West Point
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Topic created by WindWalker on Tue Apr 26, 2011 at 10:36 pmWell my first "A Event" is quickly approaching.
Any tips from the seasoned veterans?
I see there are quite a few DVOA members signed up, that's cool.
The weather looks great.
Looks like a good hike to the start, and who was complaining about Mt. Gretna?
I'll be camping at Round Pond if anyone wants to swing by and hang out feel free to do so. I'll be the one with the green motorcycle, pretty easy to spot.
See ya out there chasing the O control, Mike -
Reply by FredR on Tue Apr 26, 2011 at 11:00 pmI'm not as "veteran" as some, and only "lightly seasoned", but here it goes anyway...My first A meet wasn't that long ago and in the same general area as West Point. For those that would know, it was on the Surebridge map. Having never run on a non DVOA map, I was floored when I turned over the map at start on Saturday. I had never seen anything like it and it just didn't "compute". I would have been much better off at least having some idea what was in store. Between the nerves, the adrenalin and map, it was not a particularly successful weekend.If you haven't already, you might try doing some armchair O on maps from the area. A quick google produced this:which would have some nice and very relevant maps to peruse.Good luck!Fred
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Reply by furlong47 on Wed Apr 27, 2011 at 9:46 pmDouble, triple, quadruple check that you have everything you need before you begin that walk to the start each day (compass, e-punch, whistle, bib number, and all your proper attire). Yes I have seen people show up at the start missing their compass or e-punch. This meet in particular it will be a loooong walk back. Allow plenty of time (more than you think you'll need) for the walk to start. Missing your start time stinks, and you may have to wait a long time before they can get you in to another slot. In my opinion getting there right on your start time is even worse with no time to rest from the walk up. (Though some people might call that being warmed up!)
West Point is tricky and it can take some time to get used to the mapping. It is very different from most DVOA maps in the mapping standards - many boulders and cliffs that would be mapped locally are simply too small to meet the threshold on WP or the map would be all black dots
Don't flip your map and go tearing off headlong into the terrain. You may want to walk or run slowly to the first control or two until you feel you have your bearings. Getting lost at WP can cost a lot of time as it can be tough to relocate. Finishing all races without going overtime could be a fine goal for a first A-meet there
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Reply by edscott on Wed Apr 27, 2011 at 11:21 pmYes, I remember my first West Point meet. First two controls were fine then I took off on about a 500 meter compass bearing through a maze of black dots and lines on an otherwise rather bland slope. Half an hour later I finally found it. My advice is to take your time and plan your routes carefully. Stay in map contact all the time. If you lose it it might be a long way and many contours to a good relocation spot.
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Reply by randy on Thu Apr 28, 2011 at 7:23 amMost of the West Point maps are likely online somewhere. I don't believe I have any online myself, but I wouild recommend trying to find them and studying them before the meet, so that you know what to expect, and are not overwhelmed in the start triangle. Many at the meet will probably have hardcopies as well. (Of course, the advice would apply to any meet, not just West Point). Good luck.
(I do actually have several maps of Hudson Valley terrain, just not West Point -- below is an example. Not exactly WP, but it should at least give you a general idea of what to expect. Others prolly have higher quality scans available, just poke around).
http://www.mapsurfer.com/images/olimg/ny100405.jpg
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Reply by j-man on Thu Apr 28, 2011 at 8:36 amI always thought that HVO's Baileytown was a good proxy for West Point maps, both with respect to terrain and mapping style. However, now that WP has been upgrading their maps to more modern standards, Randy's example of the Sebago Beach area is a very good indication of what you are likely to see at WP.
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Reply by Petr on Thu Apr 28, 2011 at 9:44 pmWhen you are at the registration, look for a big polster. About 3' by 4'. They put all their maps together. Looks cool. Usually it is hung somewhere.
