Peter De La Mare Posted August 16, 2011 Report Share Posted August 16, 2011 Urgh, whomever has that cursed title is welcome to it. I never want to go near it again In fact, I see it's part of my signature...though not for very much longer. Anyway, it's good to be back. I'll be pottering around a little for the remainder of this year, and then seeing what's what with a shiney new gun next year Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Potter Posted August 18, 2011 Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 (edited) Dorhout Mees (Dutch) Grand Prix 2011 Apologies for the lateness of this report, it seems to have taken longer to write than it did to shoot! Well here goes, Mr Potters attempt to do a Catamong style write-up of his clay shooting adventures in foreign lands. This is the wordy bit, I plan to post about six or seven photos tomorrow as I cant work out how to attach them at the minute. The 2011 Dorhout Mees Grand Prix was held last weekend, 13th & 14th August, at the shooting ground Dorhout Mees in the Netherlands which is about 30 miles to the North East of Amsterdam. The nearest town is Harderwijk and is just the other side of a dyke from a body of water called the Veluwemeer, Im not 100% certain but as the ground is below the level of the Veluwemeer I think it is land reclaimed from the North Sea. I wont bore you with details of the, uneventful, journey other than to say that instead of the very expensive but much shorter Hull to Rotterdam crossing we (the wife & I) went via. Dover/ Calais & drove up through Belgium. The Dorhout Mees complex is basically a corporate entertainment centre comprising a good hotel, shooting complex with a conference building and a fabulous restaurant , a 36 hole golf course for those that like walking, an off-road (quads & 4x4s) course, archery, carriage driving etc., etc. All this is to the highest standard, I cant think of any UK ground that could come anywhere close to the facilities and standards that Dorhout Mees has to offer, come to think of it it would make the perfect venue for next years Pigeon Watch N v S Charity Shoot! Let me give you a brief history of this event, it had been running since the mid 90s at this ground as, I think, an official FITASC Grand Prix & national championship. Always 200 birds over two days of the 2nd weekend in August. If Ive got this wrong I apologise but its certainly not too far off the facts. This event was always very popular with the Brits and in those days probably a third of the entries were made up of shooters from the UK. Then in about 2004 or 5 the Dutch government banned the use of lead shot outright and the event stopped, I think that countries that dont allow lead are not allowed to host events under the FITASC banner well that and British shooters reluctance to use steel meant that the event seemed to fade away. Good news though is that last year it was re-launched as not the Dutch GP but the Dorhout Mees GP, I couldnt make it last year as an inconsiderate spouse decided that was the perfect time of year to have a knee replaced for Gods sake! But I was one of the first to book on when the 2011 event was confirmed. Anyhoo I digress, Friday afternoon I booked on and received the best goody bag Ive ever seen, comprising a Beretta cartridge case that holds about 6 boxes, a Beretta 12g cleaning kit, a box of Eley VIP 28g steel carts, a Dorhout Mees cap, a miniature whisky, a smoked sausage snack and other bits (pen/mints etc.) of the 150 euro entry fee I think we got at least 50 euros worth back in that little lot. Next I bought some cartridges from the bar as you do, cup of coffee, glass of white wine oh and 350 cartridges please!! I had expected to be able to buy Gamebore White Gold shells but the bar only stocked Eley VIP steel in either 28 or 24 gram loads, I went for the 28 gram for obvious reasons and took a chance they wouldnt punish my shoulder too much (they didnt). Bit pricy at Euro 7.50 a box but needs must. Had three rounds of 25 practice at Euro 10 per round and seemed to do OK, shells didnt hurt me, kills were OK , referees both friendly & helpful, if you missed a bird they often gave it you again (for free) with a bit of a hint . One thing Ill say now is that nearly every Dutch person we met spoke English and some of them spoke it better than wot I did. Even the waitresses in the nearby towns were fluent linguists, some of the waitresses here at home seem to converse in grunts. That evening there was a Captains dinner in the restaurant, Euro 32.50 for a four courses to which all were welcome but we gave that a miss, had an early dinner, one or two drinks and an early night. Saturday, Day 1 Well it wasnt raining, bit dull, quite warm and no wind, I was Number 31 on squad 6, both lucky numbers for me, I used to be 6 and a few years later I was 31, a good omen. My squad comprised, myself, a young English guy, Glen Presley who I was aware of from the other webbsite, a Dutch guy who was somewhat distracted for the whole two days as he was doubling up as the official shoot photographer, if you check out the event website, http://www.grandprixdorhoutmees.nl/ all the photos on there are his. Two delightful Dutch ladies completed the squad as there was another Dutch guy who hadnt made it so off we went to the first layout, a squad of five. This first layout, Browning, the first stand turned out IMHO to be one of the toughest of the competition, I was first up, hit my first two singles and missed the remaining three!!! Then in the doubles I killed up, so 9 targets in and Id missed 3 of them, not a good start, stand two a further 8 targets and I missed a full pair in the doubles but straightened the final stand, first layout completed and Id finished on a 20 but it was hard work. The targets were in my opinion just about spot on, the course designer had obviously decided he was not going to thrash the competitor into submission, there were some distant birds but not too many, I reckon the furthest away might have been 55/60 yards and generally the most difficult bird in the singles didnt feature in the doubles. If I had to guess the average bird was at 30/35 maybe 40 yards. Quite fast, I think some of the springs had been dipped in steroids and quite a few low birds, maybe 6 to 12 feet above the ground. A good mix of targets, battues, loopers, midis, a few high towers and a couple of rabbits. Target colours black, yellow, green and white all designed to make them visible against the varying backgrounds and they