Draw Length from Mediterranian to Thumb Ring Release?

[kirkerik]

...the shoulder and back muscles should be pulling the upper arm into a stable position. There has to be a little play otherwise the movement of the shoulder blades will not complete the release. A low elbow is a definite fault since it has no advantages and usually signals that the arrow is too long for the archer.

In general, it is best to keep the drawing hand metacarpals in the same plane as the arrow and both elbows as near as possible in line with the shoulders. Neither shoulder should be higher than the other. The Turks wrote that the upper part of the forearm should be tightly press against the lower part of the upper arm. This isn't done by contracting the biceps which would swell and get in the way but by the back muscles pulling back the upper arm. There is an old tradition that you should be able to balance a cup of water on the hand and not spill a drop when you release. This is an indication of the even and balanced nature of the draw.

The Korean archers I have watched shoot in person varied in skill like any group of archers, but it is important not to confuse an individual failure to shoot well with a generic weakness in a style of shooting. Most modern Korean target bows are light weight compared to war bows, but that is true of all practical target bows. Korean war bows were very heavy and their style worked well with them. Target bows are sometimes made in 80 and 90 pound weights and I used to have an 80 pound one. At 28 inches, I drew it to the lobe of my ear with the forearm in line with the arrow and the elbow slightly above the line of the shoulder but not elevated. At 31 inches, I drew it with the elbow in line with the shoulders and the drawing hand behind the ear. In both cases the arrow touched the corner of my mouth. During the draw, the arrow and the forearm of the drawing hand formed a straight line. The biceps was hardly used except to keep things aligned. The drawing strength comes from the back at all times. At full draw with the longer arrows, the forearm sloped slightly down to the elbow and the back of the palm of the hand was horizontal from the wrist to the knuckles.

The above describes what i imagine and observe to be good form. What my question for everyone here is what is your anchor for consistency? I ask with the understanding that everyones anchor will be different based on different body proportions.

Is it the arrow fletching touching your mouth? Or perhaps the point of the arrow touching the finger or thumb?

In this video Adam shows the arrow point touching his thumb. Is this how he "anchors" consistently with the shorter draw?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=nSvxlwvhjjA

Many references for anchor that i try, feel to me, variable by a couple centimeters because of the fleshy nature of my cheek, ear, etc.

Kirk

[mongolianarcher]

Adam is of smaller build. Therefore his draw to the face is natural.

Gokmen uses a traditional Ottoman form by drawing the short draw to the chin.

Like abovementioned, I draw to cheekbone.

Adam in his book talks about different touch points that add to consistency such as bicep touching forearm of drawhand, fletching to cheek, arrowpoint to finger. (I would not do the last of these I mentioned because I do horsearchery and I want to keep my hand; you never draw the arrow to its full length.)

[kirkerik]

Adam is of smaller build. Therefore his draw to the face is natural.

Gokmen uses a traditional Ottoman form by drawing the short draw to the chin.

Like abovementioned, I draw to cheekbone.

Adam in his book talks about different touch points that add to consistency such as bicep touching forearm of drawhand, fletching to cheek, arrowpoint to finger. (I would not do the last of these I mentioned because I do horsearchery and I want to keep my hand; you never draw the arrow to its full length.)

I suspected this was the case with something like the different touch points. Thank you for the needed confirmation. I have read through the posts again and your descriptions have helped me a great deal!

I have been doing a bunch of research and re-reading helps it all sink in. I love how dynamic archery can be!

Thanks again!
Kirk

[mongolianarcher]

DO check out Arab Archery and Saracen Archery, try to find pdf's of them, though they are ancient they are very applicable to modern archery. Or buy Adam Swoboda's book and enjoy its amazingness haha.

[Bede]

Luke,
That is right. The ability to turn your head to the left (or right) varies from person to person. Most people can align their left eye with the line of their shoulders when standing sideways to the target. This means the right eye can see the target past the bridge of the nose. With a little practice, you turn your head far enough to fully expose the orbit of the right eye. The arrow comes into a closer alignment with the shoulders and comes under the eye.

After our discussion earlier in this thread I went through several hundreds of depictions of archers in the literature from Persian and Turkish manuscripts. I learned two things about the high elbow position. Its use in art started in Iran in the Mongol period. Sometimes archers were shown leaning far forward in their saddles, but shooting their arrows straight ahead. To do this they tilted the body forwards at the waist while twisting around in the saddle. If you correct for the lean, you can see the drawing elbow is in line with the shoulders, but the bow hand was raised to make that arm horizontal for the leaning body. When the body was erect, this posture was used to depict archers shooting at the qabaq target. In other paintings of the Timurid period, archers at half draw are sometimes shown with their elbows elevated. Both of these positions became standard parts of the repertoire of a painter, but were not always used in their original orientation. I know this is really art history, but it was an interesting search.

Another thing I did was to concentrate on my elbow position at full draw. With both the draw to the earlobe and the longer draw past the head, the elbow is behind the head, if viewed from the target. The thumb and the arrow are visible. This means that the back muscles need to move the upper arm only slightly to pull the thumb off the string. The arrow, despite touching the corner of the mouth, is almost directly under the right eye. It is a little difficult to photograph this because the camera (and cameraman) are at risk. I am working out a focal length and angle combination that won't risk the camera to try to do this.