Wichita Falls, Tx…. 28 degrees, 30+ MPH winds, and freezing rain, hail and snow. Oh… and a thick layer of wet clay mud adding 5 pounds to each shoe.
Hey… let’s go shooting!
Conditions were just above intolerable. An “experience” for sure. It should be 50 degrees tomorrow… fingers crossed. I wish I could say it was “the same for everybody” but those that had Friday squaddings got 70 degrees and sunny.
We probably won’t come back to this one unless they move it to June. The stages are fun, but 5 years of bad weather in a row makes it tough to risk a 1200 mile drive (-;
As to our shooting… a mixed bag. When our guns ran, and our fingers held on to magazine during reloads, we shot high 65% to 75% level runs (compared to Max Michel on sunny Friday) But on a couple stages cold weather gave the guns a bad time and made cleaning magazines impossible. But that seemed to be the course from GM down to D shooters. Everybody was having fits, but was generally taking it in good cheer. That said, something like 25% of the shooters dropped out (from anecdotal reports). Our squad lost more. Some lost none.
6 more stages tomorrow… looking forward to shooting in better conditions. It will, unfortunately, still be muddy.
Update: Sunday was darn cold, but dry. 30 MPH winds continued with 30 degrees temperature. At stage 11, and 12, it became warm enough to finally shed the coat when you were on-deck.
Word is the match will move to May or June. Good call.
Update II – ALWAYS verify time and hit factor before signing the Palm (or any score sheet). I would have done a lot better if I’d caught a 937 second error had been caught when it happened, rather than when I was already home and checking results online. 100 stage points lost and a number of positions in the rankings. )-: