10-01-2010

Hello Everyone

I hope that you all had a good Christmas and that your 2009 year ended well and that you are looking forward to a great year of shooting in 2010. For me looking back on 2009 it was not one of our better years for growth as we pretty well just kept our numbers on the previous year, but when you consider it was a year marred by one of the worst financial downturns in many a year, a lot of people had to decide on what they spent their money and let’s face it our sport is not one of the cheaper ones. I guess we did well to hold our ground.

But now that we have made it in to 2010 and the economic future is starting to look brighter I need all of you to once again start look at recruiting new members and to also encourage those members that have let their membership lapse to rejoin in 2010, remember you are our best advertisement after all, which brings me onto my next topic.

I would like to touch on match etiquette. Now, while most of our members generally do the right thing most of the time at matches, I have started to notice a level of indifference or selfishness start to show its head at our matches and it is starting to spread like a sickness. While a lot of it is not really bad, unfortunately it seems to start to spread during the weekend with more and more competitors showing the symptoms.

The symptoms are in most cases very simple things, like not helping with the running of your squad such as not patching and picking up of brass, the resetting of targets, organising of the score sheets, even scoring, but if you ask most competitors at matches they would say they have done their share, but ask yourself, have you really?

Look at it this way; in a normal 2 day match with, say, 230 rounds and 12 stages, your squad would have around 15 competitors in it, would you say you have at least patched 230 holes/stood up steel over the weekend? That would mean that you have walked up to every target and stood up every piece of steel at least once over the weekend, that goes the same for the picking up of brass; have you picked up at least that amount of spent cases? I know that some of you do, but a lot of you only think you do.

Then take scoring. In our average squad over our average weekend, if there are 15 of you in a squad and 12 stages that means that all but 3 of you would need to do the scoring (hold the score sheets and record the scores) for your squad during a weekend for it to work out fair. Now I know some of you will say “I am not confident to do it”, but really it is just part of the sport, like learning to draw or how to reload. If you can learn those things then learning to score is not any harder, all you need to do is ask to be shown and I am sure someone will be more than happy to. I have been in this sport for a long time and I can think of quite a few of you that I have never seen doing the scoring for a squad and it’s not that you don’t know how to.

Now I am not trying to preach, but I feel that a lot of competitors have not really thought about what their fair share of the work at a match is or should be. Remember, at the end of the day a very small group of people have done a great deal of work in setting up the match for you to shoot. At the very least you should make sure you have done your part to assist in the running of the match. Remember, no one is forcing you to enter and compete at these matches, you are doing it of your own free will and in doing so you should accept your part in helping making sure the match runs well.

Matches for 2010

At this time the NSW calendar is starting to fill up with all but 2 of the team selection matches being taken up, but I have tentative option by clubs for those dates at this time so by all accounts we should have our full calendar for 2010.

The only matches at this time I have no real takers for are any of the Super Sunday shoots, so guys if you know your club can and has run one of these matches in the past, why not contact your clubs delegate and offer to help with running one. They are a great way to learn about running matches even if it’s only offering to help with designing the stages or even the paper work side of a match with doing score sheets and even learning the scoring programme. ISCNSW can assist with advice and help for any of the above.

NSW State Titles 2010

For those of you that don’t know, this year it will be held at Blacktown Pistol club on the 6^th & 7^th of March 2010 (Entry form) and entry’s slots will fill up fast, so if you wish to shoot in it, pull your finger out.

Also we are hoping to have it sanctioned as a Level 3 match so that means we will be needing Range Officers for this match. If you are interested contact Jim Staader and he can let you know what extra benefits besides free entry you will get for helping us out.

IPSC Australia Nationals 2010

Will be held in Perth, WA between 1^st & 6^th of April 2010 (entry form here) and by all accounts it is shaping up to be a very good match and once again if you wish to enter I would get my entry in as soon as possible. Also I have heard that accommodation is starting to fill up so I would not leave it to the last minute to arrange things. For more information check out the IPSCA web site.

IPSCNSW Team members for 2010

At this time all of the letters of offer should have been received by our members that have been picked for our 2010 NSW teams to Perth, so if you see your name below and you have not yet received a letter from me offering you a slot then please contact me as soon as you can.

So with that out of the way I would like to congratulate the following members for making our NSW teams for 2010.

