Discussion: 54-85

Errr...yeah. That's what it was. I was trying to pick up that major gully. *cough*

Actually I had no bloody idea what was going on down that hill, you had it right when you said we were too high (and right) for the main spur. I was just getting horribly confused by all the gullies and hoping that if we kept going something would make sense soon - thankfully we hit the dam. :)

As I said in my writeup, it took a few controls for me to start taking the nav seriously.

Great effort though - for all your talk of constant whinging, you didn't let on anywhere near how many things were going wrong.

haha - yeah when you set off in that direction to start was the only time I nearly reached for my compass and intention sheet to say mmm pretty sure your 90 degrees out - but you where movign with purpose so I was jsut following along until you made the gully comment and thenI thought - yup ok, thats down there and realised roughly what you where doing *intentionally or not* haha.

Thanks but you get an "oh really?!" I thought you knew how much I was blowing up I only held back a few things ahah.

You didn't really need a compass out there (in the daytime). I put my thumb compass away after three controls and got out the base plate compass

well i didnt use a compass once - I relied on my JPS and when he faulted (rarely) it was comforting that I actually knew exactly where I was on the map *(I didnt know how I got there or where I was going)* which allowed the JPS recalibrated and we set off again.

Is a JPS allowed? Aren't they meant to be put into a specially sealed, tamper proof plastic bag for the duration of the rogaine?

I wouldnt want to be carring a 6'4" sealed bag it would be very heavy.

I am assuming your missing the slight difference between the "G" and the "J" :)

The bag would need to be bigger than him.

No I'm just wondering how Juffy would handle being placed into a tamper proof, well sealed bag :P I can just imagine the complaints. You'd need ear plugs for sure.

Bryce had a special JPS which not only did not require a tamper-evident bag, but also comes with Hill Assist™ technology and SledgeMode¹.

¹ SledgeMode automatically activated when a short person and a fence are both within the specified distance. Specified distance, volume and frequency not user-configurable.

LoL

I'm sure I forgot a few of the issues off my whinge fest but just for completeness ... I have an awesome HRM tan line. Damn that overcast weather making me forget to apply sun cream!

The HRM should not be placed on your forehead. Duh!

What exactly do you mean by 'intention sheet'?

Novices have to fill these intention sheets out, so that admin knows where to find their bodies.

No, this is one of Bryce's foibles - he puts together a gigantic list of controls, bearings, distances, times, phases of the moon and how many times he should have scratched his butt. Probably ends up writing less than Andre does on his rogaine maps. :)

There was no moon.

yeah - its worked in the past - but given the juffman just looks at his map and starts walking with very little need for bearing it was kinda pointless - previously i had been 100% compass reliant walking through anything that got on my bearing.

but yes it has start point, finish point, bearing, distance, walk time, eta.

Probably be still using it until im more comfortable with the map.

Why don't you just write it on your map? Saves the amount of sheets to carry around.

Thanks.

Don't think I could fit it on the map and be easily read - I have thought about it though

The Legend just got me to write my bearings on the map. That saved alot of time. How much do you really need the other information? Really?

I understand why writing bearings may be helpful for a total beginner but as soon as you start reading contours you'll find you'll change your route often to be rarely straight line. If you're offline in a leg you'll need to re measure anyway. Practice taking bearings and you'll obviate the need to write them down, they take about as much time as changing from bike to run in a tri, a few seconds and on the move. Practice... Or do what you've always done.

We didn't always stick to bearings. Sometimes we could see the saddle, knoll or whatever in the distance and then we didn't use the compass at all - just thumbed the map. It was handy for me to have it written down anyway, because I didn't have to awkwardly take a bearing at the control, I would just change the bearing as I got to the control so that we were ready to go for the next one. We saw heaps of people wasting time at controls taking bearings. Logically, a minute wasted at each control can add up to a lot of time over an event.

I never take bearings becos I do not have the mental fortitude to concentrate on them. Just find a nice granite boulder to stand on. It doesn't usually help but it makes the view better.

Now *that* sounds like fun :P

Yup tash our usual process is Emma punches and writes on the point I reset bearings and record our time for progression then we set off with minimal down time but yes ideally it's all off the map - hence why I started to do orienteering because the frequency of rogaining wasn't giving me enough practice to make the map reading as fluid as what I would want it to be. Keep in mind if you put all my o's and r's together I've looked at 8 maps over 4 or 5 different scales. Maybe by the time I get to say 15-20 ill be abit more au fait with looking at it and then knowing what the land would look like. I did struggle with distance and size at the start of this rogaine since nannup was the last 50k map I saw and needed to adjust my thinking which took a good 5-10km.

Hence also why I am going down to the rogaine training to pick up some tricks and get some more practice.

Ideally rogaining would be more often but I understand the logistical nightmare that would entail making it near impossible.

So you do rogaining to pick up tricks and orienteering to pick up ticks?

ive actually been lucky to date - havent had any yet - and considering how straight line I tend to go - im exceptionally lucky! only a matter of time im sure.

honestly now I dont know which I prefer - the idea of doing the orienteering was to get some more map reading in so I could enjoy the rogaines more but both are enjoyable for different reasons.

On a Sunday morning rogaine you get a breakfast; if you trip over at orienteering you get a fast break.

Haha - having visited the ground a number of times like a retarded fainting goat I can appreciate that.

Orienteers get a cake stall; rogainers get stale cake.

In rogaining tRicky sends his partners faint, but on AP he always feinting...

youre on a roll today or are you just being tricky