Bowls in NZ strong Wind

Level 3 - Skips Experience 

As the end of the 2021 Bowls Season comes to a close we find a lot of Streaming from Australia, New Zealand and South Africa. Last week, the New Zealand`s Wellington LBC finished it`s Angus Hotel Summer Series of Lawn Bowls with the "Finals Weekend" live streaming (April 24/25). This weekend (May 8th) Bowls South Africa`s Men`s National Championship will be played (May 8- 16) and online streaming.  With all Northern Hemisphere Countries missing the 2020 Season due to the CoVid Pandemic and it is in doubt whether we will be even having a "2021 Season of Lawn Bowls" other than some club practices or game's  streaming.

As I attempt to address various problems or aspects of Lawn Bowls which are often overlooked, the presence of wind can be a major concern for lawn bowlers who are Maritime countries. With Lawn Bowls in New Brunswick sometimes being unique to how the clubhouse is position on a windy day. Yes, sometimes with wind expected on the day of play, we will change the direction of play to allow for the clubhouse to shield the wind and give the best opportunity for a good game to participants.

 Someone once said to me "The bowls are heavy, no way the wind will move a bowl enough to effect the game or ability to do a good delivery". What is most important is not the weight of the bowl but the narrow running surface of a bowl. A mild gale will allow a bowl to find more "Bias" than we expect from that bowl under normal wind conditions.

End 1 - Jack roll

Wellington LBC members and other New Zealand lawn bowlers are no stranger to strong winds during Championships games.

From Youtube`s  Bowls Wellington Finals Day - Men's Pairs Final - 2021 - YouTube and screen capture stop action, we can see from the first Jack roll (photo left) that Lead Scott`s delivery (insert) is directly along the center Line but with the strong cross wind; the jack arrives a good 4 feet down wind. (No the jack does not have a bias)

A great video of playing with a strong wind, even to the point of waiting at the mat for the wind to ease up a bit before rolling the bowl. In a previous blog, where the wind was from back to front it was pointed out that not only does the wind effect the bowl but also affects the balance of the bowler during delivery.

   The previous two blogs discussed the "Percentage of Success" in strategy and decisions. We will see here and in this video that strategy changes as bowlers use the wind for the delivery and make decisions of shot type different from a normal lawn bowl game.

From the photo (right) one can see how the bowls get schattered by a crosswind, as even the best players fight the wind to find the proper line. Some players who have several bowls will choose a heavier bowl on windy days and even a tighter bias.

One will be surprise by how a player may even change their style of delivery to maintain balance in a "Crosswind". (as we see in the photo below) Watching Lawn bowls games streaming, we discover that a good skip will ask for a bias which bowls into the wind and uses the wind to finish the bias into the jack. 

So, with a "Strong CrossWind", we find one side of the rink being played in both directions. A "backhand" up the green and "forehand" back down. Unless a block has prevented that side of the green to be used. It is certain that the green speeds will affect how much the wind affects the bowl. Because the wind may seem to have more effect on the bowl during the bowl`s final moments when the bowl seems to never stops.

Game strategy become a "Heavy Bowl" Strategy because you want your bowl to have done it`s work before it begins to slow and is more affected by the wind. In the 3 photos (Below) we see the skip`s decision to bowl downwind of the head and attempt to raise his bowl to  shot. Luck is sometime important in Bowls, and even more on a windy day where many surprises may occur.

In the photo below, as the lead`s bowls of the first end were all bowled "Upwind" and be scatter around the head; the skip went to the mat and decided to bowl a "Downwind" to raise his frontal bowl to a position of shot. (Photo #1). In talking about luck and the wind, we see from Photo #2 that the bowl actually bounced of the intended bowl and hit the 2nd bowl creating two shots (Photo #3). Often you will see in Lawn Bowls a player give an apologetic comment after such lucky wicks.

 Why is this a good choice of bowl ?. First, the effect of a wind applies most to the bowl during it final stage of delivery. As the bowl slows and begins it bias so also the effect of the wind applies. This is a good shot because it need a heavy weight delivery which then removes a large part of the wind's effect on the bowl.  Without that extra weight the "Raise bowl" would never have happen. 

The black bowl in photo #3 is the opponent skip`s first bowl after the previous skip had raised his bowls. Noticing the label location on the black bowl we see that the delivery was up wind and a draw around the front bowl to the jack, but the bowl finished not only short but also quite far "downwind" because of the strong wind. 

This is a great video to learn how to play with a strong wind. Although many New Zealand games may show similar game conditions as part of Lawn Bowls Strategy.