Over on the ShootClay Forum there have been plenty of discussions about shooting FITASC, and how that differs from our usual weekly English Sporting shoots. George Digweed told us (here) that "the FITASC World Championship is the Formula One of Clay Pigeon Shooting" - so we decided that we need to learn ahead of some major events during 2012. Our good friend Ian Stones at Wylye Valley Shooting Ground stepped up and offered to put on a session to help teach forum members how the discipline works, and give us a taster of some of the targets we might face over the course of a FITASC event.Ten of the ShootClay faithful rocked up at Wylye, bacon rolls, coffee and tea to start the morning off, it was pretty frosty and chilly outside - but the Wylye clubhouse was, as ever, warm and welcoming. Once everyone had arrived we sat down for a short intro from Ian. He explained a little about the origins of FITASC, and how the new and old systems work in theory. We also learned about some of the etiquette for getting booked in, and how the overall day would run at a good FITASC shoot. Ian put together some handy information packs for us which explained some more of the rules and some examples of how the days are scheduled and run.Then we went out to the SG where Ian had set up a single FITASC parcours with 5 typical targets - we walked through the system and what order the parcours would be shot in - with nine of us in the group we cycled through the parcours slowly and Ian explained some of the finer rules. The key one for me, is that FITASC is shot strictly gun down. A line is added (or should be on) to your shooting vest and the heel of the gun needs to be in contact with the body below that line until the target is visible. This is strictly monitored by FITASC referees, warnings will be given and targets will be deducted if the gun moves early.At each stand the whole squad was shown the targets that would be shot - then our first shooter started the singles, followed by the remainder of the squad - and then the second shooter shot the doubles, followed by the rest of the squad. This was the key difference for me - with English Sporting you have multiple attempts at each target, but with FITASC it requires a different level of concentration - first to remember where the target comes from and then to shoot it on the first attempt. With singles, each shooter has full use of the gun - scoring whether the target is hit on the first or second barrel. Doubles can be sim pairs, on report or raffael (repeat) targets which follow each other.Ian had set up a full range of targets - we had some quick crossers, a looper, a battue and a teal target with some real variance from each of the shooting positions - so all of our squad had a good run through to see and shoot the targets from each shooting position. After a gentle run through with lots of information - Ian grabbed a scorecard and we went through the full parcours with full rules. The whole squad really enjoyed this - and I don't think any of us fell foul of the new rules - although I did forget that I was shooting pairs at one point and tried full use on the first of a pair - not outside the rules, but I'd clearly forgotten where I was on the menu!After our session - we retired back to the clubhouse for coffee and a review of the day - it was absolutely clear to me that Ian is really enthusiastic about explaining and teaching FITASC to more shooters. It's a tricky discipline to run at shooting grounds, it requires a lot of space and effort from shooting ground owners - and it is clear to see why prices need to be higher to reflect that effort. It is a more relaxed and sociable version of shooting though, at the larger events there are breaks in between each parcours for people to take on some refreshment and chat about the layout you've just shot. Ian did a great job of sharing that spirit and communicating why FITASC is such a great discipline to shoot, everyone in the session was talking about how they'll be trying some FITASC in the future, I'm booked onto the European FITASC Championship in Lisbon in June - and I'll be pushing myself to join in some smaller competitions before then to get some experience.If you'd like to get involved in some of the taster sessions we're organising - join the ShootClay Forum and check the meet-up session, we have a great group of people that are keen to share some of the disciplines that they are involved in - we're aiming to put on sessions for Skeet, DTL and Helice over coming months - and we'll look to have sessions at different locations over time.Short gallery from our day at Wylye - pictures by Hazel Stratton.[gallery link="file" columns="2" orderby="post_date"]
Review – FITASC Taster – Wylye Valley - Sat 14th Jan
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