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There are three main types of bow used in British archery, the English
longbow, the recurve bow and the compound bow.
| Picture of longbow |
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| Longbow |
Recurve Bow |
Compound Bow |
However there are many other 'National' bows ranging from the
American flatbow, the Japanese kyudo bow and the Hungarian horse bow to
give three examples.
The English longbow is the 'National' bow of Great Britain.
Like all sports, there are very precise specifications about what can
and what cannot be used for a particular type of bow. The
following is a brief description of the British bow types but can in no
way be described as being complete. For complete specifications.
reference must be made either to the GNAS handbook or the FITA
Constitution and Rules
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The English longbow is made from wood and can be all of one type of
wood or 'backed' or 'laminated'. The traditional wood is English
Yew however many other woods are now used since they are easier to
acquire and cheaper such as lemon wood, ???? or even bamboo. The
bow must not be shorter than five feet if arrows of less than 27ins and
not greater than five feet six inches if longer arrows are used.
The bow must have horn nocks. The string can be made from natural
fibres such as linen, or man-made substances. No sights as such can be
used although the archer may use a rubber band on the bow to assist with
aiming.
Arrows must be made from wood with feather fletchings and
nocks can be made from horn, self or plastic and are marked in such a
way that the archer can identify them.
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The recurve bow consists of three parts, the riser in the centre and
a top and bottom limb. The riser must not be 'shoot through' and
has a grip attached. The bowstring can be made of any material and
consist of any number of strands and has a centre serving to accommodate
the drawing fingers. A nocking point may be attached to the string
to locate the nock of the arrow. The bow string has a loop at both
ends which as used to loop over the limb nocks. The bow can also
have an adjustable arrow rest and a Draw Check Indicator, called a
clicker, which is used to ensure consistent draws. The bow may also have a bow sight attached for use in aiming however
it cannot include lenses or levelling devices. The bow usually has
a Stabiliser and torque flight compensator attached.
Arrows can be made from any material such as wood, aluminium, carbon
fibre or composite and each arrow has a point, fletching of any material
and a nock. In competitions each arrow must have the archers
initials and be numbered.
The archer can use gloves, finger stalls or a tab to hold, draw and
release the arrow.
There are a number of variations, for example:-
Recurve barebow which is a standard recurve bow but where the
bow must be bare, ie no sights, no stabilisers and no clicker.
FITA Standard bow which is fully described in the FITA Constitution
and Rules and is the bow used in the Olympics.
Traditional Recurve which is like a Recurve Barebow except that the
arrows must be made of wood and have fletchings made from natural
feathers. The arrow rest must not be adjustable.
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| The compound bow is a type where mechanical advantage is obtained in
various ways such as the use of cams. The peak draw weight must
not exceed 60lbs. The bowstring can be made of any material and
consist of any number of strands and has a centre serving to accommodate
the drawing fingers or a release aid. A nocking point may be attached to the string
to locate the nock of the arrow. The bow string may have
attachments such as a peephole and 'kisser' to serve as a lip or nose
mark. The bow can also
have an adjustable arrow rest and a Draw Check Indicator, called a
clicker, which is used to ensure consistent draws. The bow may also have a bow sight attached for use in aiming and may include lenses or
levelling devices. The bow usually has
a stabiliser and torque flight compensator attached.
Arrows can be made from any material such as wood, aluminium, carbon
fibre or composite and each arrow has a point, fletching of any material
and a nock. In competitions each arrow must have the archers
initials and be numbered.
The archer may use gloves, finger stalls or a tab to hold, draw and
release the arrow but may also use a release aid, either hand held or
attached to the wrist in order to obtain consistency of release.
There are three classes of compound bow:-
Compound Unlimited - described above.
Compound Limited - where the arrow must be released by the fingers
and the bow sight must not have magnifying lens or prisms.
Compound barebow - where the bow must be bare except for an arrow
rest and one stabaliser no longer than 12 inches may be fitted.
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Specialist flight bows are used in flight archery.
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Recurve flight bow - This is similar to recurve target bow except
that it might be of the keyhole design and have forward handles and
overdraws. A handheld non-mechanical release aid may be used. |
| Compound flight bow - Similar to a compound target bow except that it
may have forward handles and overdraws as long as the arrow cannot be
drawn further back than the brace height of the bow. Only a hand held
release aid may be used. |
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Longbow archers must use wooden arrows with feather fletchings.
There is no restriction on the diameter of the arrows however the pile
must not exceed the diameter of the shaft.
Recurve and compound archers may use arrows of any
materials. It is usual for outdoors archers to use thin carbon or
carbon/metal composite arrows in order to cut down on the effects of
wind. Indoors, archers often use thicker arrows (up to a maximum
diameter of 9.3mm) made from aluminium or carbon.
No archer is allowed to use arrows with broad-head, edged, bodkins or
'silver spoon' arrow points.
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