March 27
What a spectacular day we had in IONE California on this March 27th 2022 Crisp morning temps, Blue skies and only a light northerly breeze for folks to adjust for.
This was a Very Special match being the SVFTC first offical match of 2022 and second match w/o the clubs Co founding member Mr Jim Cyran present. This is a two fold story with part 1 being Mr Jim moved back to Ohio in the fall of 21 and was now no longer involved with the SVFTC club. Part 2 being Mr Jim suddenly died earlier in the month making it permanent. "dang" !!! What a loss for so many as Jim was a mentor and friend to so many in the FT community locally as well nationally. SO ... our first match as will be EVERY years 1st match be a Jim Cyran Memorial Match in his honor. A Perpetual TROPHY is being made and donated to the club by William Ruehl of TARGET FORGE. Thank you Bill !! The name of the High Score shooter of the day will be placed on this perpetual target year after year.
* A Very special shout out to Conrad Rowling for making up a series of large COLLAGE BOARDS with many photographs of Jim Cyrans shooting life and friends made along his journey in life while doing what he loved so much, with many who were here today in remembrance. Very very special contribution Conrad !!! Thank you.
Set up started just past 7:30 as the the crew with the targets and gear got on site. Nice to see a few folks already there being ready and willing to lend a hand.
Targets were SPECIAL TOO ... being electronic reset self sensing modified Gamo's designed & provided by Scott Hull for this event who is the MD for the Morro Bay Air Gunners. Scott H, Vince P & Ron J drove the 300+ miles north to shoot with us. We also had Wayne B, Randy E, Chris L drive 300+ miles down from Ashland Oregon. Thanks for the support guys !!!
Come there about 9:00 or so we have a solid 30 shooters on hand with the time between practice and getting match going we top off the ranks at 33 able & willing shooters being a Very Nice turn out indeed !
Squads are assigned having all 15 lanes full up with 2 man squads and a few 3 man. We allow practice for 1/2+ hour or so, call a shooters meeting, bow heads and take a moment of silence for our departed Mr Jim C .... Then we're off and shooting our match. ** Let it be noted for this match we had absolutely ZERO reset strings. Auto Resets, Quad and Shoot to reset targets made up the 60 shot match. As a Fun Note the auto targets had SPEAKERS that made differing sounds from crowing chickens to song bites etc ... ridiculously entertaining for all present.
So those reading can follow along "WHY" scores are so high for a 60 shot match .... Here is the format of this event. On the gamo auto reset 1 point for hit, 0 if missed. Quad targets were 5 point for a hit on a 3/4" center dot & 1 point on the quad paddles with the Shoot to resets as second target 5 points for a center and 1 point if reset. Trick was if you could hit center of Quad 2 times it gave you 10 points so this was really key in getting high point numbers with 16 possible. Lanes 4-6-8 were set this way. Lane 15 was our Bell Targets and Kneeling lane. ( Jim C HATED kneeling and had to shoot said lanes offhand, se we had everyone feel his pain in memory ) Evil match director !!!
So for several hours lots of laughter, giggles and groans as 33 West Coast Field target hooligans went after it ... Great fun it was by all present !!
Today's scores by class & shooter XX-96 possible.
Hunter Piston:
Bill C 46
WFTF PCP
Riz M 83
Dave C 78
Son L 66
AJ 49
WFTF Piston
Mark W 79
Lonnie S 77
Cameron K 70
Jon L 66
Jim P 43
Open PCP
Vince P 92 * High point tie
Scott H 87
Ron J 76
Tom K 52
Hunter PCP
Scott S 92 * High point tie
Chris L 90
Randy E 89
Wayne B 89
Zac L 86
Chris K 83
Steve D 81
Martin O 78
Pete P 78
Fred B 76
Darren T 65
Chang H 63
Bill R 57
Tak A 57
Larry G 56
Frank W 54
Marty G 51
Jon B 48
Jeff S 42
Mike H 30
Those present get a speedy course tear down done, converge to hear scores for the match and restate MEMORIAL for Mr Jim C then we EAT !!! Boy what feast was to be had being contributed by some very gracious club members.
Thank you to all that contributed !!! We had Pheasant Chili, BBQ ribs, Cornbread, Potato salads, Muffins, misc other goodies, chips and drinks .... ICE CREAM TOO !!
So this wraps up what was was a wonderful day with friends doing what we love to do ... Shoot Air Gun Field Target. Until we meet again be well, shoot straight and think of Jim Cyran often as without him the SVFTC as a Club would have never happened. Gawd I will Miss my Dear friend :'(
Scott Schneider
SVFTC Match Director