Just looking to improve the process. Frankly, I get a little weary of the sniping even though I've been on these bulletin boards for a very long time (since before the LW began), seen how people conduct themselves and understand enough that I should be immune by now. Each bulletin board to varying degrees seems to have its own coterie of bowyers, identified by their shared vision, the same suspicions, the same consipiracy theories, the same protective attitude toward their turf, the same easy way with self-congratulations, and, in some instances, a startling and easy manner villifying outsiders. That's life, I reckon. But it sure has sent me for cover on more than a few occassions. I try to pretty much keep my head down nowadays.
I won't argue with your catalogue of injuries, Rusty, but I'm an optimist with faith in this sport and its ability to bring people to a higher understanding, so I'll try to engage us one way or another in this Challenge. Good for a new magazine, good for bowyers, good for the craft and the sport. Yet it continues to amaze me that people still question the ABC, still regard its results with suspicion, still distort its criteria, labeling them arbitrary and unquantifiable, and continue in these and related matters with a smugness usually reserved for those who know they are going to heaven and you and your group aren't.
So in some measure at least we're turning part of the process over to involve others, democratizing it, on the assumption that sharing responsibilities will relieve some suspicions and anxieties.
I could tell you how seriously the judges (myself, Brian and Paul Comstock) anguished over the jurying process last year, and then how seriously we took the responsibility of grading the bows invited to the Final Test, but those who supported the Challenge don't need the assurances, and those who remain cynical will be unmoved. Still, I will repeat that there's no hiding a bow once it gets to the Final Test, and that the results are fair and obvious to anyone with a mind that values truth and honesty above agendas and self interest.
So, y'all figure out which 9 bows you want invited to The Final Test, and we'll take it from there. Do a good job now, hear? We'll provide some guidelines in the weeks ahead.