succeeded 99% of the time. We went onto shoot a further three layouts on this first day, Miroku, Winchester & Beretta, 22 on Miroku and a brace of 21s on the other two. So finished the first day on an 84 and to be honest pretty pleased with myself. At 6 oclock that evening there was a Champions League shoot off to decide the Dorhout Mees Champion. This was contested by the top two scorers from all the countries represented at the completion. These were Holland, Great Britain, Belgium, Germany & Italy (no French or Scandinavians?) Now I have got a confession, I had gone back to the hotel when I had finished shooting, fell asleep and missed this event completely. Did find out that i) it was raining, ii) it went on too long and iii) it was won by Ben Husthwaite so a win for GB. In the main completion though Ben H was only second, two clays behind a young Dutchman Mark Weinholts, young Glen Presley (my squad mate) and I had matched each other layout for layout all day and we were joint 20th. Saturday night was party night, a barbeque, disco, blackjack & roulette (not real money) was attended by nearly all competitors (& most had partners ) so a good night was had by all. We, Mrs P and myself ended up on the Blackjack table with about 6 other drunkards players when at the end of the evening, about 11:30, the dealer announced a competition, we all started off with 10 chips, she would deal 5 games and the person with the most chips would win a small prize, guess who won? Not me nor Mrs P, I was only one of two people who had any chips at the end but one of the Dutch ladies from our squad had one more chip than me!!!! Sunday - Final Day Started off raining, not heavy but we needed waterproofs & brollies. Started on the Winchester layout and during the evening the ground staff had worked hard, the hoops (which were really large squares of rubber matting) had been moved and some of the targets had been changed completely or altered significantly. I still cant decide if the second day was harder or easier than the first, Im going to sit on the fence and say they were about the same. Our squad had a bit of drama on this layout, as we moved from the first to the second stand one of our Dutch ladies was taken ill, nothing too serious but bad enough unfortunately for her to withdraw and retire from the completion so we were reduced to four. This stand, like the first day was one where I needed to straighten the last stand for a 20 and thats what I did but I was sweating. Oh and dont tell me the Dutch dont have a sense of humour, this last hoop was on top of an earth berm about 20 feet up and there were steps up to it. When we got up to hoop the referee looked up and said in perfect English welcome to the highest point in Holland Rain stopped so waterproofs came off and we shot the remaining three layouts, Beretta, Browning and Miroku. On the penultimate layout, Browning our photographer (dont get carried away, he was definitely a photographer, there was no n in it anywhere) had to go off and take pictures of the other squads that were out at the same time as us, so that made us a little band of three. Shooting FITASC Sporting with a squad of three is very very hard work, I didnt enjoy that layout at all, he did though re-join us for the final layout. For these last three layouts I shot 21, 20 and finished on a 23 so another 84 to finish on a 168 and joint 19th place. I will admit I was over the moon, I had set myself an ambitious (for me) target of 80% and to stay in the 20s on all 8 layouts was a very good feeling. The shoot was won, as you might have expected by Ben Husthwaite with 188, he reeled in the young Dutchman and pipped him by one bird. Third place went to another Brit, Tony Manvell on 178, Tony is a multiple previous winner of this completion, I think he won it about 6 or 7 years on the trot in the days of lead and he won it again last year. At the prize giving ceromony, the winner and the ladies winner each won a Beretta Silver Pigeon 12 bore and there were B & C class prizes determined by cut offs at the 1/3 & 2/3rd position of the results sheet. A system that can appear to be unfair but is the only thing the organisers can do when comparing shooters from different countries and different classification systems. Not sure what these other winners got but the sum of 350 Euros was mentioned which is not to be sneezed at. The majority of competitors were straight off home after the ceremony so the restaurant was very quiet on Sunday night and the food was that good throughout our stay that we struggled to do justice to our dinner that evening but we shared a table with a British shooting school owner and his family and friends and had a third good night on the trot. Steel shot, Not an issue, dont listen to those who portray it as the work of the devil, the carts I shot were not heavy on the shoulder, killed well out to some considerable distances. Young Glen and I never once felt we missed a target because of the cartridge, to be brutally honest I couldnt tell the difference between steel and my usual lead cartridges. Spoke to a couple of the Dutch shooters about ricochets and they said it wasnt a problem, never heard of any injuries although one did say hed heard that it could be an issue with small shot sizes for skeet shooting but what the science is for that Im not sure. Two final things Ill finish on as I feel Ive been typing for days and Im sure thats what youll feel if youve read down this far. Firstly, Continental shooters, there are a significant minority of European shooters who take branding to a higher level than we can contemplate. Usually but not exclusively Beretta branding these shots are head to toe in brightly coloured clothing all proclaiming their loyalty to the marque, cap shirt, shooting vest, gloves, trousers, even trainers all branded, makes one think that their undercrackers will be similarly branded. Funny thing though, with one or two exceptions these walking advertisements rarely feature at the top of the results list!! Secondly here is an idea that can be copied by British grounds. All the time during the shoot there was a miniature van type thing that was branded in the livery of one of the sponsors colours (a local liqueur) fetching food and drink to the refs & button pushers. On the Sunday though it was stopping as shooters had finished their layouts offering free a local delicacy of whole raw salted herring with chopped onion as a sort of filling, you held it up by its tail fin and chomped away. I did