Swiss Society Of New Zealand

Dear Auckland Shooting Club Members!

Now that all the shooting is done, it is time to reflect on the past shooting season and put the findings on paper. The Auckland Swiss Club’s shooting Section Membership presents itself as follows:

I am very pleased with this year’s participation even though I had great hopes to stabilise the declining numbers in the compulsory Swiss Army program. A good indicator of the numbers is the increased participation at in the Einzelwettschiessen and the Swiss Abroad Competition. 

A Competition also produces winners. The 2012 trophies winners are:

Main Competition:

After Luke Schmutz (2008) and [edited] (2010) it was now Marcel Lanz’s turn as a junior shooter to outscore all of us. It was a great internal family battle as on the very last shooting opportunity of the year Marcel kept his nerves to push his dad off the throne.

Lady’s Competition: 

This year’s ladies competition was not as close as last year’s one and Andrea seems to have a firm grip on the trophy. But every year the competition starts at zero again so it will be interesting to see who is able to challenge Andrea for the title.

Junior Competition:

All 3 top junior shooters scored higher than last year which is certainly a very encouraging sign. I also would like to mention Orlando’s achievement; in his last year as a junior shooter he shot his whole program with the K-31’s big caliber rifle. Well done.

Summary:

The scoring was generally down except for the junior competition but I think the bad weather with its shifting wind conditions had a big role to play. Weather conditions have to be taken into the equation and I just hope that in the upcoming shooting season we will be more favored by the weather god’s.

Participation has once again been down, this year by two shooters. For a long time it looked that we may break even with last year or even do better, especially as the “Hamiltonians” came up with big numbers. At the end we were just short.

I would especially like to thank all the shooters from Hamilton and the wider region. When considering their traveling time, you do display a lot of commitment and I certainly know that it is not an easy task to stay focused on shooting, as socializing amongst club members is as important and to be honest the Swiss Farm accommodation is no Hilton or the comfy bed at home. It is also great to see that there is junior shooters interest in your club. You all have my deepest admiration. Thank You.

Any Sights Any Rifle:

Any Sights any Rifle had its first entrants in 1998. Over the years we have had a steady increase in participant’s numbers. Last year Daniel and I decided that the organization and the running of this competition needed to change in order to accommodate all shooters that have shown interest. Over the last two years the new system has proven its valve. Last year (2011) we went for the first time over 100 participants, this year the record was exceeded with 158 shooters (2012). Pretty much all records were tumbling except one, the range record (200.7) shoot last year by Andrew Wakker still stays intact. For any serious contender an extraordinary effort is required to beat this. I even thought about building a new canon in order to increase my chances at it…… The 2012 competition was won by Debbie Wakker supported by a Swiss-Clause as Christian Neubauer had scored 197.7 points as well.

Due to the enormous success Daniel and I have now decided that next year we will throw in another weekend.

Nominated Points and Round Robin (knock out) Competition:

As every year in November we meet for the Nominated-Points and Knock-Out Competition.

Two shooters indicated early on that they did not just come to make up numbers.

After all shots were fired and calculations were done it came apparent that Melissa Lanz and Terry Mason were in fact on a dead heat as both had scored their nominated points. So another round was called for the two shooters, this time 5 shots were fired and then the shooter had to nominate their accumulated scores. At the end Terry Mason was declared the winner.

The Round-Robin-Shooting Competition is a rather short competition.

With only 2 sighting shoots and 6 counting shots there is not a great recovery space for a previous bad shot, so full concentration is asked for.

Right from the start, the scores were really even and continued till the final round.

At the end of the game Melissa Lanz got her revenge from the previous loss and outscored Terry Mason by 4 points. The little final was won by Henry Werffeli over Marcel Ruedi, last year’s winner.

Field-Championship Medal

This year I have only processed the cards of Andre Belami. Shortly he will receive the bronze medal for his efforts. Congratulations! For all the other long time members of the shooting section, have a look – if you have 8 white and 8 green cards hand them in to me and I will send them to Switzerland next time.

Working Bee’s

Unfortunately a heavy rainstorm had a huge impact on the shooting range; mainly the road down to the bridge but it also affected the foundation of the bridge. After seeing the damage it became apparent that something needed to be done in the shortest time possible as another storm could have taken the whole bridge away. I would like to thank everyone that got involved in building another foundation. It was a great display of team work.

At the same working bee some dedicated club members dug and installed a new drain in front of the door. I am glad that no one needs to get muddy shoes anymore before stepping into our little sanctuary.

I can honestly say I really appreciate all your hard work. Great Job’s! Well done!

Members:

Sadly Heinz Leuenberger has announced at the last Hamilton-Day that he is giving up shooting due to poor eye-sight and the cold weather conditions in May. It is something we all have to face at one point in our life and I fully understand. I would like to thank Heinz for the many years in participating as an active member of the shooting section. We will miss him as he was competitive till the last shot was fired and also very helpful in running the range in taking scores.

At this point I would like to encourage all members of the shooting section to further search for Swiss people whom would like to be part of something traditional. We have a great coaching team and would be only too happy to pass our knowledge onto new shooters. Please be assured any new shooters are always welcome.

PE90

We are still trying to solve a few issues around the P90 and its E-cat regulation as it is quite complex. Please note it is still a work in progress and hopefully I am able to tell you more about it soon.

Thank-You

With Marcel’s departure to Whangarei a very committed club member departed.  Over the years Marcel has taken a lot of work off my shoulders and was a great help in helping to maintain the shooting range. For all your hard work I herewith would like to Thank-You very much Marcel. We all hope that you still keep being an active member of the shooting section.

I also would like to thank Daniel, Ernst and Melissa for their great help in running the range.

Christian, Thank-You for your work and expertise in getting the new .223 rifle tuned up. Great Job well done!

Thomas, Thank-You for helping out with your digger. We could not have done without you and the digger. Thank-You!

To all the others who provided a helping hand during the year: Thank-You too!

Shooting Dates for 2013 are as follows:

To all of you and your family, on behalf of the Auckland Swiss Shooting Club, I wish you all a Wonderful and Prosperous 2013

Riflemaster of the Auckland Swiss Club :  Henry Werffeli