Getting There
We started our journey to the ASA Bahamas Shoot 2018 on Halloween, with the Daybreaker PHL—a 7 AM dance party at NOTO in Philly. What archer doesn’t benefit from a little cardio on the dance floor?
When we finally landed in Freeport later that evening, we were wisely instructed by our hotel to go to the Smith’s Point Fish Fry, a Wednesday evening tradition that features several local cooks frying up fish, chicken, and conch fritters at beach side stands along with a DJ playing some great 70s & 80s dance and funk hits.
Shooting Starts
By Thursday, my day off from archery caught up with me, and instead of just hitting the beach when the World Archery 50M practice field hit a snag and wasn’t open, Coach Dee Falks talked me into shooting in marks to compete in the 3D/ASA portion of the Bahamas shoot. This lead to a wonderful afternoon of sighting in my bow, with my beloved husband, on one of the most beautiful ocean fronts I have ever seen.
Friday morning, we tackled our first ever 15 Delta Mackenzie Targets on the beautiful range at Pirates Cove Zipline and Water Park installed by Antonio Abraham of Archery Culture, organizer of the 2018 Bahamas Shoot. We shot with the Pruitts from Oklahoma and the Jacksons from Nassau, Bahamas. The amazing company only complimented the beautiful settings. Saturday, we came back for more of the same—-only with light touches of rain instead of wind!
Lessons Learned
In terms of shooting, I learned a few things:
I can sure my target sight (AXCEL sight with 25MM housing, 7 power Feather Vision Lens, green Gunstar Chubby Dot, Hamskea Peep with #1 clarifier) to see the 3D animals just fine.
Getting a bow that fits really helps. My PSE Phenom with the short draw makes it so that I can concentrate on making good shots while figuring out where the 12 ring is instead of messing around to get my head in the right position behind the bow. I switched effortlessly from World Archery 50M to ASA 3D in a few minutes.
I love my Leupold range finder—women’s known 40 or 45 would be the ASA class for me!
When the terrain isn’t challenging, wind can make up for it!
But as I say, archery is life, so there are a few things I learned at this tournament that can help me in my regular life too:
Sometimes you have to embrace Island Time—car keys locked in cars, broken ferry boats, pesky custom’s officials—just roll with it, and the universe will put you in the right place at the right time. I never would have signed up for an ASA, let alone do so without sight marks on hand.
Keep trying. The organizer of this new tournament did an amazing job of getting this first event together. Antonio’s passion for archery and desire to see it grow in the Bahamas is a great example to learn from for anyone looking to achieve their dreams, whether they be in archery or something else!
The Fun Stuff
Here are some of the songs we danced to this weekend on my Spotify Bahamas Shoot ASA Archery Playlist. In addition to the Wednesday night fish fry, the Lucaya Marketplace offers some great restaurants and live music too!
In my lovely beach down time, I enjoyed Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, an intelligent love story about race, Africa, America, and what it means to be from someplace and of someplace.
Antonio Abraham, Me, Bobbie Pruitt, and Steph Jackson