Gold Open Silver Open

Dean Noakes Paul Vardanega

Damien Fitzgerald Sam Lopresti

Doug Petts Darko Mihaljevic

Robert Vlakic Diana Williams

Gold Standard Standard Lady Rep

Shane King Alexandra Thompson

Brian Blight

Joseph Panganiban

Warren West

Gold Production

Jim Staader

Mark Kissun

Peter Lo

Paul Langley

IPSC Targets for Sale

IPSCNSW now has IPSC targets in stock for sale to our current IPSC affiliated clubs and our IPSCNSW members.

Cost is $65.00 per 100 for all buff targets and $80.00 per 100 for No-shoot type (white one side, buff the other)

You or your club arrange pick and delivery.

For more information contact the IPSCNSW Section Co Ordinator.

Conclusion

That’s it for this update, I know that once again 2010 will be quite busy for some of us especially for first few months with SA, Vic & the NSW State Titles all on in a short time frame and then our Nationals, so some of us will be once again living out of our range bags. So if you are travelling to interstate matches I wish you a safe trip, all the best and for those of us staying home I hope you manage to make it to some of our matches for the year.

Shoot Safe and Shoot Fast.

Glenn Land

IPSCNSW

Section Co Ordinator

12-12-08

Hello Everyone

It’s been a little while since my last news report and update as Section Co Ordinator and I must apologise for this but it has been a busy year.

But I do know that Jim Staader in his position as webmaster has been keeping the web site up to date with match notices, match reports and scores as well as any relevant information that our members may have needed to know, so for that I would like to thank Jim for his constant work on the IPSCNSW web site as it is one of the best updated IPSC web site going in Australia.

This past year, NSW has had a very good year for matches held and attended and I would like to thank everyone for their support. Eight 2-Day Open team selection matches saw 162 members compete in Open Division, 250 members compete in Standard Division, 153 members compete in Production Division and 5 in Revolver Division. It also saw our members travel from one end of the state to the other with matches held as far part as the southern end of our state in Albury and at the top end of our state in Grafton. I am happy to report that all where well attended. Again, thank you all for your support.

We also had 5 Super Sunday’s held during the year which saw 55 members compete in Open, 86 compete in Standard, 69 compete in Production and 9 brave souls compete in Revolver Division. It should also be noted that Bathurst PC held their first IPSC match with a Super Sunday and by all reports it was a very good match for their first effort. Congratulations Bathurst Pistol Club!

The IPSCA Nationals held in Victoria and the 2^nd running of the Steel Challenge Nationals at Blacktown Pistol Club once again saw our IPSCNSW members place well in both matches.

And lets not for get another little IPSC match held this year in the IPSC world shoot XV in Bali which saw the biggest contingency of 97 Australians to ever compete at an overseas IPSC World Shoot, with a total of more than a 1000 competitors competing from all over the world.

It’s also pleasing that our NSW members did well with a few standouts being:

Open Division: Robert Valkic 143^rd over all

Diana Williams 176^th overall and 19^th female

Standard Division: Peter Hatzipanagiotis 274^th overall

Production Division: Paul Langley 41^st overall

Bob Sully 180^th overall and 3^rd Super Senior

Jodi Lyall 206^th overall and 10^th female

So in all I believe NSW had a very good year of IPSC competition which saw matches well attended. It was also good to see a lot of first time competitors at matches which if the trend keeps going we should have a very good 2009.

Matches for 2009

At this time I am still trying to confirm match dates for 2009.There are a few matches and dates locked in for 2009 but I am still trying to sort out the early part of 2009. Unfortunately I think that because we have had such a big year of matches during 2008 a lot of our members who organise club matches are starting to wear out. It seems to be the same few dedicated members at the same clubs putting their hand up each year to arrange matches, so if you belong to a club that can host IPSC matches please contact your clubs’ delegate and offer your help, I can bet it will be appreciated!

Hopefully I will have a better idea of dates in the next few weeks, so keep an eye on our web site for calendar updates.

NSW State Titles 2009

For those of you that don’t know, this year they will be held at Grafton Pistol club on the 7^th & 8^th of March 2009. Competitor numbers will be limited and will fill up fast with QLD being so close, so if you wish to shoot in it, do be slow getting your entries in.

Most of you should have received a hard copy of the entry form in the post this week, if you didn’t then it’s probably that you are not a financial member for 2008-2009 or you have changed your mailing address and not told us. Contact IPSCNSW if you are thinking of going to the match and do not have an entry form, otherwise you can wait until the entry forms are posted officially on the IPSCNSW web in January 2009. Again, remember there will be a limit for numbers of entries and once that’s met that’s it (so pull your fingers out!).

