliament building, Ms. Watson asked Charles if he (and we) would like to go inside. So we had a good look around the grand chamber with its 32 government and 33 opposition seats and did our best to stop Ryland Thomas sitting in the Speaker's chair.
Thence to the pool, to packing our own luggage and to dinner at the hotel before a 6am start to head to Trinidad in the morning. Calypso country here we come!
Here we are again in today's press:
http://www.kaieteurnewsonline.com/2013/05/03/british-female-duo-hitting-the-bulls-eye-with-ease/
It doesn't matter where in the world you are - the press never mentions non-top scorers or wind coaches in team matches and love photos of women shooters! Although our two heroines are here referred to as "rifle shooers". Very good ones apparently as the guns left with the army, hopefully to be reunited with us tomorrow!
On a more serious note, we have been hugely impressed with the degree of press and television coverage both here and in Jamaica and wonder if there is any way of achieving something similar in the UK - surely a way to encourage more people into the sport.
Saturday was another day of travel. We rose by 5am to leave behind our first experiences of Guyana, Georgetown and, for many of the team, South America. We travelled back to Timehri for a final time - to the airport instead of the range - where we were reunited once more with our rifles and processed all our luggage onto the 9.50 Caribbean Airways flight to Port of Spain, Trinidad. On departure from the hotel, we saw that we occupied the back page of the Stabroek News; on arrival in the departure lounge, it transpired that we were also stars of the back pages of the Kaieteur News and the Guyana Chronicle.
Ours was a short flight of 55 minutes back to Trinidad, where we were met by local shooters Norris Gomez (a very familiar face) and Ezekiel. There followed a little complication sorting out our rental vehicles, which has yet to be completely resolved, but enough transportation was provided to move all of us and our luggage to our base for the next five days at Crews Inn Hotel and Marina
near the range in Chaguaramas - a fine location with the possibility of taking in sunsets (and sundowners) by the pool, although we may have to eat "off camp" sometimes if we're to avoid breaking the bank.
After lunch people unpacked and relaxed. Matt used his newly fluent Spanish to help three Venezuelan fishermen change some money so they could buy cigarillos to celebrate their "six ton" catch. They promised some pescado by way of thanks when they unload tomorrow. As long as it's not left in the bus (cause of fly infestation in Guyana).
As I write, we await the imminent arrival of “Party B” (hopefully around 11pm), to bring our team’s complement to full strength. We look forward to experiencing another new range, early tomorrow morning.
For the Jamaica/Guyana veterans, today really started at 11.30 pm last night when the remainder of Team GB and several WAGS arrived after almost 24 hours on the go, having had a 6 hour stop over in Barbados - not as good as it sounds as they were confined to the airport, poor weary travellers with only Banks beer to comfort them. Anyway despite the journey, they all arrived in good cheer ready for a refreshing drink or two after a very long and tiring day travelling. So much so that the hotel bar had to stay open for at least an extra two hours!
There was no acclimatisation day for the new arrivals and shooting began at 10 am with a 2&7 at 300 yards - simple you might think. Wrong. The steel-cased JHC ammunition was not compatible with everyone's rifles and in several cases would not extract after firing. Jonathan H had to use a cleaning rod for every shot which was never going to result in a good score (a good excuse, for a change; Ross, Chris W and Matt suffered similar fates). Fortunately he had a spare gun,
which was just as well. Our teenage superstar, Chloe, outshot all her elders with a very tidy 35.6. Others had varied success at 500 & 600 yards with a nice 50.7 from Ian Shaw at 500 and 50s from Chris Watson and David Luckman at 600; Chris top-scored for the day dropping only 3 points in total. So much for needing acclimatisation!
At the end of the day, travel back to the hotel was via a mixture of shuttle buses (because we still don't have enough vehicles) and lifts from kind locals like Clarion. One of our later departures was team cripple, post-knee-op Matt, who struggled back from 600 yards to the smallbore range with all his kit only to discover the eyepiece cap from his Leica telescope (frankly his only important piece of kit - the scope, that is, not the lens cap) was missing. On returning to the range to look for it, he found it... in two pieces! It had encountered, during the minute before his arrival, the blade of the only sit-on lawnmower he had ever seen in use on a firing point anywhere in the world!
