Spent much of the day at Sessions, helping to put on a WCOC local meet. Positive aspects of the day --
1. Got two serious tests of trying to do the course with help from a GPS, though both tests were more along the lines of doing it just with the GPS and little or no O' map, as opposed to what I had assumed might be tried, namely, using the GPS to supplement the map as needed.
First test was by Clint Morse, and
here is his report. He had a hand-held GPS, about the size of a landline phone, and he was using it for primary navigation, with just a little looking at the map. He was doing very well where the forest was wide open, quite badly where there were cliffs and thick areas.
But sounded like he quite enjoyed it.
Second test was by Joe Brautigam, and it sounded like he did not really enjoy it, but that had nothing to do with the GPS. Nope, just that he was seriously sick, looked about ready to die, sent messages back to pick him up at the water stop on the far side of the map, was eventually found wandering along a dirt road. He then curled up in a ball for a couple of hours before we revived him, got some fluids into him, determined that he was at least as much together as he usually is at hour 18 of a 24-hour AR, and so cleared him to drive home on his own. Which he actually managed.
Before he croaked and bailed, his method was to load the points on his Forerunner, and also on his phone, using some $3 app he had just bought. Which was fine as long as he had phone service.
And he was giving it the ultimate test, didn't even take a copy of the map. I think he was doing quite well, moving good, until he got in the same cliffy area that gave Clint problems, and there were a couple of controls quite close together and the GPS kept rotating, directing him first to one and then to the other. And the midst of that his stomach hit the emergency button and he bailed.
Will have to analyze the splits to see how he was doing.
2. A very modest turn-out, which could be considered a negative, but then it makes running the event on the day so much easier. And enough did come out to make it worth doing.
3. Help, as at all WCOC meets, from George and Lyn, also from Peter Grollman. Plus help from George and Lyn and Phil in collecting controls, so that all went quickly, plus Gail for picking up the water stop.
4. I spent some time running the e-punch computer. Never done it before but not so complicated, though it was just as good we didn't have a big crowd. Though this also might be a negative since it makes me more liable to being roped into such duty in the future.... :-)
Negative aspects of the day --
Can't really think of any. Very mellow.
The "courses" were done using Western Mass. rules. i put out 30 controls, set four thresholds for doing the results -- find at least 25, or at least 20, or at least 15, or at least 10. Had several who found all 30, a couple who found less than 10. Maybe some found the set-up a little weird, but no one came back complaining. And several claiming to have enjoyed it a lot, especially the fact that if you couldn't find a control it didn't mean you were going to be a DNF, you just moved on to another one.
And it is easier for the course setter for sure. :-)
Results will be
here before long. In the meantime they are
here.
And the map is
here.
Oh, one more thing, controls were picked up, and all the gear sorted and delivered back to its home, and George is taking care of the results, and I was home by late afternoon and everything was all done. Very cool (which seems to be a description of any WCOC operation).