IPSC Australia Nationals 2009

The Nationals will be held at TEPSL in Darwin NT between 9^th & 13^th of May 2009 and by all accounts it is shaping up to be a very good match. Once again if you wish to enter I urge you to get your entry in as soon as possible. Also I have heard that accommodation is starting to fill up so I would not leave it to the last minute to arrange things. For more information check out the IPSCA web site and the forum.

Also if you did not know, this year’s 2009 Nationals will be part of the Arafura Games which will mean a change in the days that the match will take place so make sure you check the IPSCNT web site www.ipscnt.org.au for up to date information and any extra entry requirements that are needed.

SSAA Steel Challenge Nationals 2009

I know this match is not an official IPSC match, but it’s a match that a lot of our members have competed in and enjoyed over the years. I have some news that a lot of you may find interesting about this match and what the future holds for it.

At the beginning of 2008 the USPSA brought the rights to the Steel Challenge Match from private owners in the USA (the match was started and owned by two guys in the US some years back). The SSAA has purchased the rights off the USPSA to run the Steel Challenge here in Australia.

Over the next few years the SSAA intend to build it into a premier match, with lots of advertising in their magazines and a large prize pool (just like the good old days). SSAA would like each State to run a Steel Challenge State Titles and each year there will be a Steel Challenge Nationals held.

At the moment I don’t have all the details on what the SSAA require from clubs wishing to hold matches or what they will require from competitors. I do know however that Craig Ginger has been appointed the SSAA Discipline Director for the match so hopefully the match requirements will not change much from what they are now. As soon as I know more I will let you know.

IPSCNSW Team members for 2009

I know there has been a bit of speculation already about the NSW teams for 2009 on the IPSC Australia forum. This is a little unfortunate as regardless of its authors intentions, this speculation is not in the best interest of our members as the wrong information can cause undue distress.

The IPSCNSW committee has a process in place to pick the teams and as long as I have been the Section Coordinator we have not had any one raise any real concerns about the team members selected. I can not see why this year would be any different. So while it is alright to speculate about who may or may not have made the teams it, it’s not really appropriate to congratulate potential members before the official teams are announced.

It is hoped to have all the teams finalised and the letters to team members ready for posting in the next few weeks and that the official notice will be posted on the IPSCNSW web site in January 2009.

IPSCNSW Membership Drive 2009

To start off the 2009 pro rata part of our 2008-2009 membership year, the IPSCNSW committee has decided to try and see if we can get a significant increase in new members by offering you, our current members, an incentive to find new IPSC members. After all you are our sports best ambassadors and who better to help us recruit new members.

The idea is that when you are out at your club and one of your clubs non IPSC members comes up to you or is just watching you practice, you take the time to say hello and tell them about our great discipline and if they are interested you help them arrange to do the holster course with your clubs or another clubs IPSCNSW approved holster course instructor.

Basically you become a friendly face for them to ask questions of how and what they need to do, to become involved in our discipline and for all this effort IPSCNSW will give you a chance to “Win a Chrony chronograph”.

IPSC Targets for Sale

IPSCNSW now has IPSC targets in stock for sale to our current IPSC affiliated clubs and our IPSCNSW members.

Cost will be $65.00 per 100 for all buff targets and $80.00 per 100 for No-shoot type (white one side, buff the other)

You or your club arrange pick up/delivery delivery.

For more information contact the IPSCNSW Section Co Ordinator.

Conclusion

That’s about it for this update. I know that 2009 will be quite busy for some of us, especially for first few months with SA, Vic & the NSW State Titles all on in a short time frame and then our Nationals, so some of us will again be living out of our range bags. If you are travelling to interstate matches I wish you a safe trip and good shooting! For those of us staying home I hope you manage to make it to some of our matches for the year.

On behalf of the IPSCNSW committee I would like to wish you all members a Merry Christmas and a happy and safe New Year.

Shoot Safe and Shoot Fast.

Glenn Land

IPSCNSW Section Co Ordinator

09.11.08

Please find a copy of the Minutes from the 2008 IPSCNSW AGM here.

07.02.08

Hi All

I know this news update is running a little late, but first off I would like to wish you all the best for the New Year and hope you had a safe and enjoyable Christmas break. I also hope that you had plenty of rest and that you are looking forward to another busy year of IPSC.