The day finished with a superb party, with copious food and drink, at the home of Norris Gomez - a man who certainly knows how to throw a party - and his wife Gaby. Some of his family members were equally adept at making us feel welcome - some of them old friends. More of the same tomorrow with individual shoots followed by a team match on Tuesday. Phase three of the tour is going well.
Quote of the day from Mr. Watson "Nigel is choking on Norris's nuts!"
Our guest diarist writes:
Another day dawned on the sunny island of Trinidad and our second and final day of the individual Grand Agg. Chris Watson was in the lead after yesterday on 3 off with Nigel B and David L snapping at his heels on 4 off.
300 started with a slight spot of rain but it soon passed. Lucky finished with a tidy 50.6 and Ian close behind on 50.5. Things were looking good for 3 of the team when they went clean again at 500 (Lucky, Ian and Dave R). Top scores at 500 were Tom and JT with 35.5.
Team match today, and finally we had enough vehicles (albeit of different shapes than we'd ordered) so all team members left together for the range, where we went through the now familiar routine of drying out the condensation from the rifles.
Despite an 08:30 arrival, the match didn't start until shortly before 10, by which time conditions were warm and muggy despite the cloud cover. 300 yards was blessed with light winds, as evidenced by the mirage if not the flags, which were much higher than the sheltered (in the valley) bullet trajectories.
Scores at 300 were not high, with clamminess a problem as well as some wind zero issues (this being the first team match for some), one or two questions about ammo and, quite possibly, some nerves from some of those who knew they were being trialled as part of the Australia Match build-up. The range finished with GB Red (coached by Matt and Jane) 14 points off, 3 ahead of second placed GB Blue, with Trinidad & Tobago third, 28 points adrift.
500 was a little trickier from the perspective of wind, with quick changes putting at a premium the sort of shooting that was not just accurate but fast. Results were a bit more even, with GB Red scoring 389, GB Blue 388 and Trinidad 362.
At 600 yards, the wind looked stronger for the most part, with large apparent variations but a remarkably steady reality - between a half and two and a half right. After a bit of discomfort for one of the first firers, GB Red again prevailed, scoring 385 to GB Blue's 378 and Trinidad's 359.
Top scorers were: GB Red David Luckman 149.12 Chris Watson 147.12 and Jon Underwood 147.11, GB Blue Chris Weeden 147.19, Trinidad & Tobago Justin Lall 144.11.
The match was followed by a shower for some and then prize giving and a curry back at the range. Our hosts were, as ever, stars and the food and drink were great. A rare day off beckons tomorrow!
Full GB scores:
GB Red 1160.96
Jane Messer (coach)
Gaz Morris 48.5 49.5 49.4 146.14
David Crispin 46.3 47.3 45.2 138.8
Chloe Evans 47.3 49.7 46.3 142.13
Jon Underwood 49.5 50.2 48.4 147.11
Matt Charlton (coach)
David Luckman 50 3 49.5 50.4 149.12
Debs Fenn 49.6 47.1 50.6 146.13
David Rose 48.3 49.4 48.5 145.12
Chris Watson 49.5 49.1 49.6 147.12
GB Blue 1149.88
Charles Brooks (coach)
David Calvert 49.7 47.2 46.3 142.12
Ross McQuillan 45.1 48.3 48.4 141.8
Chris Weeden 49.2 49.8 49.9 147.19
Tom Rylands 47.4 49.3 48.3 144.10
Martin Townsend (coach)
Nigel Ball 49.2 49.5 47.4 145.11
Jonathan Hull 47.4 49.3 45.3 141.10
Jon Tapster 50.3 49.5 46.2 145.10
Ian Shaw 47.1 48.4 49.3 144.8
Trinidad & Tobago 1078.41
Today started with one team member waking up by the pool, where another was trying to find his glasses. Lucky was recruited to find the specs and successfully did so. According to a recollection from the night before, the poolside snoozer had been renamed Asterix and his big mate Obelix. A close relative of the vice would become Panacea!
This was to be our sole free day in Trinidad. Plans for the day varied, with some going shopping to Port of Spain, others going to the Angostura distillery, a good number driving to the beach at Maracas Bay, one car load carrying on from there on a round trip via a bird sanctuary and a small number staying at the hotel or concentrating their efforts on securing a good lunch.
