Jaco at full draw

The three medalist, Jaco Wessels (silver), Steve Morley (bronz) and Ular Teppo (gold)

Jaco Wessels (SA), Ular Teppo (Estonia), Rait Ots (Estonia), Steve Morley (England), Thomas Rudman (South Africa) and Raivo Sein (Estonia). Rudman finished in the sixth place.

Well-known South African traditional archer Jaco Wessels recently won a silver medal at the World Field Archery Championships held in Namibia. He had this to say about his experience…

"My world became more complete when I met a friend from the other side of the world. I hope you had some good experiences from our duel." This was written on the arrow given to me on the last day of competition by Ular Teppo, longbow champion of the 2008 WFAC.

At the beginning of April, I was fortunate to attend the Namibia World Field Archery Championships, as part of the Protea archery team. The setting was Heja Lodge, a beautiful game farm outside Windhoek.

With mountains as the backdrop, a variety of African game roamed freely about the five target ranges nestled in the hills surrounding the lodge. In a few days the hills would come alive with archery, echoing with the sound of archers having a great time. 

  We arrived at the lodge a few days early to settle in, practise and size up the competition. With almost 300 archers participating, everyone had competition, but I had other things to worry about.
The five San archers I was waiting for had arrived on the practise range, dressed in their traditional gear, bows and quivers slung over their shoulders. They started shooting their arrows at the targets, but quickly realised that their weapons were not ideally suited to target archery. In their own direct and innocent way, they asked me for the "big" bows I made especially for them to use in the tournament. After a quick lesson on shooting the modern bow, they were soon hitting the target consistently and having lots of fun.

The San were invited to participate at the WFAC as a cultural enrichment programme, and the bows and arrows I made were sponsored by the Namibian government. During the awards ceremony at the end of the tournament, the five San were each presented with a medal and given the bows to take home. I have never seen five bigger smiles, or a prouder group of people.

The first day of shooting finally arrived, and I was in the company of three archers from England, Germany and the USA. The "lion range" was a tough one, consisting of many up and down shots, serious slopes, and some bad arrow-eating rocks, waiting for one of us to miss the target. I saw some spectacular arrow breaks, but some equally awesome bull's-eyes.

At the end of day one I was lying second. Ular Teppo from Estonia was in the lead and Steve Morley from England was third. From day two we shot in groups according to rank in scores.

I have heard so many bad stories about world tournaments - archers trying to cheat to get more points, or waiting for you to make a mistake so that they can penalise you. The only thing I experienced, however, was impeccable sportsmanship and a kinship which I believe longbow archers throughout the world share. We all cheered for excellent shots, reminded each other to walk up when required, and shared the agony when someone was going through a bad patch of shooting.

On the final day of shooting, just before we shot our first arrows, Ular called the three of us together and said: "My friends, we have been fighting this battle for four days. We are all still in the running. But more importantly, let's not forget that no matter what the outcome, all three medals are equally important."

Ular eventually won the tournament. It was a well deserved victory; he is an amazing archer who shot the highest score four out of the five days.

I think that anyone who participates at this level expects to learn something. I know I have, and I look forward to learning much more in world events to come. Meeting people who have the same passion for archery as I do is a feeling I will never forget.

''May your aim be true'' and remember, always have fun.