Pattaya Today 35
Vol. 8 No. 14 1- 15 April 2009
Pattaya’s French Archers Beat German and English Archers
On Sunday, in Pattaya, the French gained revenge for their defeats by English archers in the battles of Agincourt, Crecy and Poitiers, so many centuries ago. A team of French archers outshot their English opponents in an exciting international-style archery competition, winning in convincing manner. This competition was held in the Pirates of Pattaya shooting club’s archery range, in Hua Yai. It was staged by the Pattaya Archery Club as it’s first-ever “Special Events Day”, and judging by the very favourable reaction to the new-style competition, it was a very successful Special Event. The competition was to shoot 72 arrows at a distance of 30 metres into an 80cm target face. The French team consisted of Gilles Fourquet, Gilbert Pelissier and Henri Hofstatter, and by half-way they had scored a total of 892 points. The German team, consisting of Manfred Barth, Rudi Cigler, Barbara Braun and Michael Waas, had scored 885 by half-time; just seven points behind the French, in
second place. The British team, consisting of Roger Lorton, Mervyn Gillham, Paul Ingliss and Jeff Downes had scored 858 points by half-time and so trailed the French team by 34 points. Such a deficit was not insurmountable, it would only take a few poor shots by the French, and some Personal Bests by the English, to even the match. So with only seven points separating the French and German teams and 27 points separating the German and English teams, the secondhalf of the competition promised to be a nail-biter. However, the French archers were inspired, increasing their accuracy in the second-half, scoring an additional 915 points which was an increase of 23 points over their first-half score. The German archers also improved their score in the second-half by an additional 17 points, scoring 902 for the remaining 36 arrows apiece. The English archers however only scored a total of 844 in the second half, which was a disappointing drop of
Three Sisters Golf
by Paul Donahue
“St. Patrick’s Day this March 17 and it seems everyone had a bit of the green in their attire. There was no
shortage of green on the Pattaya Country Club course as the Three Sisters Group teed off at 0630. Except for the #2 Green which was more like a bunker with the sand coating,
Richard Hall on the left with Donald Goins on the right
14 points over their first-half score. So the match ended with the French team scoring a total of 1807 for a 3-man team. The German team scored a total of 1787 and the English team scored a total of 1702. The sharp-eyed amongst our readers will have noted
also shooting for a place in their country’s team. Added a bit of an extra challenge. Celebrations and vows of revenge The French Tricoleur was paraded with pride by the French team, as indeed they should be proud of such a
All three archery teams, plus compound archers John (extreme left) and George (extreme right)
that the French team only had three archers, whereas the English and German teams had four archers each. This imbalance was easily addressed by deleting the scores of the lowest-scoring archer in both the English and German teams. So not only were the archers trying to shoot their best, they were the course was in good shape and well mowed. As might be expected the “Free Drop Jim” group lagged well behind the starting groups. All participants eventually made it back to Caddy Shack II for some of Herbie Ishinaga’s fine regular and spicy hot dogs. As the cards were tallied, Richard Hall came in with a very respectable 39 followed by Donald Goins with a 38. Don will be returning to the City of Lost Wages tomorrow. Til next trip Don, have a good one. Herbie was right on the leaders tail coming in with a 37. Paul Kraft followed with a 36 and the remainder of the group went down from there. As usual, the sausages were accompanied by various beverages, among them San Miguel Lite, Heineken and even some Coke Light.”
convincing result. Indeed Gilles Fourquet only joined the archery club about four months ago, having never shot an arrow before. He quickly absorbed the club coach’s guidance and already Gilles is a fine shot, with great potential for the future The French team’s topscorer was Henri Hofstat-
ter with a remarkable score of 629 for the competition. There were a few mumbles in the English team as Henri is a French-speaking Belgian, and so was only half-French. Not his fault, of course, but as there are no other Belgians in the archery club, the other French team members welcomed him to their collective bosom. The German top-scorer was Manfred Barth with an outstanding score of 662, easily the best shot in the club. Manfred is 64 years-old, showing that archery can be suitable for people of all ages. The club’s youngest member is 12-year-old Charlie Brand, a mere slip of a girl. The English team’s topscorer was Roger Lorton with a respectable score of 606. His team-mates all shot below their proven capabilities and so the English team has the potential to save the nation’s honour in any future competitions. However, rumour has it that they have vowed revenge and are doubtless busy sharpening their arrows right now. A few beers were downed
in celebration or commiseration, and everyone thought the Special Event was a great success. Little do they know what challenge lies ahead for them in the next Special Event … watch this space.
Trying archery in Pattaya Pattaya Archery Club shoots on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays and Sundays, beginning at 10.00 am and finishing at about noon or thereafter. Anyone ─ Thai or farang, young or old, man or woman ─ is welcome to come along to the Pattaya Shooting Club in Hua Yai and find out what it is all about. Beginners’ Coaching is held on a Tuesday and / or a Saturday. The Coach’s services and the use of the club’s bows, arrows and other equipment are free for beginners, and so it costs nothing to see if this challenging sport is for you. For more details visit Pattaya Archery Club’s website at www.pattaya-archery-club. com, or telephone Eric, the President, on 089 535 1193
Golf form Tropical Bert’s
by Thomas Cotton
The number of aspirants is thankfully thinning out and the congregation at Bert’s was much reduced this Tuesday morning. We headed out to the course which our captain fondly calls “Pleasant Swamp”. As we set out on our struggle with the course, we were confronted by a stiff breeze, or as one might hear in the vernacular of Pattaya bar culture “wind with power”. In spite of the tight and tricky layout, birdies were coming hither and thither and then, Scott Dobbins, had an eagle on the third hole. But this didn’t save him and our captain by being bettered by Mashi Kenata who roared down the back nine with 23 points! By popular demand, we played off the white tees, and this enabled many of our throng to register some rather handsome scores. Scott ended up with an impressive gross 70, but still didn’t make the leader board. One could speculate that our captain’s absence from the winners accounts for his swearing that “next time ye shall return to the blue tees!” Back at Bert’s our captain dished out the awards. The overall winner, with an im-
Kevin Dunne, Martin Philips, Brian Downey, Don Carmody pressive 43 points was Brian Winners B Flight (Hcps 16 Downey, a fine Irish relic, up): whose flamboyant and plati1. Brian Downey 43 pts num coiffure is the envy of 2. Don Carmody 37 pts heads hiding under hats. 3. Brian Gabe 34 pts Winners A Flight (Hcps 0 Near Pins: Steve Hamstad, to 15): Dick Warberg, Kevin Dunne, 1. Martin Philips 42 pts Tony Scrambler 2. Kevin Dunne 39 pts Long Putts: Brian Gabe, 3. Mashi Kenata 38 pts Anders Pedersen This is to notify friends and golf buddies of long time Pattaya resident-\”Jim Tully\”, that he past away this morning in Kaneohe,Hawaii. JimTully returned to Hawaii after suffering a stroke, to be with his oldest son Tangi and family in hopes to recover and return to his dearest friends in Pattaya where his wished to spend his final days. He is survived by three sons and a daughter Tangi, Tunui, Kimo and Mellissa as well as nine grand-children. Jim Tully expressed how much he missed his Gang [his second family] and that his heart is still there in Pattaya,\”his paradise\”. To \”Herb,Jerry and the rest\”[you know who you are]..\”ALOHA\” And Mahalo for your friendship through out the many years.