Up at Maracas, reached by driving over the mountains near the north coast, the weather was overcast some of the time with very strong wind early on (Martin judged the red flags on the beach to have picked up from 14 right to 25 right; Matt, walking in the other direction, was convinced it was left, not right, wind and pointed out that the number depended on what distance we weren't shooting at). The wind brought rain that precipitated our move towards lunch, which was followed by a calm, sunny spell. Lunch was "Bake and Shark" as recommended by various Gomezes - cheap and very good. The second glasses loss of the day happened as Dave ("Tintin") Crispin went out splashing through the big waves with Lucky and Matt, and with his sunglasses on his head (who does that??). This time it was Matt who, several minutes later, spotted Dave's shades on the bottom of the sea and dived to pick them up.
Reports of the other trips suggested there had been good shopping, lots of driving and some good relaxation.
At 6pm, the whole team assembled to pack the team bags before dispersing to various locations for dinner ahead of what, for some, will be an odd night... party "A" will be meeting at 1:45am to go to the airport for their 5:50am flight to Barbados. Oh joy...
Most of us stayed up all night to be able to be on the bus at 2am. The others only got about ten winks. Meanwhile we left party B either asleep or drinking any liquids we had to keave behind.Our transport randomizer managed to surprise us once again. Then we went to Piarco airport, arriving at 02:50 for an 05:50 departure. Dealing with the rifles really did eat up most of that time.
We are tired. Very tired. Evidence for this includes DC forgetting to pick up his duty free and Charles 'posing' for various photos that make it look as if he's asleep. Norris (yes the Trinidad team is on our flight too) seems to be full of beans though and has talked his way into business class. We envy our teammates who will awake long after we've arrived in Barbados. They should be on this flight too - there are lots of free seats, despite what we were told that necessitated our splitting the party in two.
Tired, very tired. My general plan today is: unpack, find pool, slather factor 30 on, fall asleep. If you hear (or read) no further, assume that's what's happened.
Tired. Very tired.
Addendum: after some sun drenched rest, some of us watched a turtle lay an egg on our beach, while othera went to pick up Party B (the lucky devils - they were at the hotel less than an hour after landing, vs. Party A's three hours, after dealing with excruciating rifle and especially transport processes). We also got to end the evening with excellent steel band entertainment.
After a late evening team meeting once Party B had arrived, the team retired last night with some of them aiming to catch two nights' sleep.
Most of the team departed for the range this morning at 07:45 to practise at 300, 600 and 900 yards, while others left at 09:45 to do just 600 and 900. But with shooting only eventually starting at 10am, everyone ended up doing 300 and 900.
Matters were also delayed by a downpour during 300. On the plus side, weather wise, the rest of the day gave us sunshine that was much less hard work to shoot in than our previous Caribbean venues, helped in part by the stiff breeze that came mostly from 11 o'clock.
Lunchtime brought not just an excellent lunch - a choice of chicken, tuna steak or burger - but also reacquaitance with old friends from Australia, Canada and the Channel Islands and (for the most part) newer friends from Guyana, Trinidad and Jamaica as well as some of our Barbadian hosts. Some of our number felt very much at home in their company - none more so than DC, who - on autopilot perhaps - put his kit in a Channel Islands bus before expressing his dismay that it wasn't in any of GB's (identical) ones. Very reminiscent of last summer's Australian hut moment in Canada!
At 900 yards, the headwind was mostly 0 to 3 left and was refreshing enough to make Barbadian shooting conditions quute the most pleasant (and least sweaty) we had experienced on tour. Most people shot with a coach so the latter could learn more about the conditions. Unusual features of the range at 900 included the walk or drive up there from the BRA hut along the range road while shooters fired past us at the targets, and the sight of aeroplanes (large and small) taking off just behind the clubhouse.
After a quick change back at the hotel, the team met for the Adjutant to tell us about van allocations and squadding for the next four days and for the Captain to hand out GB tour badges to everyone.
From there we travelled to St. Ann's Fort, the Barbados Defence Force HQ, for the Meet & Greet.
Our vice captain is feeling very much at home here by the way - in addition to seeing Charles Chocolates, we have found Charles Bar and Grill, Charles Watersports and now Charles Unisex Salon.
Because of the numbers of entries and the size of the range, shooting in Barbados is being split, during the individual stages, such that each country's shooters compete either in the morning or in the afternoon each day, but not both. Today was the first of GB's afternoon shooting days, so it was a day when we could enjoy a morning's relaxation... in theory. In practice, we had to get up early to go to the Opening Ceremony in our "Number 2" uniform.