Matches in 2008

Coffs Harbour DVC Challenge

This year we have wasted no time in holding our first match, as by now the Coffs Harbour DVC Challenge has been run and won. By all accounts it was another very good match put on by the members of Coffs, with able assistance from members from Grafton.

They had a reasonably good turn out for the match with quite a few Queenslanders making the effort and coming south for it, which was very pleasing.

Unfortunately, I think quite a few of our members stayed away because of concerns about the weather leading up to the match, which was unfortunate as by all reports the match was held under good weather for most of the weekend with the only bit of rain on Saturday afternoon. Hopefully next year a few more of us will take the punt and head to Coffs for the Match.

Match Calendar

The 2008 match calendar is starting to fill up, so keep and eye on it. There are only a few more clubs left to nominate dates for matches then the calendar will be full. The Super Sunday Series is a bit slow in the uptake this year so if you are a member of a club that usually runs one don’t be shy; offer your club delegate a hand in designing or setting up or running a Super Sunday as you will learn a lot from it and they will appreciate the offer.

BPC

Blacktown Pistol Club will be running Round 1 of the Super Sunday Series on the 24^th of February. For those of use getting ready for the State Titles and Nationals this will be a good shakedown match and if you have never been to a match before or you are a new shooter there is no better way to find out what an IPSC open is like than shooting in a Super Sunday Match.

Also as a point of interest for the BPC Super Sunday match, entry’s will close on Saturday the 23^rd of February at 4pm, “Yes that’s right” there will be no entering on the day. BPC have several ways to enter on the entry form so do the right thing, help the club out and you won’t miss out.

NSW State Titles

For those of you that are not aware, the State Titles will be held at Hume Pistol club and entries are filling fast. If you wish to shoot the match, pull your finger out (entry form here) as there will be a cut off limit for entries and once that’s met the limit, that’s it.

Remember too, that it’s the last match before our IPSC Nationals and a lot of our members and those from other States will be looking at it as their final practise before the Nationals so if you want to shoot in it, send your entry in now.

IPSC Australia Nationals 2008

The Australian IPSC National Handgun Championships will be held at Eagle Park Shooting Range, Little River, Victoria between the 21^st and 23^rd of March (entry form here). By all accounts it is shaping up to be a very good match and once again if you wish to enter get your entry in as soon as possible. I have heard that accommodation is starting to fill up so I would not leave it to the last minute to arrange things. For more information check out the IPSCA web site.

IPSCNSW Team members for 2008

At this time I would like to congratulate those that have made the cut for the 2008 IPSCNSW & NSWAPA Teams as they have all put in a very good effort during 2007 to make the teams for 2008 and I wish them all the best for the upcoming Nationals.

By the way if you see your name below and have not yet received your team slot offer can you please contact me as soon as possible.

Gold Open

Damien Fitzgerald

Doug Petts

Robert Vlakic

Dean Noakes

Silver Open

Paul Vardanega

Darko Mihaljevic

Murray Bignell

Diana Williams

Gold Standard

Brian Blight

Mathew Workman

Adrian Keed

Glenn Land

Silver Standard

Shane King

Mark Kissun

Peter Maruncic

Warren West

Gold Production

Gary White

Jim Staader

Ed Schulz

Bruce McHardy

Top Juniors

Standard Chris Jobson

Production Matthew Taylor

Top Lady - Open Diana Williams

Other Team information

This year for those that are interested the Official NSWAPA Teams Hotel will be at the Best Western Admiralty Motor Inn, Geelong and the teams bus will leave from their each day. If you have sent back your signed Teams Member’s Agreement you will soon receive a Team Member’s information letter that will give your all the extra information you will need as a Team member. If you have not yet sent it back then sign it and get it back to me.

Conclusion

That’s about it for this update. I know that this year we have quite a bit on in the first few months with SA, Vic & the NSW State Titles all on in a short time frame and then our Nationals, so some of us will be living out of our range bags for the foreseeable future. If you are travelling to interstate matches I wish you a safe trip and all the best. For those of us staying home this year I hope you manage to make it to one of our 2-Day Opens or a Super Sunday match or three during the year.

Shoot Safe and Shoot Fast.

Glenn Land

IPSCNSW

Section Co Ordinator

WHO WILL YOU VOTE FOR IN 2007

Dear Members,

I am sure you are all aware of the upcoming Federal Elections to be held on November the 24^th 2007. Like me, you may be unsure of what impact on us, and our sport, the results will have on our future.

