Wind and arrow fishtail

[gostovp]

This is probably a stupid question… but do you ever notice when shooting in the wind that you will see your arrow fishtail in flight? I have a crosswind today (6 to 8 mph, gusts to 13-14) and am seeing this… making me question my otherwise perfect tune ( I probably just need to wait for a calmer day to finish my sight tape sight in…)

 

[Mighty Mouse]

A crosswind can cause fishtailing even with a perfectly tuned bow/arrow. Crosswind causes the arrow to rotate about its center of gravity; the front rotates upwind, and the rear rotates downwind. The fletching counteracts the influence of the crosswind and fights to straighten the arrow back out. The opposing forces of the fletching and crosswind cause the arrow to fishtail until equilibrium is reached and the arrow’s flight angle stabilizes.

 

[Hussar]

You mean you don't tune your bow for crosswinds? I know if I have an 8.3 mph crosswind to the right I need to move my rest 2 clicks to the left to get perfect arrow flight.

All kidding aside, yeah, it's frustrating seeing the arrow fly imperfectly, even if it's out of your control.

 

[NXTZ]

I notice the same thing, gotta remind myself there’s external causes and I don’t need to be screwing with setup. Or I start overthinking about using a left helical for a left-to-right crosswind…

 

[dtrkyman]

Yep, point into the wind, the arrow will actually stay side ways in a strong enough wind, heavier arrows with more foc help a bit in the wind, as well as smaller vanes will catch less wind of course.

Wind has much more of an affect on our ability to hold on target than it does on the arrow in general.

It is always breezy at our range, wide open desert and quite flat, I took shelter behind a thick juniper last week so I was quite steady, as soon as the arrow cleared the juniper she went waaaaay sideways, got luck and clipped the down wind side of the ten at approximately 44 yards if I remember right.

Real issue is the wind is always gusty, just when you settle it rips again and causes major issues, especially shooting a hinge!

Scores go in the toilet with gusty winds over 12 mph or so.