There, we watched Jonathan Hull and others raise their nation's flags and listened to a few speeches, before the Chief of Defence Staff fired the opening shot - a 7 o'clock cooking bull. Then we headed back to the hotel, where most of us waited for one lost vanload of team-mates in order to hold a team meeting. And then we relaxed for an hour or so before quickly eating and moving to the range for an afternoon's shooting. The Aussies and Canadians were finishing off as we arrived.
Conditions were much more comfortable for shooting than at our previous venues, helped in large part by a decent breeze off the Atlantic - so right wind was the order of the day today. At 300 yards there was wind from one o'clock that was steadier than it looked; at 500 it was sometimes squarer, sometimes finer but most of the team made a good fist of their shoot. Top of the pile were Jon Tapster, David Luckman and Gaz Morris on 125.20 (maximum 125.25).
Final order of business was to pack up our rifles into gun boxes so that a platoon of soldiers on a big truck could spirit them away for the night. Well, almost final... Tom still had some armouring to do for our hosts! So the return to the hotel for some of us was after dark, at 7pm.
There's a big, loud party in the park happening near our hotel this evening; but I get the feeling most people will be taking it easy...
Today was a morning shooting day for GB. That worked much better. A morning on the range, followed by an afternoon on the beach. Well sort of. In reality, a morning on the range, a lunchtime waiting for the Thunderbirds (International Rescue) armourer (Mr. T to his Bajan customers) to finish repairing the rifles of the world, then an afternoon back at base catching up with general admin and eventually venturing onto the beach. Blish. That's a bit like bliss. Ish... Wouldn't want to give you the impression we're having a good time or anything.
Some, in fact, are facing particular challenges. Poor DC(1) has been the victim of a bite from a nasty (and very scary looking) centipede. And Jon Tapster has been experiencing a recurrence of the left elbow pain that hampered him in Jamaica. Getafix (Mr. Hull) is on the case. But it's not stopping either of them shooting well.
JT dropped two today (under time pressure) to lie on 248 out of 250 overall, a point behind Wing Cdr Calvert. The leaders (as far as we know so far - it turned out that our 125s yesterday were 5 of the 8 achieved across the board, so Guyana's Lennox Braithwaite and Australia's Kim O'Loghlen and Matt Pozzebon may be in the hunt too) are David Luckman and Jon Underwood on 250.
Dave Rose and Dave Crispin (DC2) are on 248 and Jane Messer is on 249... and it's just been pointed out to me that she got away with several faux pas in Trinidad without mention in these pages. Going down to shoot without ammo or without bolt are common occurrences, but Jane managed to get down without foresight or rearsight and with a wee bit of 4 x 2 up her barrel. All I can say is that I hope that that knowledge encourages more up and coming shooters not to be afraid of applying for her Palma team!
Tonight is a team dinner that doubles as a birthday dinner for Pearl Townsend. We hope that Martin ensures she gets to enjoy it in a manner appropriate to the birthday that it is. Have a wonderful night Pearl.
And then... sleeeeeeep...
Our guest diarist (you can tell he's a guest diarist because he's quoting from the Guardian) writes:
Last night's team dinner at the excellent Pisces restaurant, a short walk up St. Lawrence Gap from the hotel, occupied the team's evening, and the menu of seafood, steaks (or both) seemed to be enjoyed by all. Guest of honour (and birthday girl) Pearl Townsend seemed very pleased with her gift of a painting of a traditional Barbados chattel house. She also (narrowly) avoided setting herself alight on a birthday cake which arrived bearing something closer to a distress flare than the traditional candle, so all in all the evening could be declared a success. The Main Coach, enjoying his favourite surf & turf, was advised by some of his teammates of the late Christopher Hitchens's opinion of lobster, amongst other things.
http://m.guardian.co.uk/books/2011/dec/16/christopher-hitchens-quotes-bons-mots Every day's a school day...
The whole team was squadded in the two morning details again for today's 2+10 at 500 yards and 2+15 at 900, a first taste of long range competition in Barbados. We were pleased to be joined by the Australian Team, who had been squadded in the opposite half of the day to Team GB previously, but had made a special request to join us.