While it would be prudent at this time for me to be able to tell you that one party or the other has our sports best interest at heart, unfortunately I cannot. What I can say is that there are definitely a few political parties that if they get enough power will hurt our sport in the future.

In order to assist you to make the most informed decision you can come polling day, I urge you to take the time to read the following information available from the SSAA. It gives a run down on the polices from most of the major parties.

http://www.ssaa.org.au/asj/asj-2007-v9-1-LOW.pdf

(Left click to open the link or right click to on it to download a copy of the article).

So if you get the time please have a read, also if you can pass the information on to any of your like minded friends that will also be a great help.

Bye for now and safe shooting.

Glenn Land

IPSCNSW Section Co Ordinator.

With the cancellation of the Newtec match, the IPSCNSW AGM will now be held after competition finishes at the Blacktown Open match on the 11th November 2007. Shooting should finish at about lunch time, AGM will be held, while the scores are tallied, then after the AGM we will do the match presentations.

I have a match update for you. Robert Tucker contacted me (Grafton PC club delegate) and has asked me to let you all know that the upcoming team selection match to be held at Grafton Pistol Club on the 1^st & 2^nd of September will now be called the Graeme Lyttle Memorial Match, as tribute to our comrade who passed away earlier this year.

If you are able to make the trip north to Grafton over the weekend of the 1^st and 2^nd of September that will be great. I can think of no better way of showing our appreciation of the work and effort that Graeme gave to IPSC over the years, you can find entry form for the match on our calendar page.

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Well the 2007 IPSC Nationals have been run and won, for those of you who weren’t aware, this year they were in the Northern Territory at the Top End Practical Shoot League Pistol Club out side of Darwin. 301 competitors tested themselves against 18 challenging stages over 3 days to discover who the winners where for the 2007 IPSC Australia National Handgun Championships. At the end of the day, the sport of IPSC was the real winner as we all came together to compete and enjoy our sport.

For the majority of our NSW members, our match weekend started on Wednesday night with a flight out of Sydney that had us arriving in Darwin very late around midnight. Unfortunately this was to set the trend over the coming days. with Thursday being our only “easy” day, where most of us would have a late start to the day.

On Thursday, once we got our bearings and worked out how to find the range, we headed out for our first look at the TEPSL (Top End Practical Shooting League) range and the stages that we would be testing over the coming days. The first thing that most of us noticed was the distance from Darwin to the range; at around 60-plus kilometres plus about 8 kilometres of dirt road, the trip to and from the range would prove to be very long each day, requiring very early starts to our days.

The first thing you saw as you drove into the complex was the club house, set in an oasis with large over hanging trees and a very green and well kept lawn, which was in stark contrast to the surrounding bush, a lot of it only recently having been burnt out.

The complex itself was a very pleasant surprise, with an excellent set up. Some of the ranges were very new, only just constructed for our Nationals, which just about doubled the number of ranges they had when the club agreed to hold the match.

Past the club house you came across the 15, yes 15 ranges all facing south, which was good because that meant the sun was generally behind you while shooting. A lot of the old ranges had very good shelters built at the backs of them and for the rest of the ranges the TEPSL club had erected sun shades, which even though it is winter, the sun up in the top end still had quite a bite to it, most days peaking at around 28 C to 30 C, so most of us needed to keep the sunscreen up during the match.

As a side note it should be mentioned that all of this work was carried out by a club that has only 28 members in total! TEPSL are to be congratulated for their efforts.

As for the stages I don’t think I can do them justice here in words; I hope you get a chance to see some photo’s of them as they where all very well finished off. Quite a lot of work went into the painting of them by the local school children in traditional aboriginal themes, some of them almost being works of art.

Once you got over how good the stages looked and started to look at the target placement at first it appeared the stages weren’t going to be too hard, with targets being any where from 1m out to about 20m. This was very deceptive, as most targets where open targets with only 1 or 2 no-shoots thrown in here or there just to break up the flow on most stages.

As it turned out, it’s not that easy to place good hit’s on a target when you have to lean out around a wall or squat down and engage it through a low port or to hit a swinger going flat out or drop turner that disappears just as the door opens, so all of a sudden a stage that looked relatively easy now had quite a sting to it if you didn’t quite get it right.

