Scotland the Brave

Posted on 28 Feb 2014 by WH

After beautiful Californian weather last week, our first match against both the USA National Teams and against Californian ones was not quite so pleasant. Strong winds, (comparatively) freezing temperatures, and plenty of rain ensured that the Scots felt as if they’d never left home! Despite challenging conditions, the whole team remained in good humour throughout the day, even those who spent most of it in the butts (or, aptly in the American vernacular, the pits).

The Scots put forward an “U25”, a “Veteran”, and a “Braves” team to compete against two Californian and three USA National teams, composed of Palma triallists including the likes of Tom Whittaker, Noma Mayo, Lane Buxton, the two Bobs and Dennis Flaharty. The match was intended to consist of teams of four shooting 2 & 15s at 800, 900, and 1000 yards. However, due to the Americans’ aversion to getting any rain on their kit (and to the mud downrange caused by the previous two nights’ torrential rain), all three “distances” were shot under cover at 1000 yards. Anyone would think they were trying to negate our only advantage!

The Captain, trusting soul that he is, was taken in by a trio of locals' misinformation when they stated firmly that the "full value" wind visible would be at least 20 and probably 25 minutes left so, seeing a few American targets start on the right hand edge of the target, he kicked off on 22 left. Miss. Let's check the elevation and then try 25 left. Miss. Hmmm. Can't hear what anyone else is saying because they don't have plotters to talk to. Bugger. OK, let's wind off nine minutes and try 16. "First on record, 8". Phew, that's a relief! Fortunately, things only improved from then on...

Despite both Matt and Will Hanley deciding to give a Glasgow kiss to a badly ed and rather sharp range sign (the former incurring a long cut to his forehead), the “Brave” team surprised themselves and possibly everyone else, in conditions ranging from 1½ to 17½ minutes left, by defeating not just the two Californian teams but also all three USA National Teams to win today’s competition. The rest of the team consisted of Jamie Campbell, Jon Ford and Ian Shaw (427), the last of whom top scored for the Scots, with Will Hanley (425) next best. The top scoring American team contained fewer famous shooting names than the others but was coached by Jim O’Connell, proving the value of local knowledge when coaching in such difficult conditions as these.

Although the Veterans and the U25s did not manage to defeat the USA national teams, the Veterans beat both Californian teams and the U25s one of them, showing that there was talent spread throughout the squad. Particular mention goes to Niall Duncan who shot an impressive (in the conditions) 414 / 450, coming in joint third amongst the Scots and ahead of plenty of American Palma triallists.

The team, glowing with happiness, retired to “Me ‘n’ Ed’s Pizza” for a late lunch (with some over-ordering so as to cater for dinner and possibly breakfast too – yuck!), before heading back to the Ranch. There, some of them (conscientiously?) got on with their team jobs, while others repeated the pool (or rather hot tub) party of the day before. The team then met up in the Horseshoe Bar for drinks, bought jointly by the Captain to celebrate today’s famous win and by Henry Watson to celebrate the following day’s nuptials of his god-daughter, his late father’s 100th birthday and definitely not his act of accidental vandalism to two of the team’s vehicles...