The new normal

How are you holding up? That's the question that I'm hearing, and asking, most often over the last couple of months. Rest assured, it's been plenty tough here at Bow Towers too.

This situation has tested the fortitude and the mental health of introverts and extroverts alike. I've also been unable to shoot beyond a few yards until this week, but the archery world really won't miss me on the line, at least, and there's been plenty of things to worry about other than shooting.

For some time, as the editor I have been mostly editing remotely anyway, so my working pattern bringing you your soaraway Bow every six weeks or so hasn't changed a great deal. But of course, everything is different, for everybody. As some of the practicalities of lockdown are starting to gradually ease here in the UK – although as of this writing, we're not remotely out of the woods yet – the weight on the mind remains. A couple of months ago, there was a lot of talk about when things would get 'back to normal'. It now seems that what we consider 'normal' in the patterns of everyday life may have changed, in some cases forever. Our sport of course, isn't immune, and there's a news feature on page 8 discussing the implications of the COVID era on some key people involved.

We decided to take a deep-dive look at vanes after finding out that an awful lot of archers simply don't know what they have on the nonbusiness end of their arrows – or why. Like an awful lot of things in the sport, it's ultimately simple and yet when you dive right in, there's a complex world of physics and ballistics to explore underneath. I am really grateful to Adrian Tippins for setting things out so clearly. We have another fascinating article by Alexandr Kalinichenko on releasing and follow through, which contains a great deal of history and detail. There's a new series on archery manufacturers which I think could run and run. And a chance to win a super Galaxy / Shibuya recurve setup too. Stay well.

See you on the shooting line... sometime,