[Ansteorra-archery] Royal Huntsman tourney at 12th Night

[Eadric Anstapa]

Pug Bainter <pug at pug.net> said:

> Jennifer Shipman (djshipman at earthlink.net) said something that sounded like:
> > Crossbows will be required to shoot standing up.  This is a common SCA
rule
> > when crossbows are competing against handbows.
>
> You mean I could have been sitting down and becoming a tri-pod before?
> Can I use a tri-pod?
>
> Hmmm. The ideas that come to mind!

IKAC and Royal Round rules allow crossbows to be shot from any position but
you may not use a tripod, rest, bench, sandbags, etc to support the
crossbow.  The crossbow must be held only by the hands.  To quote from the
rules:

"The crossbow may be shot from any position. But the crossbow may be held
only by the hands, not on sandbags, etc. Slings are not allowed for shooting,
but may be used to carry the crossbow."

Therefore you can shoot while sitting or prone as long as you hold the
crossbow only with your hands.

If crossbows and handbows are shooting againts one another in the same
tournament MOST kingdoms require that all archers compete while standing
unless they have a hadicap that prohibits this.  The rule is intended to even
out any stability advantage a crossbow might have if the archer is seated or
prone or has perhaps created a "living tripod" using their knees and elbows
to support the crossbow (still being held by the hands).  This is why the
standard at Gulf War for the target archery war point is that when competing
for the War Point crossbows must be shot while standing.

This is not an issue for simple IKAC or Royal Round scores because of the way
the divisions are separated crossbowmen and handbowmen do not compete
directly against one another.  For championship tournaments where crossbows
compete against handbows, often head-to-head, this is an issue.

Regards,

--
Lord Eadric Anstapa
Kingdom Archery Marshal, Ansteorra
eadric at scabrewer.com