Dear Auckland Shooting Club Members!
The time is here again, were I am trying to remember all the happenings of the previous shooting year where we generally shoot our traditional four competitions. However, this year we also celebrated the 50 years existence of the “Swiss Farm Shooting Range”, with a shooting competition on two weekends in November.
First let’s reflect on our yearly traditional shooting championship.
The numbers are as follows:
| Event | Number of shooters | change since previous year |
|---|---|---|
| Obligatorisch: | 46 shooters | - 9 shooters |
| Feldschiessen: | 46 shooters | - 9 shooters |
| Einzelwettschiessen: | 31 Shooters | - 9 Shooters |
| Swiss Abroad: | 31 Shooters | - 9 Shooters |
| Swiss Abroad Nachdoppel: | 32 Shooters | +13 Shooters |
| Completed Competitions: | 31 Shooters | - 9 Shooters |
The club has lost further ground in membership participation, the downward trend has continued for many years, except in 2015 where we had an increase in membership. It is a worrying sign but there may be light at the horizon. I will elaborate in further detail below.
Our traditional Swiss Shooting Competitions have produced s some strong winners. Here they are:
Main Competition:
| Rank | Name | Score | Medals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Thomas Matysik | 370 Points | Winner of the gold medal &V&T Mason Trophy |
| 2. | Andrea Matysik | 369 Points | Winner of the silver medal |
| 3. | Henry Werffeli | 364 Points | Winner of the bronze medal |
For years Andrea has dominated the championship only to be beaten by her brother by one point. I don’t believe that Andrea’s domination is over and believe she will return stronger in the years ahead.
Ladies Competition:
| Rank | Name | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Andrea Matysik | 369 Points |
| 2. | Anilise Fitzi | 364 Points |
| 3. | Selina Storchenegger | 250 Points |
Congratulations to these three shooters. Anilise is a new promising shooter for Hamilton I hope she will be returning to further compete as she could be a serious contender for the top prize.
Welcome home Selina, it’s good to have you back in the team. I am sure you will do all that is possible to climb up the scoring sheet.
Junior Competition:
| Rank | Name | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Kevin Gretener | 361 Points |
| 2. | Thomas Fitzi | 328 Points |
| 3. | Joshua Kaiser | 320 Points |
Once again, the Hamilton junior shooters have come out at the top like so many years before. Thank you for coming up with your parents and participating in a challenging weekend of shooting the complete championship. I have got to admit, it is not an easy task to complete the whole competition in just two days. Congratulations to you all. Hopefully in the upcoming year, we from the north of the Bombay Hills are able to further fine tune our skills and be a strong contending force once again.
Championship Medals Sponsors:
Peter and Andrea Matys, Thank You for donating the championship medals for the next 5 Years!
It is great to have you two as sponsors on and support our Swiss shooting traditions for years to come.
Field-Championship Medals
This year I had the pleasure to process the scoring cards for Melissa Lanz for her personalised bronze medal from the Swiss Army. Furthermore, I also processed the scoring cards from Hans Vetsch for his gold medal. Congratulations to both of you for your achievements.
To all other shooters, please check if you have 8 green cards and 8 white cards. (Anerkennungs-Karte). By now some of you will have a collection and should be eligible for a medal.
Working-Bee’s
Generally, there are always the same people attending the working bees, the others have a busy lifestyle. It does however look that members prioritise their own needs first. I and my helpers would love to see a bit more comradery displayed in regard to working bees. So, to the people that have found their way to the club for working bees, I would like to wholeheartedly thank you for your commitment and help. The range and ground would not be on such a high standard without your outstanding help.
I would like to thank Ernst and Melissa for their great culinary feast they provide for every working bee.
Test firing or sighting in rifles:
Over the last few years some of the members have requested to test fire or sight in privately owned rifles that are not used for our traditional shooting. This request is usually made on the day on the range when I am and my helpers are eager to pack up and go home. Generally, once home my shooting weekend continues with storing and locking up shooting gear and processing scores and administration. Due to time constraints, there will be no more test-firing or sighting-in of privately owned rifles on official shooting dates. However, there will be an opportunity for test-firing or sighting-in of privately owned rifles at the end of a working bee. To make it clear: The person wanting to do the test-firing or sighting-in must have been an active participant at the working bee.
