So who made it to Area 3 and how was it?

[camus]

Anyone?

Bueller?

[Chris Z]

I shot the match Friday.

14 LONG stages in one day.......... Bad choice on my part, I wish I could have spread it over two days.

A very well run match, very challenging, a lot of fun.

You can watch videos of various shooters on every different stage here:

http://www.liveshots.net/

[JTH]

I went.  I'll put up some video later, when I get a chance to recuperate.  (They won't be as good as some of the ones on LiveShots, but then again most of us don't shoot like Dave Sevigny either...)

Yeah, at major matches, it REALLY helps to spread your shooting out over more than one day.  Shooting 14 stages in one day (even with the weather being pretty good) is just exhausting, and it DOES make a difference by the last stage or two.  Or three or four, sometimes.  Given a choice, I strongly suggest you always go with the two-day format for Area matches.

(It is even worse on staff day when you have to finish setting up the stages, troubleshoot last minute details, and run each other while shooting the match.  Tiring!)

It was quite a match---mostly completely open targets, hardly any hard cover or no-shoot targets.  And yet, many people pulled mikes and had lots of D-hits, because each stage had just enough of a twist to it to mess with your head.  Good stuff!

[JTH]

Here's some commentary and video from Paul Hyland:

http://www.liveshots.net/articles/2013_08/#prettyPhoto

[camus]

Here's some commentary and video from Paul Hyland:

http://www.liveshots.net/articles/2013_08/#prettyPhoto

So the shirts were actually folded?


Looks like it was a fun match, one of these years I might be able to make one.

[JTH]

So the shirts were actually folded?
Looks like it was a fun match, one of these years I might be able to make one.

No, not folded.    I did have to pile them for everyone, though.  (In the future for any similar stage, I'm going to say "you guys put them however you want!")

Area 3 is always a good time---the stages always have some sort of twist that takes it from "fun hoser stage" to "oh my god what am I forgetting?!" 

[JTH]

Okay, finally got my A3 video done.  This is how *I* shot the match, which means it isn't necessarily the best way to shoot the match, or how I would suggest you shoot the match...

I did decently---my times were (in the main) pretty much M-level, my accuracy was not (84% of possible points, which is about 5-8% too low for a good match), on the other hand my stage planning and tactics were solid, so mostly I was fairly consistent.  Out of 14 stages, I had top ten finishes on 9 of them.  There were 7 GMs and 9 Ms at the match, so anytime I finished in the top 16 somewhere, I was happy.

Sherwyn came up with some interesting stages.  Mostly completely open targets, hardly any hard cover or no-shoot targets--and yet, LOTS of people threw mikes.  That's because there were quite a few little "twists" to each stage that made people's brain hiccup or explode. 

It was a good time. 

Here's how my match went:

[camus]

Nice shooting.

Close to 85% of the points, it seems like there is some point, like 90, where it becomes a pure speed issue with you guys (M's and GM's).

[dcjulie]

Nice video!  Scary that you actually shot for less than 5 minutes on a 12 hour day!

I kindly didn't video MY shooting so as not to embarrass you ... especially on the 43 yard targets where I got all A's.    (yes, having a dot really does help!)

[JTH]

Close to 85% of the points, it seems like there is some point, like 90, where it becomes a pure speed issue with you guys (M's and GM's).

Put it this way---at a major match, if you are shooting (in Production) less than 90% of the points, you really don't have any chance to win the match.  (Because you simply can't go fast enough to make up for the lost points.)  If you are shooting 93-94% of the points AND are matching times with everyone else, chances are you are going to win, or be very close to it.

[sigh]  I can almost match the time, but only with 85-88% of the points.  Or I can be off the pace by a bit, with 90-92% of the points.

Which is why I'm an M, not a GM.