Stickbow Target Archery Forums

7. Longbow - (L.B.)n a. A one piece straight ended bow of any material, which when strung displays onen continued unidirectional curve, which is measured as follows:
When the strung bow is placed with the bowstring in a vertical position, the anglen as measured between the tangent of any point on the limb and an imaginaryn horizontal line must always decrease as this point is moved further away from then bow grip
b. The tip reinforcing may not exceed 20mm in height, measured from the surface ofn the back of the bow limb and may not exceed 50mm in length, measured from then centre of the string groove towards the bow grip
c. The bow may contain a window and an arrow shelf. The side of the window shalln be slanted over the full length of the window and rounded off at the point wheren the window intersects with the top bow limb. The window cut may not exceed then centre of the bow
d. The belly, bow grip, the window and the arrow shelf shall be free of any marks orn blemishes that may be used as sighting aids
e. Any additions to the bow for the purpose of stabilisation, levelling, draw-weightn reduction, sighting and/or draw checking are not permittedn f. Only one nocking point shall be allowed on the string, which may be marked byn either one or two nocking point locators. If resting nocks are used -such as balln nocks -only one locator may be used
String silencers no closer than 30 cm above or below the nocking point aren allowed
g. Arrows shall be of wood, fletched with natural feather, and must be of the samen length, fletch and pile, without regard for colour. The arrow must be free of anyn marks or blemishes that can be used as sighting aids. Nocks may be of anyn material and any weight of pile may be used. Ring markings will be no furthern than 30mm from the front of the fletch towards the arrow point
h. The bow must be shot with the "Mediterranean" loose. In cases of physicaln deformity or handicap special dispensation shall be made
i. Entries that do not comply with the above rules shall be classified in the recurven bowhunter style.

8. Historical Bow - (HB)n
I wasn't trying to make any points with my post, I was merely drawing attention to the IFAA Longbow equipment rules that seem to differ from the IFAA Historical Bow rules. I certainly understand the reluctance and acceptence of any rule changes when a system is working fine. I have no doubt that someone(s) belly ached about the outcome of an event and the rules got changed as is often the case in many sports when certain folks find it easier to belly ache over their equipment rather then their ability. The sport itself ends up being the looser in the long run.

After all...what good are rules, if nobody wants to play the game?

The event does thrive all over Europe
It is their game and their rules.

I have no problem shooting against a r/d bows
As Todd said its about the archer
IFAA rules are written in such a manner so that recurves are not included in the longbow class.

I must admit, the strict equipment regulations are not the primary thing that keeps away longbow shooters in the U.S.

Field archery in general does not have much of a following here (unfortunately). Even if they simplified the longbow rules, I do not think that that in itself would encourage a lot more archers to participate. After all, recurve shooters are not so regulated by equipment, yet there is not an abundance of them either. Just ask Dave T.

So in essence, our desire to see the rules changed is kind of like someone in Ethiopia wanting to change the equipment rules of baseball.

The 3D events are what US trad archers flock to, not more formal butt and paper punching. This is specifically due to bowhunting, and bowhunting is not so prevalent in Europe.
If the IFAA woke up and amended the longbow rules there would be more US attendance at shoots from target-minded archers, simply because their hybrid longbows would now be admitted. Not a lot, but certainly more than now. And then at least two good things would happen - most any trad archer could compete at an IFAA shoot, and the IFAA would better promote trad target archery.

Personally, I just find the IFAA as more of an annoyance - here's an international org that has the ability to further the sport of trad target archery and year after year they F it up big time. You wanna further the sport, make sensible rules. Other than that, I have no strong desire to change the IFAA's donkey rules mindset, they is what they is and I tells it like I sees it.

Rob,n
Although I agree with you that IFAA's longbow rules are far too restrictive, I question if changing them would bring more longbow shooters into IFAA field archery. I have been trying to get field archery (NFAA) going again in the Phoenix, AZ area for two years now. Despite my persoal (face to face) invitation I have not seen a single longbow shooter of any persuasion participate. NFAA's rules allow any kind of longbow and any arrow, so it sure can't be called restrictive.

Oh, and before someone complains that longbows shoot against traditional recurves under the NFAA rules, there are no traditional recurves shooting field either so the longbow shooter could clean up. Besides, I keep hearing longbows are just as good as or better than recurves so... (smiley face goes here)n
Dave