Robin Hood
Wall of Fame
Amongst the tales ascribed to the mythical Robin Hood, one of the most well known is the shooting of an arrow that splits another arrow down the middle. Despite what Mythbusters declared, it is indeed possible. In Archery, we consider it a "Robin Hood", if the second arrow is embedded down the length of the first arrow's shafts. Most consider it doesn't really count if the second arrow doesn't remain attached, or just destroys the nock at the end of the arrow.
Performing one, is similar to Golf's "Hole in one". For some archers, it's a once in a lifetime experience. Again, similar to golf, some are more likely than others. e.g. On shorter holes or distances it becomes more common, at longer distance it becomes near impossible.
Other factors are also at play in archery that can make things easier and harder. For instance. wider arrows are slightly easier. The closer the distance to the target, obviously makes it easier too. Then comes the bow-type. Some bows are designed to be more accurate (Compound Bows), down to the lesser accurate Longbows etc. e.g. A "Robin Hood" of an arrow at 20m is still super impressive, but for example it's even more impressive if done by a Longbow archer, than by a Compound bow Archer.
The general consensus is it's at least a 4000 to 1 chance of happening.
Here are some of the "Robin Hood"s that have occurred at our club, and/or shot by our club members.
The most remarkable one, perhaps anywhere, was Robert Orrock, on the 22nd of August 2022. Shot at 20 metres with a Compound bow, Robert managed to get a "double" Robin Hood. He consecutively shot three arrows, one into the back of the other, producing an arrow that was made of three arrows! Conservatively, the chances of that happening are 16 million to 1! He had only purchased the arrows the day before too! Don't believe it? You can see the "very long arrow" in our club house!
Chris Kerslake (left) manages to Robin Hood David Conran's (right) arrow at 50 metres during a club competition. Chris claims the arrow was blocking his path to the Gold. (28th of October, 2023)
David Conran gets a Robin Hood at 20 metres using a Longbow. He managed this feat while demonstrating the longbow to a class of new archers. Not only doing it in front of an audience, he actually joked to the class that you need to be descended from Robin Hood to shoot a Longbow, and the very next arrow he shot resulted in this. (15th of April 2023)
Honorable Mentions
If you're a member of our club, and you have a picture &/or story of a Robin Hood, please let us know.