Manassas - Mar 17, 2013

View Dave Goes Orienteering 2012-13 in a larger map

Course: Blue [19 controls; 9.3 km; 210 m]
Time: 2:43:34 - AttackPoint - WinSplits

Actual Distance: 12.46 km / 7.74 miles

 

Patapsco/Granite - Mar 9, 2013

View Dave Goes Orienteering 2012-13 in a larger map

My first time orienteering since mid-December. On the whole it was a very successful experience. I found most of the controls unassisted on the first attempt. There were some that I had to circle around to find but I didn't overshoot any controls by a wide margin or make any big navigational errors.

The weather was very warm for early March. I didn't wear a jacket, just two t-shirts: one long sleeve, one short sleeve.

Course: Red [18 controls; 7.2 km; 335 m]
Time: 2:13:51 - AttackPoint - WinSplits
Actual Distance: 8.81 km / 5.47 miles

Oregon Ridge - Dec 16, 2012

View Dave Goes Orienteering 2012-13 in a larger map

Course: Red [11 controls; 7.2 km; 220m]
Time: 2:04:06 - AttackPoint - WinSplits - RouteGadget
Actual Distance: 8.64 km / 5.37 miles

Happyland - Dec 9, 2012

View Dave Goes Orienteering 2012-13 in a larger map

Overall, I did not have a happy time at Happyland. It took me considerably longer than usual to get there due to the fact that one of the tires on my car went flat on the 50-mile drive to the park. It took me a while to get the flat tire off the car, put the spare tire on the car, and then find a gas station with an air pump that included a tire pressure gauge so that I could make sure that the spare was properly inflated.

I originally planned to do the Blue course. I changed to the Red course because I arrived a good hour-and-a-half later than planned. I probably should have done the Green course instead. I made enough mistakes on the Red course that I ran out of time before I was able to find all the controls. I found the first 13 and was on my way to 14 when I saw someone picking up controls. I didn't stop and ask him if he had picked up 14. I took my inability to find it as an indication that he had picked it up. I didn't bother looking for 15, the final control on the course.

The biggest mistake I made was when I mistook one road for another when I was looking for control 11. If I had just consulted my compass I would have realized my mistake, 10 minutes earlier.

This makes my third DNF at Happyland. That's 3 in 4 times that I have orienteered in this part of Prince William Forest. What's crazy is that the one time I did finish a course it was a blue one; two of the three DNFs were on red courses.

Course: Red [Controls: 15; 7.4 km; 220 m]
Time: 3:10:29 - AttackPoint - WinSplits - RouteGadget
Actual Distance: 10.84 km / 6.73 miles

Great Falls, MD - Nov 18, 2012

View Dave Goes Orienteering 2012-13 in a larger map

The weather was perfect for orienteering at Great Falls. The temperature was in the low 50s and there was a light breeze blowing.

Many of the controls on the advanced courses were close together. There were only a few that I had trouble finding.

2/128 was placed higher on the hill than I thought it would be. I made a couple sweeps along the bottom of the hill, close to the road before it occurred to me to look higher on the hill. Once I looked at where the control was supposed to be in relation to the bend in the road I realized that the logical place for me to look was at the top of the hill.

I "followed" other orienteers more frequently than I usually do. I wasn't always within sight of the orienteers that I was following. Sometimes they got a ways ahead of me but then I would see them after I rounded a turn or came to the top of a hill. Having them in front of me helped to confirm that I was headed in the right direction.

I found the beginning (11) of the second of the second butterfly loop unassisted. I was quickly passed by one orienteer and ended up following him through the first half (12-14) of the loop. About the time I lost him I was passed by another orienteer who I ended up following for the second half (15-19) of the loop and on to the next control (20) following the loop. About the time I lost him I was passed by another orienteer who I ended up following for the next few controls (21-26). I lost her after that and was on my own for the last couple controls.

Course: Advanced [Controls: 27; 7.6 km; 310 m]
Time: 2:16:10 - Winsplits - RouteGadget - AttackPoint
Actual Distance Traveled: 9.56 km / 5.94 miles

Pine Grove Furnace - Nov 11, 2012

View Dave Goes Orienteering 2012-13 in a larger map

For the third consecutive year I participated in the Susquehanna Stumble. As usual I opted to "run" the short version of the stumble. I wanted to try the long version but the short is long enough, almost 10k, and I don't move fast enough to finish the long within the 5 hour time limit. At most I probably could have finished a third to a half of the second loop before I would have had to give up.

For the most part I didn't have any trouble finding the controls. In the first "window" I got a lot of help with the first control I was looking for, C. After I circled around once, lower on the hill than I should have been, I ran into Kathleen and Heidi and they pointed me in the right direction.

In a couple cases (7,14) I drifted off course and wound up 100 meters or more to the left or right of the control. In both cases I was able to figure out what I did wrong and find the control in the second attempt. I found the controls in the second window in alphabetical order but most people did not. Finding them in alphabetical order meant I had a very long walk from H to 14. It took me over 40 minutes.

It was a beautiful day. It was cool but not too cool. The sun helped to keep it warm even when the breeze was blowing.

After the stumble most of the QOC contingent met in Gettysburg, PA at the Allegheny Brewing Company for dinner.

I obtained my unofficial splits from my Garmin Forerunner 110 because e-punching was not used for this event.

Course: Short [Controls 15; 9.6 km; 385 m]

Time: 3:27:50 - Results
Actual Distance: 12.9 km / 8.01 miles

SPLITS
# Time Time (C) 1 13:08 13:08 2 10:38 33:46 C 14:21 48:07 A 5:07 53:14 B 3:52 57:06 6 11:34 1:08:40 7 19:39 1:28:19 8 16:03 1:44:22	# Time Time (C) D 13:08 1:57:30 E 5:09 2:02:39 F 7:32 2:10:11 G 7:30 2:17:41 H 10:03 2:27:44 14 41:28 3:09:12 15 11:35 3:20:47 Fin 7:03 3:27:50

Patuxent - Nov 4, 2012

View Dave Goes Orienteering 2012-13 in a larger map

The weather was very nice for the 2012 Mid-Atlantic Orienteering Championship. It was a little too breezy to just stand around without a jacket or hat but it wasn't bitterly cold either.

I ended up volunteering after orienteering even though I had not planned to do so. I teamed up with Dan to pick up controls. I picked up 3, she picked up 7. Mine were a little more spread out than hers were. I also had to lug a couple unopened gallons of water back from the first control I picked up.

Instead of blue I "ran" the red course because it was my age appropriate course. I don't think I was fast enough to have an impact in the scoring. I finished 17th out of the 17 that finished the course.

For the most part I didn't have any trouble with the course. There was lots of up and down, especially in the southern section of the map. For a while, after crossing the road while on my way to 2/115 and until I crossed the road after finding 5/125 I didn't see anyone. It was kind of nice. That wasn't the case in the southern portion of the map. I ran into considerably more people there and often they were looking for the same controls as me, even though most of them were not running the same course as me.

There weren't many SVO participants but SVO is a fairly small club. The DVOA contingent seemed a little on the small side. That probably had something to do with the effects of Hurricane Sandy.


Course: Red [Controls 12; 7.2 km; 270 m]
Time: 2:11:13 - WinSplits - RouteGadget - AttackPoint
Actual Distance: 8.8 km