Placing a Skeet Field is not just a case of finding a piece of land.... A potential problem examined and solved.
It is important when placing a Skeet Field to ensure the sun is not shining into the shooter's faces. The ISSF have rules for the direction the Skeet Fields should face. Because of the land layout in Abu Dhabi, we had to verify that the Skeet Fields could face a different direction to the ISSF recommendation. We needed to install the fields at 350 degrees (NNNW) as opposed to 22.5 degrees (NNE) - Although only a slight deviation, The Shooting Academy researched and confirmed the placing was OK.
In the first document (below), a study was carried out at the Dallas Gun Club - If you enlarge the photograph (by clicking it), you'll notice there are shadows behind the shooters implying that the sun is directly in their faces. This is early morning with the sun rising in the East. An aerial view, using Google Earth, shows the Skeet field orientation is NNE (as per ISSF).
The second document shows the installation in Abu Dhabi and details the sun's azimuth against the Latitude of Abu Dhabi. (Please click to enlarge). By following the sun's arc across the sky, there is a period in the evening where the sun will be shining at the shooter's but in reverse to the Dallas Gun Club situation. I.E. Dallas has sun in the morning but not the evening, Abu Dhabi has sun in the evening but not the morning.
Although the sun will be behind the shooters, the intense heat in Abu Dhabi would make shooting Skeet unpleasant - so a requirement for a sun-shade had to be considered.
Please click below (Sunshade Considerations), to see the design and solving the problems of shadows.