50-year anniversary and jubilee shoot:
Right from the start of 2017 some of the shooters have started to put our thoughts together on how to celebrate the Auckland Swiss Club Farm 50th year of existence.
We put a lot of time into the planning the day. A massive thank you goes out to Sandra Hess and her crew, they have done an absolutely awesome job in planning and organising the day. Also, a great thank you to Peter Deutsche for his wide variety from official administration and the all-important link to the Swiss Embassy in Wellington. His thoughts and input really smoothened the organisation on the day. Another great supporter has been Ernst Lanz being the coordinator between the shooting side and the day activities, furthermore he too was at the forefront helping for a smooth operation on the days of the jubilee shoot. I also would like to thank other helpers on the day, especially the Kaiser Family, the Blaser Family, Andre Belami, Steyn Kruger, Daniel Wiederkehr and Peter Matyis and my administration team: Erika Lanz, Selina Storchenegger and Jennifer Kaiser. It was a awesome and great team effort by everyone.
Part of involvment was in finding sponsors from as far as Switzerland. For a month, I have written to various companies and kindly asked for the donation of merchandise, vouchers or for over the counter products that the companies where well known for. Our main Swiss Sponsor was: Victorynox with pocket knifes worth $2500.-. Other companies that donated goods were: Truttman Shootingsport, Swiss-Cheese association, Grunig-Elmiger Sportsrifles, Ballenberg openair museum. Our New-Zealand sponsors were: Hans and Sylvia Enzler, Heidi Müller and Kembler Plumbing products. A massive Thank-You for your great support. Another donation came from my brother in law and my sister in Switzerland which generously send all the accumulated donation to New-Zealand.
We had a great turnout of new shooters with some really noticeable scores.
We hope they return next year to compete in our regular competitions and improve their overall shooting skills.
There were 17 junior participants:
| Rank | Name | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Daniel Bublitz | 80 Points |
| 2. | Joshua Kaiser | 76 Points |
| 3. | Kathrine Haque | 75 Points |
There were 15 female participants:
| Rank | Name | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Selina Storchenegger | 91.1Points |
| 2. | Alethea Bünter | 82.1 Points |
| 3. | Melissa Lanz | 79 Points |
There were 27 participants in the male category
| Rank | Name | Score |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Andy Guet | 94.1 Points |
| 2. | Gaudenz Gisler | 89 Points |
| 3. | Caleb Rosamond | 86.3 Points |
Looking ahead to shooting season 2018 and beyond:
The “Any Sights-Any Rifle” competition is buried and will no longer able to be continued, as dedicated helpers were hard to be found, personally I feel it would not be fair to put the already dedicated helpers under more attendance and helping pressure.
Presently we are in discussion to open up the range to other interested shooters. They would be competing alongside us in two different categories (open sights and telescopic sights) but will be using their own rifle and their own ammunition, shooting the same program as we already do.
Therefore, the shooting weekends will be again Saturday and Sunday, total numbers of shooting weekends will be 5 including the Hamilton-Weekend.
In June 2018, I will be traveling to Switzerland to participate in a shooting event in Weiningen where I grew up. If anyone is interested in joining then please let me know, this is a very unique and truly Swiss experience and I get plenty of enjoyment from attending.
The next big shooting competition based in Switzerland will be happening in 2020, it is now time to put the planning into motion. Please let me know if you are interested in travelling to Switzerland to participate with our New-Zealand team. We need to find the right selection of rifle to use, as shooting off sandbags is not permitted except if the shooter is 60 years or older in the year of participation.
Participation in Switzerland also means training; therefore, I will organise training days as soon as I know the course of fire. Last time we met about 10 times to fine tune position, aiming, trigger control and releasing the shot.
Shooting dates for 2018 are as follow:
- 24 & 25 February: Obligatorisch
- 24 & 25 March: Feldschiessen
- 28 & 29 April: Einzelwettschiessen
- 26 & 27 May: Hamilton Day (Only for Swiss-Shooters from south of the Bombay’s)
- 09 & 10 June: Swiss Abroad Competition
All shooting starts at 10 am
Wishing you all: A Merry Christmas and a Happy New-Year
Riflemaster of the Auckland Swiss Club: Henry Werffeli