The first day (Friday) required competitors to be at the range well before 8am for the opening ceremony and competitors briefing, with the competition starting at 9am. This meant that for those of staying Darwin we would need to be up around 5.30 am or 6 am if you where staying at the Free Sprit Resort. This was the norm for the other competition days, as on Saturday and Sunday shooting was to commence by 8 am instead of 9am as on the first day. Depending on your squadding and what rotation you where on you could be looking at a 6.30pm finish. By the time you left the range and then drove back into Darwin (1 hour) or the Free Spirit Resort (30 minutes) each night and checked your gear and got ready to go out for dinner you where looking at another late night with a early start the next day.

Over the course of the weekend I tried to speak with most of the NSW members attending the match and every one said that they where enjoying the match. All had tails to tell of the stage that got away or how they nailed a stage, and I know of quite a few NSW club delegates that now can’t wait to add some of the stage ideas into their upcoming matches, which should make our matches here in NSW more interesting in the future.

At the end of the day, after the match was all over and all the dust had settled and the trophy’s and medallions where handed out, NSW was well represented in the all the divisions and here are a few stand out efforts.

That’s about it. I think everyone that went had a good time and enjoyed the match.

Once again I would like to say that it was an outstanding match put on by the boys and girls of the NT.

Organised by NSW Section Coordinator Glenn Land, the day was well attended, with the majority of team members present.

The day got underway at 9.30 with a brief talk by Craig Ginger who kindly volunteered his time as trainer. Craig emphasised the importance of sight picture and shooting two sighted shots. He also explained the difference between “practice” and “training”.

We moved up onto the ranges and Craig watched as each team member shot several rounds firstly at 10 metres then at 20 and again at 40 metres to check for zero and to allow Craig to observe trigger control & technique.

The group then moved onto range 2 where a 28 round Comstock course had been constructed. Each of the team members had the opportunity to walk through the course of fire slowly with their pistol out, allowing them to establish a good sight picture on each target.

After the walk through, each shooter ran through the course of fire and had their performance critiqued by Craig. The group then shot the stage a second time, again under Craig’s watchful eye, this time for score.

On range 1, two smaller Comstock stages had been set up, a 12 round stage consisting of 5 standard poopers and a mini popper in a line and three paper targets, and a 10 round stage of 5 paper targets. Team Members ran through each stage once only for time & score, with the dulcet tones of Mr Ginger urging them on.

After lunch, the teams moved onto range three where a 32 round Comstock stage had been constructed that took advantage of that range’s almost 260° arc of fire. Target placement lead to awkward engagements and rushed reloads for all shooters, reinforcing the need for polishing skills before the Nationals.

On behalf of IPSC NSW I would like to thank Craig Ginger for donating his time and expertise for the day. I would also like to thank Glenn Land, Craig Ginger, Sam Lopresti and Geoff Mathews for setting up the ranges and Blacktown Pistol Club for waiving the usual visitor fee for Team Members for the day.

It is with great sadness that I must report the passing Graeme Lyttle on Saturday 31^st of March 2007.

Graeme had been an enthusiastic member of IPSC for as long as I can remember and a well respected NROA range officer both here in NSW and around the country.

He was one of those members that had a real passion for our sport of IPSC and over the years he contributed to our sport in many ways as our NSW Chief Range Officer, Match Official, Range Officer, Club Delegate and just a plain competitor, all of his efforts have been greatly appreciated by our IPSC members and our sport will miss his involvement in the future.

So on behalf of IPSCNSW and all of his many IPSC friends I would like to pass on our condolences to his wife and family for their loss and remind them that our thoughts are with you at this difficult time.

The first ISPC Open match of the 2007 year was run over the Australia Day Long Weekend in Coffs Harbour, Northern NSW. The Coffs Harbour Pistol Club DVC Challenge has become renowned for its particularly interesting stage design, with Sam Hui and his small band of able assistants living up to their reputation this year.

Registration and licence checks proceeded smoothly on Saturday morning, with over 65 competitors attending, including about a dozen competitors from Queensland. Shooting commenced at 9.00am.

Seven stages were shot on Saturday, mostly long and medium courses of fire. Sam Hui deliberately structures the match in this fashion to allow competitors to finish early on Sunday and start homewards at a reasonable hour.

The weather in the week leading up to the match had been warm and humid. A little rain mid-week and on the preceding afternoon unfortunately drove up the humidity as the first day of competition progressed.

