The Carolina Cup
The Carolina Cup. Since I began shooting IDPA, winning an award at The Cup, one of – if not THE – best match in the country, has been my Holy Grail. Frank and Paula Glover have a reputation for getting the best Safety Officers and staff, and for putting on one of the most topnotch IDPA matches in the country, and this year’s Cup was no exception. You’d be hard-pressed to find more talented, friendly and skilled SOs and match staff, or a better run match anywhere. The Carolina Cup is a match not to be missed, and having a trophy bearing its name is definitely a dream of mine. Last year, I fell miserably short of that goal within the first couple of stages. So over the ensuing year, I practiced, trained, shot many matches and worked as diligently as I could to try and be better prepared this time around.
I knew going in that as a revolver shooter the only chance of any recognition would require a first place finish. There are simply not that many of us, particularly at the lower Marksman level where there are usually only one or two entries at all. As luck would have it, this year there were two of us in SSR Marksman – myself along with my friend and fellow competitor, Jody. We both compete regularly at monthly club matches where we routinely flip-flop winning, and usually have fairly close scores, so this year’s Cup promised to be challenging and exciting.
As Jody was SOing this match, he had already completed all the stages earlier in the week. Knowing the score I needed to beat was a mixed blessing – on the one hand, it gave me a goal to meet. On the other hand, as Jody had shot an incredibly good match, this knowledge also gave me a goal to worry about! My match began Friday morning and despite a slow start on two stages with a variety of moving targets, I felt reasonably strong and comfortable with my shooting even with some stupid mistakes and far too many points down. However, I had no fails, no non-threats and no procedurals so was happy to have completed at least half the match with no penalty seconds added to my plenty-slow-enough times! I actually surprised myself by completing the first half of the match in the lead, even if only by just a handful of seconds.
I was scheduled to finish out the match on Saturday afternoon which turned out to be a hellishly hot and humid scorcher of a day, leaving me immediately drenched with sweat and feeling like a wrung-out dish towel before I even got started. Despite this, I wasn’t too concerned, as I assumed I had already completed the more difficult stages of the match on Friday. Rookie mistake alert – turns out the stage that ate my lunch was what should have been one of the easiest ones on Saturday – the STANDARDS. Not only did I drop a ridiculous amount of points there, I also dropped one of my rounds when it caught the edge of the cylinder on the reload, something I haven’t done in over a year – d’oh!
The 16 stages effectively broke down for me like this:
I started the match Friday morning on Stage Six – That’s My Laundry!! This was a mind-blower of a stage for me to start on, with three moving targets activated as soon as I stepped off the start box. I had to engage a turner, flash and double-turner with two rounds each. After this, I had to seek cover behind a full clothesline and engage three additional targets with two rounds each.
Stage 6
With my heart still racing after those movers, it was on to Stage Five – Ms. Kitty’s Saloon. Here I started seated at a table with a cup in one hand and a deck of cards in the other. This stage was shot seated throughout. On the buzzer, I had to turn around and activate a steel popper with three rounds, then engage a sideways flash with three. After reloading, I had two crazy vertical swingers surrounding a non-threat with three each. One more reload, and time to engage the last target peeping through the doorway behind a no-shoot. Note to self after these two fast-moving stages: Focus on smoothing out that trigger pull!!!
Stage 5
Stage Seven was Carjack. Starting seated in the driver’s seat, at the buzzer, I had to engage a target out the passenger window with three shots, then swing around and put three shots on the target out the driver’s window. After reloading, there were two additional targets out the passenger window requiring three shots each.
Stage 7
Stage Eight – Gas Station - was a fairly complex stage requiring a bit of thought. The first two targets were engaged inside the “store” in tactical sequence while retreating to cover behind the ice storage box. At this point there was a slightly far target to be handled. After reloading, I had to edge around the ice storage to engage three additional targets from behind cover, reload once more, and retreat to cover behind the gas pump to engage the final far target hiding between a car and stack of barrels.
Stage 8
Then it was on to Stage Nine – Going Postal. The first three targets were engaged while retreating out of the “Post Office” to seek cover behind a mailbox. From low cover, two targets were engaged to the right and the last one on the left. I’m not sure, but I think there might have been a live camera belonging to Panteao Productions on the ground behind me while I shot this stage – too bad this wasn’t one of my better reloads!
Stage 9
I started Stage Ten – Picnic in the Park - seated at a picnic table with a no-shoot directly in front of me with two targets situated behind it. After engaging these two each with two to the torso and one to the head, I had to reload and then run to cover behind a barrel and wall to engage the remaining two targets hiding behind a barrel also with two to the torso and one to the head each.
Stage 10
At this point, I headed across the road to the wooded bays where I was faced with Stage Eleven – Tent Hell. The start was seated on a stump, holding a fire log in both hands. At the buzzer, I had to stand, draw and drop the log into the fire pit where it activated a turner and a flash target behind a car, after which I had to address a target hiding behind a pine tree. After reloading, I engaged one more target in the trees, then ran to low cover behind the car and put two more shots each on the remaining two targets around the car and through the car window. I earned a nasty down-10 on the flash target, but the pain of that was softened by having the Safety Officer tell me “You shot it too fast!” Now, that is something I’ve never heard before and probably never will again! Me? Shooting something TOO FAST?!?!? LOL.