49s and 50s were plentiful among the British contingent at 500 yards with DC (the Calvert one) coming out on top with an excellent 50.10, no mean feat on the tight international standard v-bull. By contrast, Matt had a 49.0. The first of the two morning details at 900 yards was unanimously declared by those shooting to have been the hottest experienced so far, despite the breeze. A tricky, fine-angled wind added to the testing conditions. The second detail had a different set of challenges. The headwind from the sea finally brought several short rain showers with it, and although this offered respite from the heat, the fine rain borne on the wind into the shooters' faces meant that many of those using 'eagle eyes' had to stop repeatedly to dry them out or abandon them altogether. Despite the differing conditions, scoring was similar across the two details where there was GB participation.
As we broke for lunch it transpired that Lucky had opened the door to the chasing pack, having dropped his first points in Barbados with a 72. Jon Underwood (also clean going back to 900) dropped one point at long range to hold the lead. Jane dropped one (fortunately getting to string shoot solo) to be a point behind, as did DC, who followed his 50.10 with a 74, with Lucky now lurking on three off. Honours at 900 went to Nigel (Ball), with 75.10, leaving him on four off. Martin tried to persuade him that he had to have a re-shoot... but not everyone needs one.
Most enjoyed the excellent food at the range before retreating back to the "pink palace" that is our Southern Palms base camp. Plans for afternoon sunbathing were somewhat frustrated by recurring rain showers, so the afternoon's activities were a mix of refreshing dips in the crashing waves, crazy golf, catching up on washing and sociable refreshments on one of our many seafront balconies. The evening's "après tir" began with a rum punch reception hosted by our hotel manager, followed by various dinner arrangements.
Team GB will complete our individual shooting in Barbados in the two afternoon details tomorrow, so a relaxing morning awaits (weather permitting). Love to tour!
While GB relaxed at the hotel this morning, most of the West Indians and Channel Islanders were trying to complete yesterday's 900, which had been rained off, in conditions with so much light behind the targets as to make them very hard to discern.
After enjoying the beach or, in most cases, sleep, the team arrived at the range at 1:05pm for a 2pm start only to be told that they needed to be on the firing point for a 1:15 start - they'd decided to run the afternoon's 600 before the morning's 1000 yards. At 1:55pm, shooting started.
Shooting at 600 was largely decent, but at 1000 some struggled with wind - a left headwind with angle variations - before the later firers struggled with the dying light, such that hitting the right target was a feat in itself. Charles and Matt got up from shooting to see half the sun below the horizon!
Scoring was very variable, and was mostly ignored as everyone settled on for the "party" given by the BRA while they worked out the scores.
Grand Agg top ten (GB unless stated) was:
Luckman 470.65
Ball 469.45
Emms (Aus) 468.52
Calvert 468.51
Underwood 466.53
Crispin 466.42
Messer 465.48
Pozzebon (Aus) 465.40
Morris 464.58
Rylands 464.43
Apparently it's because Richard Arthur's brother Owen is no longer Prime Minister that we are paying for our drinks tonight and not at the PM's residence. So says Norris.
8:20pm and we're already on the way home. We're good boys and girls with a team match tomorrow, after all...
Today was all about the long range team match. We had a minor lie-in as the West Indian teams were due to shoot first, then drove to the range for 9:20 to find ourselves amused by the fact that the Canadians had already been there for two hours, apparently not having been briefed on the two detail format.
Conditions were sunny and warm with a stiff headwind to make it seem pleasantly warmer. Not so pleasantly for the coaches... although the wind amounted mostly to small numbers left, it did switch from the right a few times and the angle would sometimes square (without exactly announcing the fact in a loud voice) sufficiently to push shots out into the magpie or even the outer.
After 900 yards, GB Red had dropped 15 points and led by 10 points from Australia, with GB Blue a further 4 points back. Ian Shaw had a stunning 50.6.
The break before 1000 yards was punctuated by lunch, followed by the West Indians' detail during which some team members were able to avail themselves of an "athlete's nap" for much needed recovery. Nigel Ball looked like he was missing Erica the Palma physio, laid out as if on a mortuary table.