Clever use of Corflute and hardcover with multiple ports and target acquisition points made the stages on the top ranges deceptively challenging. It was rare to see less than three or four different solutions to each stage as the squads moved through the courses of fire.

The range affectionately called “The Hole” adjacent to clubhouse tested the stamina of competitors who shot the stage anytime after mid morning. The lack of air movement in the range at the bottom of the steep concrete ramp took a toll on all. The “player comfort meter” spiked to new highs, despite the deployment of IPSC NSW’s pop-up shade.

Clearly visible from the clubhouse, Stage 7 on the 50 metre range was constructed of two curved shade structures, one in front of the other and connected by a fault lines. The competitor moved through the first shade structure, engaging targets through low ports on both sides, into the open area between to engage more targets on both sides, then under the last structure to engage the last targets, including a popper. Due to the curve of the shade structure, taller competitors had some difficulty negotiating and setting up positions in the initial shade structure.

Sunday proved to be cooler than Saturday, competitors starting the remaining 5 of the 12 stages just before 9.00am. Thankfully some cloud cover and lower humidity made conditions much more pleasant to shoot in.

The Springfield XD9 made an appearance in the hands of Peter Dawson who demonstrated it’s (& his) accuracy. Paul Jordan shot with the S&W MP, although there were some questions as to his grading (it was pointed out to Paul that “B” is also the first letter of “burglar”!).

An up and coming competitor to keep an eye on is Stephen Chan of RANR who took out Top Rookie with 60.75% at his first Open Match! Congratulations, Stephen.

Congratulations to David McConachie (Open), Paul Langley (Production) and Damien Boyce (Standard) for taking out the honors their divisions. Natalie Anderson took out Top Lady and Jeff Staader took out Top Junior.

With 234 rounds over 12 challenging stages, the 2007 Coffs Harbour DVC Challenge once again established “The Banana Town” match as an outstanding herald to the new year of competition in New South Wales.

Just a quick update on the Ladies and Junior Training days we are holding during 2007.

The first one will be Understanding the IPSC Rules and Rule Book and Working with RO’s. The Training Day will be held on the 4^th of March 2007 at St Ives PC.

There will be no cost for attendees; it will be free and open to any of our current Lady and Junior IPSCNSW members, with Kent Docker and Stuart Collibee running the class.

Shortly I will be sending out an invitation to our Female and Junior members asking them to attend, which will give them more details on the course and attendance requirements.

I hope that the New Year finds you all well and that Santa was good to you and that you were able to keep your New Years resolutions, if not, you have a whole year to try and come up with new ones!

First off it’s getting close to our first IPSC Match for 2007, with the Coffs Harbour DVC Challenge just around the corner. After talking to Sammy Hui from Coffs, the entries are starting to flow in, so if you are thinking of attending I would send a entry in ASAP. Also, remember that it is the first of our IPSCNSW team selection matches for 2007.

Speaking of the IPSCNSW teams, shortly I hope to be sending out letters to our 2007 IPSCNSW members that were successful in making the IPSCNSW Teams for 2007. Currently I am waiting on the final approval of team members selected. Once I have that all the team members will be contacted.

This year we have our 1 day Super Sunday series kicking off, with round 1 at DRSLPC. What I would like to do with this series is run a points system that is separate of the individual matches; at the end of the 6 rounds we would be able to have a Super Sunday Champion, with the Champion not necessarily being one of our “top” shooters; a points system that rewards attendance and improvement more so than outright scores. If you have a look at the rules and points system for the 2006 Clubs Team Challenge, you will get some idea of what I want to achieve. I hope to have the points system up shortly.

That makes for a nice intro into the 2007 Clubs Team Challenge, that will once again be run in conjunction with all of our 2 day Open Team Selection matches. When considering that the Teams Challenge was started half way through our match calendar for 2006, we had a very good effort by all clubs to enter teams and the money raised from the Teams entries will be put to good use this year for our Juniors and Ladies members. The rules will be basically the same as last year with just 1 or 2 small changes. Will our reigning Club Team Challenge winners DRSLPC be able to retain their crown in 2007? We will have to wait and see.

One of the issues raised at our 2006 IPSCNSW AGM and at the IPSCA AGM was the matter of giving more help and encouragement to our Junior and Ladies members. One of the ideas suggesting being was holding training days for them to help give them a better understanding of IPSC.