try one, it was OK but much too salty for my taste took me many beers to get the salt out of my mouth, my Mrs reckoned the herring were sponsored by the local brewery. So Ill look out for the salted herring van at MCSC next time Im there shall I Nick?? Well thats it, journey home was as leisurely and uneventful as the one going. It will take something unusual to stop me going again next year, its not just the shooting, the whole experience is fantastic, if anyone is thinking about next year Ill say three things, its not cheap, it is value for money and you wont regret it. Mr Potter Edited August 18, 2011 by Mr Potter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mungler Posted August 18, 2011 Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 Nice darts all round Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chard Posted August 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 (edited) Cracking write up, Andy, and well shot again Interesting observation about the shooting designer clothes brigade. I expect I'd be a showstopper in my haute couture shooting outfits Edited August 18, 2011 by Chard Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
100milesaway Posted August 18, 2011 Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 Thanks Andy, excellent report, looking forward to the piccies and well shot . From Auntie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
canthitathing Posted August 18, 2011 Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 Excellent report Mr P. Could probably have done with being a bit longer though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beretta Posted August 18, 2011 Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 it could have been as good as one of Cats reports, but lacked the pictures. top weekend for you Mr P. hope you improve on your position next year. :good: great write up though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azzurri Posted August 18, 2011 Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 Really enjoyed that,well worth the effort to type it up Azzurri. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chard Posted August 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 Really enjoyed that,well worth the effort to type it up Azzurri. You didn't type it up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Potter Posted August 18, 2011 Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 The least he could have done was sew his ******* Cheshire Shooting Team badge on straight Oh boy are you in trouble now Chard, Mrs P has just seen your comment criticizing her sewing (come on you didn't really think I would sew it on do you, I'd have stapled it on!!) Probably your best course of action is to emigrate, you could, at a push, try plastic surgery but as the last lot went so wrong I don't suppose you'll want to try again. But whatever you do she will track you down and I suspect, at the very least, she will make you try Werther's Originals in reverse if you get my drift :o :o :o On a slightly more serious note Thank You to all who posted on this thread with support and congrats both prior to and after my efforts at outdoing War & Peace. Especial thanks to Ian E for putting up the photo, I'm still getting to grips with uploading my pics but watch this space. Mr Potter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chard Posted August 18, 2011 Author Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 Oh boy are you in trouble now Chard, Mrs P has just seen your comment criticizing her sewing (come on you didn't really think I would sew it on do you, I'd have stapled it on!!) Probably your best course of action is to emigrate, you could, at a push, try plastic surgery but as the last lot went so wrong I don't suppose you'll want to try again. But whatever you do she will track you down and I suspect, at the very least, she will make you try Werther's Originals in reverse if you get my drift :o :o :o I've got a tin hat and a cunning disguise....... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Potter Posted August 18, 2011 Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 I've got a tin hat and a cunning disguise....... You'd be better advised to sit on the tin hat but I've no alternative ideas for the merkin you've got dangling precariously under your nose. Mr P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratman2 Posted August 18, 2011 Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 Well it sounds like you're the man Mr Potter............What did you do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azzurri Posted August 18, 2011 Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 You didn't type it up **** Azzurri. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Potter Posted August 18, 2011 Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 Excellent report Mr P. Could probably have done with being a bit longer though The hardback is out on Monday published by HarperCollins. (Two volumes) Penguin paperback out on 12th September (2nd longest paperback in history of publishing) Serialisation (104 instalments) starts next month in both Razzle & The Readers Digest. I shall grow rich beyond the dreams of JK Rowling on the fruit of my efforts. Mr Potter ©2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulos Posted August 18, 2011 Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 Good write up, Mr P (well, I expect it is - if anyone fancies giving me the gist of it, that'd be great ) Well shot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr Potter Posted August 18, 2011 Report Share Posted August 18, 2011 Good write up, Mr P (well, I expect it is - if anyone fancies giving me the gist of it, that'd be great ) Well shot Ah, the one thing I forgot, the abridged (or student) version; Went to Holland, shoot at 200 clays, came home. That will be 20 guineas please. Mr Potter ©2011 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulos Posted August 19, 2011 Report Share Posted August 19, 2011 Ah, the one thing I forgot, the abridged (or student) version; Went to Holland, shoot at 200 clays, came home. That will be 20 guineas please. Mr Potter ©2011 Cracking write-up Sounds like you had an excellent time Thanks for sharing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
100milesaway Posted August 19, 2011 Report Share Posted August 19, 2011 from Auntie. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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