Stage 11a
Stage 11b
Stage Twelve was David’s Wall. Fortunately, after the frenzy of the previous stage, this one was fairly straightforward. A six-target array while moving to various wall openings with the final target around a sharp corner. And that completed day one of The Cup for me.
Stage 12
(Videos are in stage number order, not order shot)
Saturday afternoon, I began the second half of my match on Stage Thirteen – Ron’s Picnic. This was a deceptively difficult stage for me, starting at low-ready with two shots on the first target, then two each on the next two targets while advancing toward low cover behind a car. At this point, the remaining three targets were engaged also with two rounds each.
For Stage Fourteen – Sunbathing – we were informed in the stage brief that “clothing is optional” but that pool water was looking pretty icky after sitting out for nearly week in the boiling sun, so I opted to remain dressed for this one! I started seated in a lawn chair which luckily just happened to be the exact same chair I have on my patio, with gun and all reloads on the table beside me. At the buzzer, I engaged the first two targets with a 1-3-2 tactical sequence, then reloaded and engaged the last two distant targets on either side with three rounds each. This was a fun little stage, and it was nice to be able to shoot it from under the cool shade of an umbrella too.
Stage 14
Another fun stage was Stage Fifteen – Hiking the Trail. This stage was also in the wooded bays and required carrying a backpack which was slightly awkward but not really heavy. On the buzzer, I drew and began walking, engaging the first three targets along the trail while on the move, reloaded, and engaged the remaining three targets.
Stage 15
Stage Sixteen was Cup Standards and should have been easy-peasy, but ended up eating my lunch. It was a two-string stage and for the first string, all I had to do was put two rounds in each target, reload and put two rounds in each head. Not only did I miss one of the head shots, I also dropped one of my rounds on the ground during my reload as noted above. After wasting time with that and getting my mojo apparently all out of whack, for my second string, my strong hand and weak hand shots were just all over the place.
Stage 16
Then it was back across the road again for Stage One – Special Delivery. Seated in the passenger seat, at the buzzer I had to turn and engage one target outside the passenger door and two more out the back of the truck while seated. Reload and engage another target out the back, then slide off the seat to put two rounds in a low target out back, cross behind the driver’s seat and engage the target out the back on that side using the package boxes in the truck as cover. One more reload, and engage the final target out back from the same position.
Stage 1
The runner was set up as a charging target for Stage Two – Bodyguard III. The buzzer activated the runner which charged toward me, crossing a steel plate and a no-shoot, so I had to carefully gauge my shots to engage the target while avoiding any penalties, then engage the second target, reload and engage the remaining two targets, all with three rounds each.
Stage 2
For Stage Three – When It Hits the Fan - I started seated in the driver’s seat of the van, with my gun in the IDPA box on the passenger side floor. On the buzzer, I had to kneel beside the seat, retrieve my gun and fire two shots on the steel popper out the back door. This activated a double-turner outside the passenger door as well as opening the back door of a van behind the one I was in. I immediately had to engage the turner, then put two shots in the first target in the second van, reload and engage the remaining three targets at the second van.
Stage 3
My last stage of the match was Stage Four – Dangerous Harbor. Starting standing next to and facing the rear side of a boat – a REAL one, I might add – on the buzzer, I had to turn, draw and engage two initial targets, then run to low cover behind a picnic table, on the way pushing down a steel popper that activated a flash target and a swinger behind a far boat – Idaho – at the end of the dock. Once at low cover, there were two targets behind another slightly closer boat – Uranus – anchored at the dock, then one stationary and the swinger behind the more distant Idaho.
Stage 4
(Videos are in stage number order, not order shot)
As Jody had completed the entire match earlier in the week, I had already seen his score and therefore knew what I needed to do in order to win. Unfortunately, this knowledge turned out to be more of a hindrance than a help, I believe. Upon seeing what an excellent match he had had, I was keenly aware I needed to be on my absolute best performance to have any chance of coming out in front and I think that sort of got into my head even with my minuscule lead after Friday morning. Dropping too many points on my first stage Saturday afternoon tweaked my nerves a bit, but totally screwing up the standards really got me off-kilter and I was never able to regroup after that, falling more and more behind until the end of the day Saturday when I wound up losing sufficient ground to earn a solid butt-kicking and dropping out of first place by almost 22 seconds.
While I was very happy that I had improved my performance over last year significantly with a much improved score, zero penalties and far fewer points down, this year’s placing of second out of only two SSR Marksmen and 21st out of 23 total revolver shooters was a crushing blow to me. I managed to put on my very best Happy Face and made sure to look at the many bright sides of the weekend – I did have a tremendous amount of fun at an absolutely awesome event, saw many old friends and made a lot of wonderful new ones, and got to shoot some of the most challenging and exciting IDPA stages around. But the deeply disappointed tears quietly falling on my pillow late Saturday night told their own story…
