Big Fat Cheating Ali's

Yeah, it's pretty clear, I ain't no size two But I can shake it, shake it, like I'm supposed to do

Spend any time near the archers who tend to congregate on the left side of GA's indoor hall and you will hear the term "big fat cheating ali's" thrown around several times a session. What does it mean? Are people called Alistair or Alison cheating and surely the term should be plus sized or at least abundant? Whats the deal?

Well if you shoot traditional, there very little for you to see see here .. move along, move along*. But if you shoot barebow, recurve or compound you might want to pay attention. In competitive archery, there are limits on how chonky your arrows can be. Under AGB competition rules, (Chapter 11 -  Athletes Equipment - Rule 11.1.7.1) .. The maximum diameter of arrow shafts shall not exceed 9.3mm**. And herein lies our sermon for today.

Dearly beloved .. Aluminium arrow shafts (aka the Ali) have been around since the late 1930's. They were a huge step up in consistency over wooden arrows and its no coincidence that scores started a steep upward trend after their introduction. Ali's were the best you could get for decades and they won Olympic medals. They were only replaced in the competitive scene after the introduction of high performance carbon A/C arrows specifically designed for the great outdoors. These noobs were narrow with superior balance and ballistic qualities .. the very definition of lean, fast and rangy reaching out to 90m and getting there in a hurry.

Guess who got a big fat cheating ali-ing!

The durable, well priced aluminium shaft then found its niche with beginners - for example, GA recommends the Easton's XX75 Platinum Plus. However, they also found fans with compounders and some recurvers for shooting indoors. With indoors not needing speed or distance .. much heavier and wider ali shafts were ideal for the conditions found within. Thicc shafts when fitted with large feathers and heavy points are extremely stable. That's important as there is little time from twang to thud indoors for arrows to get their flight sorted out. Their excessive dimensions weren't an issue as there was no wind in sport halls to blow them off course and their short range isn't a problem in 18m/20yrd ranges. Another potential "advantage" is that width of shaft. This width increases the size of hole the arrow makes in a face. The bigger the hole, the more chance of catching the line dividing scoring rings for the higher score - in other words these are line cutting monsters.

The formula for the area of the face occupied by an arrow is pi times radius squared (A = π r²). This means a X10 carbon (lets say John's) makes a hole 20.8mm² whereas a 9.3mm ali makes a hole 67.9mm². More than 3 times the area of face is occupied by the big fat cheating ali than the slim svelte a/c .. getting where the epithet comes from yet? Just touch the line between rings, you get the higher score. (I say, bit caddish shurely? These line cutters, definitely not cricket!) Some people's archery relies on this rule .. coughcoughgeocough .. but is it real or just a perceived advantage?

Damn ... just not fat enough!

Well, the geometry is irrefutable but has anyone actually studied what its worth points wise? Well oddly enough, someone has. In issue 136, Bow International carried an article by Ferdinand Wegrostek and Bernd Kolmanz .. Fat or Thin: The Definitive Answer. (link to the article here). They pretty much came to the conclusion that newer recurve archers benefitted most (about 8.5 points over 60 arrows) from chunky arrows primarily from them missing triple faces less often with this value diminishing as skill increases. Conversely, highly skilled compounders can't afford to NOT shoot chunky ali's because the separation in scores at elite level is so small that ANY advantage, even tiny, might win you a competition.

So the myth of the big fat cheating ali being worth lots of points in a comp is just that .. a myth. However this isn't going to stop those archers who believe in the generously endowed ali being worth points even if they might be only available via judgely favour. Honestly, some archers would sell their granny for an extra 5 points. One Glasgow League archer thinks chonky boi arrows are worth 1 point an end which could be the difference between a 530 and a 550 round but as in all things in archery .. if the psychology supports your shooting, embrace it. As harsh as archery physics can be, there is always the grey areas you can't scientifically account for in this sport. No matter what, you can be pretty sure you'll continue to hear the "big fat cheating ali's" accusations echo round a Glasgow practice session especially if there's a head to head ongoing. With some bitterness guaranteed if its a big fat cheating line cutter that actually wins the match!!!

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* There are no limitations in the diameter of arrows for traditional bows. Longbow: Rule 206 (d). Asiatic Bow: Rule 206B (d)
**The only variation for this is Rule 409A. Regulations for the Vegas 300 Round - Arrows of maximum 10.7mm diameter may be used for this round only. For some reason the Septics need that extra 1.4mm for their Vegas shoot because damn near taking out the entire X ring with a 9.3mm shaft just isn't good enough. Its all of that ring or nothing!
Biggest arrow in the world ... Spine suspected to be 1
Jake Kaminski considers skinny arrows or line cutters