1000 yards was at times eventful, with the headwind still stronger. GB Red dropped a further 24, while GB Blue managed to improve by a point to drop 28 and overtake Australia who had dropped 38 more. Final scores were:
Great Britain Red (Captain's) 761.59
Matt Charlton (coach)
David Luckman 48.5 48.0 96.5
Ian Shaw 50.6 49.4 99.10
Chris Weeden 48.5 43.2 91.7
David Calvert 48.5 48.2 96.7
Jane Messer (coach)
Nigel Ball 47.4 46.4 93.8
David Crispin 48.2 48.4 96.6
Tom Rylands 48.4 45.2 93.6
Jon Underwood 48.6 49.4 97.10
Great Britain Blue (Vice Captain's) 743.36
Martin Townsend (coach)
Jon Tapster 47.4 47.3 94.7
David Rose 44.3 46.1 90.4
Debs Fenn 45.4 42.1 87.5
Chris Watson 49.1 48.3 97.4
Charles Brooks (coach)
Gaz Morris 47.3 49.1 96.4
Chloe Evans 45.1 45.1 90.2
Jonathan Hull 45.2 45.2 90.4
Ross McQuillan 49.3 50.3 99.6
Australia 737.47 (Jim Jeffrey 99)
Canadia 673.23 (Stefan Isaacs 94.2)
Channel Islands - not enough manpower to add the scores up yet says Cliff!
The Milex Cup for the West Indies Long Range Championship was won by Guyana on 697.30 (Lennox Braithwaite 91.5) by 25 points from Jamaica. Trinidad, Barbados and Antigua were 3rd, 4th and 5th. Congratulations Guyana!
Tonight we are hosting all the West Indians at our hotel. Quick turnaround, followed by a very brief feed so as not to deprive our guests of canapés, and then a few friendly rum punches before an early bedtime in anticipation of tomorrow's short range teams match - that's what I expect the rest of the evening to hold...
Short range teams match today. GB only entered one team, in order that there be no more than eight - meaning no need for a second team detail.
Wind was once again brisk from (predominantly) 11 o'clock, causing a great deal of buffeting. Such luminaries as Luckman, Underwood and Calvert served as register keepers and scoreboard dollies as other team members fought for places in the Australia Match team under the guidance of Martin, Jane and Matt.
Great Britain started at 300x with a 394.38, with 50s from Ian, Dave Crispin and Debs, then followed up at 500 with 396.44 and 50s from Ian Shaw, Jon Tapster, Chris Weeden, Dave Crispin and Debs - Ian's and JT's with 8 V-bulls. Then a substantial break for lunch and some interesting tactics from some team members to keep Martin from the front of the food queue.
Getafix, the (orthopaedic) doc, found himself with an unusual problem to deal with - emergency ear wax clearance for a fellow team member. On the suggestion that he conduct a live video link with ear nose and throat consultant Mr. Parag Patel, he is alleged to have swiftly rebuffed the suggestion that he take advice from a junior surgeon, and anyway "I know what I'm doing because the ear has bones in it."
After lunch, GB put in another performance unequalled by the others on the range, scoring 393.38 with 50s from Ian, Chris "Weeded" (as the range entry list had his name), Dave Crispin, Dave Rose and Jonathan Hull. Final score 1183.120, comfortably ahead of the opposition, whose scores may be taken as indications of how hard the conditions were to deal with - especially the buffeting. The Channel Islands were second of the overseas teams with 1133; Jamaica were the winners of the West Indies Short Range Championship with 1119. Canada also shot but Australia chose to use today as a rest day, favouring tomorrow's Australia Match practice day for a full day on the range.
GB scores were:
Jane Messer (coach)
Jonathan Hull 49.5 49.5 50.3 148.13
Debs Fenn 50.2 50.3 47.3 147.8
Dave Rose 49.6 49.3 50.5 148.14
Dave Crispin 50.7 50.6 50.7 150.20
Matt Charlton (coach)
Ian Shaw 50.5 50.8 50.8 150.21
Chloe Evans 49.3 48.4 47.4 144.11
Jon Tapster 49.4 50.8 48.3 147.15
Chris Weeden 49.6 50.7 50.5 149.18
Total 1183.120
An extra and very welcome presence on the range today was Deputy High Commissioner Phil Culligan, who had also joined us at our reception the night before. He watched the 600 yards range before firing a few shots with coaching from Jon U and Matt, then joined us as we went beyond the butts with the range officer to see the 70 foot supergun that had, in the 70s, launched a projectile 183km!
