Combat Village - Apr 14, 2013

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The weather was great but my luck wasn't. I got off to a shaky start and things just got worse from there. If I could have had another hour then I might have been able to finish the blue course but by the time I threw in the towel I knew time was running short and the responsible thing to do was admit defeat.

I had a little bit of trouble finding the second control. I thought I was headed right towards it but when I wasn't able to find it on the first attempt I started to head south toward road. Before I reached the road I spotted it.

My trip from the 2nd to the 3rd control was a catastrophe, even though I eventually did find the 3rd control. On the first attempt I left the road in the wrong place. I ended up wandering around in the wrong part of the course for a while before heading back to the road. On the second attempt I found it within a few minutes. If I had just taken a little more time figuring out where to leave the road the first time around it might not have taken me 53+ minutes to find the 3rd control.

I didn't have quite as much trouble finding the 5th control. I think my confidence was still a bit wobbly after my experience with the 3rd control.

I wish I had a good explanation for why it took me so long to find the 9th control. After 5 I found 6, 7, and 8 without any trouble. From 8 to 9 should have been a straight shot. Instead I ended up wandering all over the place. First I thought I had not gone far enough and started to double back, then I thought I might have wandered off in the wrong direction. I'm tempted to blame the guy who stopped me for directions to a control that wasn't on the blue course but it was all me, even if he did distract me long enough to throw off my concentration on the task at hand.

I honestly thought that the 9th and 10th controls would be closer together than they were. I also wandered off in the wrong direction at first, and didn't check the clue on the map. The 10th control was in a big hole, which is what the clue indicated. I walked right past it once before I circled back around and found it. Still, it took me over 11 minutes to find it. Not good.

Eventually I had to give up. It was getting late. I had been out on the course for just over 3 hours when I found the 13th control. I wasn't feeling terribly confident that I would be able to find the 14th control relatively quickly so I just called it quits after 13. I got back with 20 minutes to spare.

On the whole it wasn't a great outing for me but it didn't feel like a complete disaster.


Course: Blue [19 controls; 9.6 km; 310 m]

Time: 3:21:40 - AttackPoint - WinSplits

DNF (gave up after finding the first 13 controls)

Actual Distance: 13.36 km / 8.3 miles

Warwick - Apr 7, 2013

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This was my first time at this park and my first solo jaunt into another orienteering club's territory in almost 5 years. There was lots of mud and thorns, especially in the section between French Creek and Ridge Road (Route 23). Both slowed me down and both left their mark on me. After crossing back over French Creek it was fairly hilly, which was a welcome relief. I was sick to death of dealing with the thorny vegetation and waterlogged terrain.

Some controls gave me a little more trouble than others. I passed very close to the 8 on my first attempt to find it. I had a similar experience with 16, although I don't think I wasted quite as much time in that case.

My time wasn't great but I am very happy that I finished. I had to circle around to find a few of the controls. I had help finding a number, probably less than half, of the controls. While the terrain is challenging, due to the size of this piece of land it seems like a less than ideal spot for long advanced courses.

Course: Red [25 controls; 9.5 km; 260 m]
Time: 3:06:25 - Results - Splits
Actual Distance Traveled: 12.76 km

Little Bennett - Mar 23, 2013

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My plan when I set out was to find all the controls in a particular area and finish before the 2 hour time limit ended. I wasn't entirely successful. I found most of the controls I wanted to find but in the end I had to give up because it became clear to me that I was going to take me longer than 2 hours if I insisted on finding all the controls I originally wanted to find. Unfortunately I didn't make it back in less than 2 hours and ended up getting docked 160 points because I was almost 4 minutes over.

I made one serious navigational error just before I gave up and started to head back. I was coming from control 140 and wanted to find 141 next. I got mixed up and started heading southwest instead of southeast. I went quite a ways before I realized my mistake.

On the whole I think my strategy was sound. Considering the competition and the course I didn't stand a chance of winning or even breaking into the top 20. I finished 38 out of 51. I could have finished a few places higher if I had gotten to the finish a few minutes earlier and avoided a penalty.

Score-O

(1) 122 - 40 points
(2) 132 - 40 points
(3) 128 - 60 points
(4) 130 - 60 points
(5) 135 - 60 points
(6) 136 - 40 points
(7) 137 - 80 points
(8) 138 - 100 points
(9) 139 - 40 points
(10) 140 - 60 points

Subtotal: 580 points

Time: 2:03:58

Penalty: 160 points

Score = 580 - 160 = 420 points

Distance Traveled: 5.82 miles

Results

Manassas - Mar 17, 2013

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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

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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

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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

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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