Barry Groves tells how to make flight release aids

It's not just compound archers who have aids!

In the Flight bow classes, whether recurve or compound, release aids are allowed — so long as they are hand-held. For compounds, mechanical releases are allowed; for recurves they are not.

The most popular release with recurve Flight archers is the 'flipper'. This consists of two strips of srtong, but flexible, leather (usually), about 10 mm (3/8 inch) wide, sewn together. These wrap in opposite ways around the bowstring immediately beneath the arrow.

Figure 1 shows the make-up.

Figure 1

The pieces are sewn together at 'A', the dimension of which is whatever fits around your little finger, 'B' will be approximately 100-125 mm (4-5 inches) and 'C' 150-165 mm (6-6.5 inches). To make the flipper easier for the thumb to hold, the end of the outermost strip may be folded back and sewn to give a small lump at the end.

Figure 2 demonstrates how the flipper is used.

Figure 2

Last updated 30 January 2003