After a quick stop to photograph aeroplanes landing and taking off at the end of the runway, the selection team met to choose the Australia Match team. Two or three people were very unfortunate to miss out on places in a strong Australia Match team, but they still have roles to play. The team is:
Captain: Nigel Penn
Adjutant: Charles Brooks
Main Coach: Martin Townsend
Jane Messer (coach)
Nigel Ball
Gaz Morris
David Crispin
Ross McQuillan
Jon Underwood
Matthew Charlton (coach)
David Luckman
David Calvert
Ian Shaw
Tom Rylands
Chris Watson
Reserves: David Rose, Chris Weeden
Butt Scrutineer: Jon Tapster
Medic & hydration: Jonathan Hull
Scoreboard: Debs Fenn, Chloe Evans
There are five new Australia Match caps: Nigel Penn, Matthew Charlton, David Crispin, Ross McQuillan and Ian Shaw (and both reserves). Arguably Charles Brookes is also a new cap having only previously shot in the (last ever) Empire Match. Seven team members appear for their (at least) third consecutive Australia Match.
We went to the range this morning, just to establish zeroes at 300 yards with primary and back-up rifles under the selected coaches. We left Australia and the West Indies toiling in the heat for three more ranges after our departure; Canada had decided to rest. While we shot, Chloe and Debs prepared a beautiful scoreboard.
The rest of the day has been spent resting and relaxing, with the greatest exertions being some snorkeling and a seven way mini golf match in which some of the wives demonstrated just how much practice they had been getting while we'd been on the range. Chris and Chloe visited a friend and previous sponsor of GB up the coast at Sandy Lane where they met The Original Pineapple Man whilst relaxing on their private quarter of the beach. The team is now simply focusing on being prepared for the Australia Match tomorrow.
18th May. This is the day. Up at 6. Breakfast served from Jane's balcony at 6:15. Van loading at 6:30. That reminds me - Getafix wants me to mention his having reversed a van into a tree yesterday. Purely so they could replace it with a new, gold van you understand. The colour of victory. We'll see... 6:40 leave for the range. For a theoretical 8am start. We'll see... OK so the 7:45 blow-offs and 8am start didn't happen, but the 8am blow-offs and 8:15 start did - wow! Can we really get three ranges in Barbados done before lunch..?
300 yards. Good start to the Australia Match. 11 o'clock wind (mostly). Three points dropped by ten firers. Australia dropped 14, Canada and West Indies more. Solid.
600 yards. A bit more variation and, again, a lot of buffet. Firers took a long time to get some of their shots off (as indeed they had at 300) to avoid buffet related mishaps. GB dropped 11, Australia 13.
And it was still morning! We could scarcely believe it. So 900 yards. Before lunch. A switching wind, ranging from 5 left to zero. Some great shooting. Some great coaching. 9 points dropped. Australia dropped a further 20. A strong range. A 24 point margin going into 1000. Looking good. But at 1000 you never know...
Lunch break. Rather than the usual burgers, chicken and tuna on the barbecue, ham and cheese rolls expertly prepared by Getafix and his ladies, to minimise risk and time delay (plus we'd been able to munch them between ranges all morning). A few online updates at the BRA. Almost a wee snooze. But then a quick word from Martin about trying to win all the ranges, to go with his word of warning this morning.
Onto 1000 yards. Looking familiar. Let's get on with it. 49s. 47s. 48s. But it was becoming more and more obvious that there was a big front, rainstorm included, coming in off the sea. Were we to try and get all the shots down the range before the storm hit us? Or were we to stop the last two firers on each target getting down until after the rain (which looked like it was bad enough for the ICFRA officials, specially flown over for this match, to call a halt for shooting)? There was some debate over the headsets, but Martin (and the Captain via him) insisted - get the shots away.
The first indication of the wind change that was coming with the front was a sudden left handed magpie when Tom was shooting. Ouch. But the Aussies had an outer and a magpie at the same time - five points lost to our two. Suddenly the wind switched; it was about to bring the rain off the sea to us. "We know what this is," opined the main coach. "Five right." The coaches wound and wound and wound the sights... four and a half left to five and a half right... a pair of bulls. Fortunes varied throughout the fourth firers but they and the final shooters fired quickly and got the team off the firing point just before the rain hit. And boy did it hit. The squall was so heavy that target visibility became minimal and a halt was called to shooting. After the storm, the wind subsided as the other teams resumed. But we had already won. Australia needed 500 to beat us and had definitely dropped at least one point.
Final scores:
GB 1952.167
Australia 1909
West Indies 1791
Canada 1737ish (TBC tomorrow - their scoreboard had washed clean in the rain).
Tonight is team dinner and a kangaroo court. Gotta go!
