Zanni - as one of the few archers at this game I am saddened this happened.
And I know who was involved Chris, it wasn’t you.
We were all using IDV arrows at this game.
Archery does scare people because it does have it’s own dangers. The IDV arrows are very very specifically manufactured and come with a lot of backing from the manufacturer.
Now I conducted surveys of everyone I could question after they were shot with these arrows and got favourable feedback.
*I questioned the human archery target from the tournament, he seemed happy with the shot to the thigh he took from Derek and it was a cracking shot.
*I questioned Zanni after shooting her in the back at night - sneaky ninja she was - she was fine with this.
*I questioned a guy I shot in the neck in the final combat, he felt it but was uninjured.
Now being shot in the neck is definitely not ideal - I definitely sympathise with you Zanni - however an overzealous sword swing would have done much the same. Please don’t take this as a down playing of what happened to you, it is not.
The point I am making is that this injury is almost certainly an issue with the draw of the bow and the user (and a bit of the chaos of battle). I don’t feel the archer intentionally overdrew or intended to shoot unsafely and I don’t think they would have intentionally continued to shoot an injured person but experience and knowledge may have played a big part in this unfortunate event. And I am sure they are certainly sorry for injuring you.
We really hammer weapon safety home at nzlarps and we have to continue to make sure this happens for archers so that other players can have confidence in those who like playing an archer.
There are definitely techniques like plucking and aiming to legs when close which should be taught and re-iterated at each game. Once everyone understands how they work then we can grow that confidence.