Ruthless Xtra Strong Poly

I thought I'd mention on here that the Ruthless Xtra Strong Poly flights I've been using since November 2007 have been quite a discovery, and I won't be buying any other type now. I understand from hotshotscanada.com that the extra strong polyester they use is 33% thicker than other polyester flights.

I used to have to replace my flights every week (I once wrecked a set in a single session!), but these ones last far longer and retain a perfect “+” shape even after Robin Hood shots where a dart lands right on top of the previous one thrown.

The durability is great, but there are two other important advantages I've noted ; stem grip springs are no longer necessary, as the fit is so good there is no slack. Secondly, the tight fit means that I very rarely damage a stem with an incoming dart. Usually when that happens the dart bounces back and doesn't score, so they may even be improving the total number of scoring darts?

It's definitely worth adding a set to your next order to see for yourself. They're widely available, with Pure Darts being a good buying option.

Chelmsford 8 - 2 Jolly Drovers

We had a good night on Tuesday, matching last week's result with an 8-2 win. The games were closer than last week though, and I think the score line flatters us slightly. The problem for the Drovers seemed to be their strongest players were a bit off form and they let us off the hook when they had chances to take points. Still, we need those points given that we will soon sit a couple of weeks out due to the uneven number of League teams (15), and the other teams will be putting points on the board while we stand still. We don't get many League updates, but I think our scoring has been good enough to keep us in 4th place.

My own form continues to be erratic, but I was really thankful to win my games ; a 2 dart finish on 72 in the Team game (T12, D18), Peter got the D1 I kindly left him in the Doubles game (hey, he left me the 3!), and I did OK in my Singles to finish on D2 against the darts to Chris. An awful lot of my first darts were into the 1 or 5 though and this is not a great time for me at the moment.

Paul from the Drovers entertained us with some great jokes and it was a good night.

We have a break next Tuesday while the League Singles competition progresses. We'll still meet up in The Chelmsford though and there will be some sort of darts competition modest prizes to go for. I just hope I don't hit form on a night that doesn't matter.

Brief respite

Pictured : A 141 finish

It's been a terrible few weeks on the practice board, but this was a good shot for once. A 141 finish, and done my own way too. According to DartPro when you hit the T20 with the first dart you should be looking at T19 to leave D12, but with 81 left I always go for 15's to leave 18's. Probably not the most logical option, but just being comfortable with what you're doing can work sometimes.

This is my third highest finish in the last two years, so I'll take some encouragement from this. I'd take a lot more encouragement if I could just hit some steady 60's though :o)

Jolly Drovers 2 - 8 Chelmsford

Pictured : The Jolly Drovers

We secured 8 valuable points on our travels tonight, on a night where we were scraping to get a full team of 6 players together. We again won the opening Team game and raced to an 8-0 lead before the Drovers put a more realistic slant on the score line to win the final two 501 Singles games against Lena and Mark H.

I've been struggling for a couple of weeks now on both the practice board and the match board, so I was really relived to win my Doubles game against the run of play with Willie, and also an unmemorable Singles game with a D1 finish. It might be just the thing to kick start a return to form.

The Drovers is one of my favourite venues. As soon as you walk in you are immediately impressed with the atmosphere and decor, and they serve some great food at the end of the match.

Chelmsford 5 - 5 Smelters

Our return leg against The Smelters ended in a draw last night. I thought The Smelters were the stronger for having Harry in their team after he sat out the first leg, and he scored well all night.

Yet again we won the opening Team Game, making it an incredible 86% success rate in this 1001X game for the season so far. From that point we seemed to cancel ourselves out, and neither of us took any big leads.

My own good run of results came to an end. I was beaten in my Doubles game with Alan P, and also in my Singles game against Brian. My big problem all night had been hitting the doubles, and I must have had six attempts at a finishing double in the three combines games I played in. This is simply not good enough, and I'll be bashing the practice board doubles overr the coming week prior to our game at the Jolly Drovers on 12th Feb.