The morning after the night before. There was some celebration last night, but it didn't stop groups leaving the hotel early this morning to go on a drive to various interesting points on the island or to take a catamaran up the west coast, while others simply relaxed close to base and read the Sunday Sun in which we featured.
The magical mystery tour group went to a wildlife sanctuary, where they saw monkeys, parrots, iguanas and some "interesting" tortoise behaviour, then went to the Grenade Hall signal tower and Bathsheba and got to see the east coast in all its stormy glory.
The related showers came as welcome relief at times to those sailing the west coast - they were keen to enjoy being on deck but didn't want to join the ranks of those needing emergency sunburn treatment. Three anchorages in bays saw them snorkelling over a wreck and a reef, swimming to a beach, being (in one case) thrown off the back of a jet ski and, as the big highlight of the day, swimming amongst turtles that were happy to come and rub fins with us.
After everyone had returned to base, the team was organised into "number 1s" for a formal team photograph before decamping to the Museum of Barbados for a delicious dinner and very detailed prize giving.
A new trophy, the David Hossack Memorial Quaich, was presented by the Great Britain Rifle Team for the aggregate of the West Indies Short Range Championship and West Indies Long Range Championship team matches (for both West Indian teams and any international teams shooting alongside). GB were proud inaugural winners of the Quaich and attempted to drain it of Highland Park before Nigel Penn kissed it on its bottom. There has not previously been a trophy for international team shooting in the West Indies over the full short and long range course; it is hoped that the Quaich will be something the Caribbean countries aspire to win every year, as well as something that may tempt future international teams to travel to the West Indies to contest.
Lucky and Bally won lots of individual pots, Chris Weeden somehow won a prize reserved for West Indians (Jules was surprised to learn he'd been granted citizenship!), and the speeches sweepstake was won with a time of 69 minutes and 31 seconds, not including 15 mins of C4 intro and 70 minutes of prizes). During them, Lucky was bemused to be remembered for having won the Queen's(!) and Colin Cheshire was recognised for being well groomed. Our hosts were very generous with their time.
And of course Nigel Penn was presented, very graciously, with the Australia Match trophy by John Baxter, Australia's very popular captain. That was what we had come for. Mission accomplished.
Our guest diarist writes:
So here we are. The final day. We set about packing this morning ready to give our bags to the advanced party to drop them off at the airport; the rest of us left the Southern Palms for the last time an hour later... not before Chloe had had a chance to speak to reception about her phone being stolen! The weather for our final morning was overcast, with a big shower that ruined the early morning sunbathing plans of some. On the plus side, it made it easier for us to have everything done in time for departure and gave us an early start to our UK acclimatisation.
Check-in took a long while but Dave the Adj did a sterling job and I'm sure he's pleased not to have to do any more paperwork!!! We passed through security and customs quickly and headed straight to duty free where copious amounts of rum souvenirs were bought, to make up for all the abstinence on tour. It will take a while to get through it all!! The team got onto the plane smoothly and the Captain gave a nice welcome to Nigel Penn and his victorious British Rifle Team over the PA - nice but not quite on par with Mr Lothian's message for Party A on the way out to Jamaica. Ross then realised he couldn't find his wallet and set about frantically searching his bags for it. Thankfully one of the ground crew had recovered it from his seat in departures. Had this happened a few days earlier, Ross would have had to be the victim of one of his own double rum shot fines. Chloe nearly ended up spending the entire 8 hour flight in the toilet as the door handle came off in her hand! Martin also made a trip to the loo with his glasses hanging off his shirt. He then pressed the flush and watched his glasses get sucked down as well!
We landed after a looong flight looking rather bleary eyed and set about picking up baggage and rifles before heading back to Bisley. Rifle clearance at customs was remarkably swift, meaning a lengthy wait for the coach. Team baggage was distributed back at Bisley before everyone parted ways and headed back to normality. I expect that "tour blues" will be mentioned over the next few days!
We achieved what we set out to do in the West Indies and it has been a thoroughly enjoyable trip for all of those involved. We have had some good results over the past month, winning all six of our team matches, including (most importantly) the Australia Match. Many thanks go to our management team for their tireless efforts in getting us where we are now without any major catastrophes. Thanks also to all of our enthusiastic and gracious hosts and to all the members of the team for making it such a wonderful tour.
This is the GB Team to the West Indies signing off for the last time. Love to tour!!!