With this in mind your Deputy Section Co Ordinator Stuart Collibee is currently working on a Junior and Ladies training manual that will help us set out a training program for the future. In the meantime, IPSCNSW along with our NSW NROI Director Kent Docker, have scheduled training days for 2007, the first one on Sunday 25^th of February. At this stage it will be held at St Ives Pistol Club, and will be free and open to all of our NSW Ladies and Junior members.

The focus for this Training Day will be mainly on the IPSC Rules, understanding the way they are applied, plus how to work with RO’s and understand stage briefs. Most of this will be classroom discussions and some range time.

We are hoping to be able to schedule the following Ladies and Juniors training day before the June IPSC Nationals. Its main focus will be on shooting technique and understanding and breaking down a stage (stage analysis), with most of the day being spent on a range.

Once we have settled on a firm date for the first training day, I will be posting out and invitations to all of our Ladies and Junior to come along to the training day as well as any relevant information they may need.

Preparations are well under way for the 2007 IPSCNSW Practical Pistol State Titles at Blacktown Pistol Club, I am currently waiting on final approval from IPSCA on the Level 3 sanctioning, but at this stage everything is looking good. If all the stages are approved you should be looking at 14 stages + Chrono, 241 rounds.

If you are a current RO or have completed the RO”s course and would like to help us out by RO-ing at the NSW IPSC State Titles please contact Kent Docker or the IPSCNSW Section Co-ordinator as we have arranged a reduced entry fee and other incentives for helping us out.

At this time we have a steady flow of entries coming in, having received inquires and entries from all state as well as entries and inquiries from New Zealand! So once again, like last year and the year before, don’t wait to the last minute to send your entry form in! Even though this year we have increased the entry limit to 150 competitors, going on the entry’s received so far and the number of enquires I have had, we will go very close to our maximum, if not fill it. Remember that your entry will not be accepted until your entry fee is paid, so if we max-out and your entry fee has not been paid, even if you sent your entry form in early you will still miss out. Remember there is No Paying on the Day.

If you haven’t already heard, this year IPSCNSW is running an E-Mail Match using the IPSC Classifier stages. Over the year we will have 12 stages in total, with 3 new stages being released every 3 months. The first 3 stages are already up and you can find the link to them on the front page of the IPSCNSW web site. You have until the end of March to send in your stage scores for the first 3 stages. Once we have received everyone’s results, we will then score them and put the results up on the NSW web site. It won’t matter if you come from a club where there are only 2 of you, there is no excuse for not entering and sending in a score!

I hope by now most of you have seen the IPSCNSW Calendar for 2007 and have started to work out which matches you would like to attend during the year. So far we have only a couple of adjustments that will need to be made to match dates at this time; I am still sorting it out, but the May DRSLPC 2 day match may need to move to later date in May, this in turn may move the Bowral 1 day match. The only other date change will be the 2 day Bowral match will need to move back a week to early December. As soon as I have confirmed dates I will post the updates.

Remember this year a $5.00 late entry fee or entering on the day fee will be applied to all sanctioned 1 and 2 day level II IPSCNSW matches, unless other wised notified. This does not mean that you can not still enter and pay on the day, it just means if you do you will need to pay the extra $5.00 fee.

Also I would like to remind you that you can still pay on the day with out receiving the $5.00 late fee provided you had already sent in your entry form before the late fee cut off date (which is usually 7 days before the match). Where possible it is preferred that you send in your entry fee with your entry form but if you don’t and you elect to pay for your entry fee on the day you will not receive the late fee.

Regardless of whether you have sent your entry in early or intend to enter and pay on the day, you can greatly help the clubs out by making sure you bring the correct amount for your entry fee; this is a big help to the hosting clubs.

The idea behind this is to help speed up the start of the matches by trying to encourage early entry so the hosting club can have the squadding worked out before match day. It’s hard if you unexpectedly have 20 people entering on the day. Also another side benefit is that the host club can work out how much food and drink to order in. It even makes it easier to work out how many patches they will need over a weekend!

That’s it for this report, I hope that during 2007 you are able to make it to some of our 1 and 2 day matches and if you can’t make it or even if you can, you should at least find the time to have a go at the E-Mail match and send in a score. While you’re at it, especially for those clubs that are not able to hold matches during the year and even the clubs that can, why not invite some of your other club members to come and see what IPSC is all about. Who knows, we may end up with a new member and you may end up with a new IPSC member at your club to shoot with, which at the end of the day is the most important thing.

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