NRA Journal - Spring 2007 - National Rifle Association

unning in excess of two and sometimes in excess of threeminutes it was pretty much a waste of time as far as zeroswere concerned. It did, however, give a taste of whatmight be expected in Guernsey and gave the opportunityto try to develop anti-buffeting techniques.Saturday evening was spent over a pleasant dinner inthe ATSC during which the Adjutant, without priorconsultation, informed the team that if we won bothmatches the Captain would shave off half of his beard.After due consideration said Captain agreed to shaveit all off!Sunday was spent shooting at 300 and 600 with a CaptainsTeam and an Adjutant’s Team all parties being coachedby both Dave and Robin. Those who had difficulty inshooting on call were identified and worked on. All inall we were happy with the end result and confident thatwe had a team who not only knew what was expectedof it but looked likely to deliver.The original plan was to meet in the ATSC clubhouse fora leisurely breakfast on Wednesday 24 May, pack the kitinto the cars and leave Bisley at 11:00 for the 13:55 Seacatdeparture from Poole.Once again ill fate took a hand. Storms raged in theEnglish Channel and by mid-afternoon on the Tuesdayno Seacat had left Poole for five days. Simon Dixonwas monitoring the output from various mid-channelbuoys, satellite pictures etc and the Adjutant was givingthe unfortunate Steve Robinson, with whom he wastravelling, earache whilst in constant communicationwith the ever patient Simon. Although conditions wereeasing it was not certain that the Seacat would depart butthe ferry service from Portsmouth would operate.The Captain was somewhere in Leicestershire andKenny was somewhere in the air between Invernessand Heathrow when the decision was taken to take theferry. This meant an 05:30 departure from Bisley. Kennywas not due to arrive at Bisley until after six o’clock andhis rifle was in the NRA armoury. The Adj solved thisproblem with help from John Gardner of the NRA. Itthen transpired that another late arrival’s rifle was in theNorth London armoury and that said party, for somereason which still escapes me, believed the Captain hadaccess to it. I didn’t. How it was retrieved I know not.We got to Portsmouth in good time to find the Condorterminal closed. When it opened the ship was still midchannel.By the time it arrived, Condor took the decisionthat instead of travelling Guernsey, Jersey, St Malo itwould go to St Malo first with every prospect of the teambeing at sea for at least thirteen hours and little prospectof arriving at their hotel much before midnight. Howeverthey were very confident that the Seacat would sail.We arrived at Poole on time and in good weather. By thetime we embarked it was raining horizontally.That crossing has already become legendary. Mostmembers of the team were seasick, including the Captainwho having crossed both the Channel and the IrishSea in pretty foul conditions was taken completely offguard and was spectacularly ill in a very public andanti-social manner! Steve was so ill that by the time wearrived in Guernsey he was barely able to stand up letalone drive.We were all pretty glad to get to Cobo Bay, a favouritewith NRA teams, and those of us who were well enoughsampled the pleasures of bar and restaurant beforehitting the sack.Fortunately the next day was R&R but Guernsey waspartially fog bound and the airport was closed. Thiswas to have consequences!Friday morning should have been spent shooting buta sea fog obscured the danger area and we skulkedaround Fort Le Marchant finally getting to shoot justafter noon. For those of us who had been there before itwas no surprise to have our windarms visiting regionsat 300 yards normally reserved for six. The Captain’scall of 4 was near enough and a mean of 4¼ produceda pretty steady 50.7 (that ought to keep the youngwhippersnappers in line!).Back at 600 our coaches were reading 11 to 12. A bitstrong, thought the Captain, whose wise selection ofcoaches was reaffirmed when the first sighter produceda waterline magpie with 9 on the gun. When the secondsighter made a bull five it was converted with alacrity,despite the Adjutant’s views on yellow bellies whoconverted fives! Relying on a flag which told the truth in2001 and now was patently lying resulted in the CaptainNot untypical Fort Le Marchant wind! (Photo: Simon Dixon) Dave and Robin after their tie shoot. (Photo: Ed Jeens)48