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Reply by WindWalker on Thu Apr 28, 2011 at 9:58 pmThanks for the tips. I've been checking out the maps and frankly I don't see much difference between them and the few meets I've done. But I'm sure that's just my lack of experience.
I think Ed's advice is paramount, take my time and go slow. Every control I blew so far I can blame on leaving the last control too quickly without proper planning. That's the hard part for me, I like to go fast. And after a few succesfull finds I start to get more confident and pick up the pace, that's usually when things start to go south (punn intended).
It should be an interesting weekend for sure. I suspect there will be one or two or maybe three controls I'll be wondering around scratching my head about, but it looks like the playing field is surrounded by roads, so I shouldn't walk off in the wilderness and be lost for days...
The weather looks to be great.
See ya all at West Point, Mike
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Reply by Trazy on Thu Apr 28, 2011 at 11:24 pmLooks like great weather coming up. I'm looking forward to seeing you guys up at West Point this weekend. I will be staying in one of the cabins. I also have my share of stories orienteering at West Point. My very first time was a disaster!! From the very start, I went in the exact opposite direction of where I was supposed to go and ended up off the map, which took me nearly 3 hours to find my way back cuz (being off the map) I had no way to find my way back. Stupidly enough, i thought I was still on the map and didn't realize for a quite a while that I was going the opposite direction as we were orienteering on a ridge and ridges with rocks look the same to me. Plenty of boulders up there, so be prepared and have phun!!
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Reply by WindWalker on Sun May 1, 2011 at 9:10 pmJust wanted to give an update on my first A-meet.
Short story - I had alot of fun and learned alot.
Long story - I did pretty well on the middle run on Saturday, only missed three controls by a little and after some map study soon figured out the problem and was on my way. Sure were lots of rocks and cliffs, that was cool. The blueberry bushes wreaked havoc on my knees, the new gaiters worked great, but still had exposed knees. Need to correct that for sure. I was happy with my run and felt good, ended 5th out of 10 M-green.
Next was the sprint, this was cool. I like the fast pace with very little compass work. Only had one small problem when I ended up at 9 before 8, but they were very close so it was a quick fix. Sprinted a woman in from the last control, she punched the last control first so it was game on. I beat her to the finish only to miss the hole with the punch twice. Haste makes waste, it was all in good fun and we both laughed about it. Turned out I was 1st in the M-green class. That put me in second overall with only the long course left.
I was fortunate enough to be camped next to Bob Turbyfill, I think he said he was or is a coach for the US team? Anyhow he was teaching a White to Orange class, and was kind enough to give me lots of helpfull information over my Sunday morning oatmeal. I think his course would have been super helpful for me in my learning quest, anyhow...
So I was all set with a plan for Sunday's long course armed with my new information. I took what Bod told me seriously and focused on that while waiting for my start time to be called. I was off and everything was going great, hit 1 dead on, 2, 3, 4, and 5 same thing. Wow was I feeling great about my new techniques. At #5 I looked at 6, wow this was my longest leg ever, I got pretty intimidated by the looks of it, but set about making my plan and it worked perfectly with another perfect hit. I will say that I was doing alot more walking and map study that I have done in the past and it was working out nicely. 7 was an easy one with a nice cliff for a handrail. 8 looked simarly easy with the clear cut as a nice catch. This is where my whole game unraveled. I spent almost an hour looking for 8, walked back to my attack point 4 times and still for the life of me could not locate it. Now I was getting a bit frustrated, which doesn't help the thought process, and then add the fact that I'm getting thirsty. I decided that it was game over and call it a day and head out for water. Cause what I was doing just wasn't working. I knew where I was and it should have been there, and just couldn't make sense of it. I walked right out to a trail, which confirmed that I knew where I was.
I skipped a few controls more focused on getting some water at this point. Once I got rehydrated I continued on my way picking up the last two controls on my way out. I walked out feeling pretty humble about my day, which I am OK with. If I could walk to every control right off this early in my O career I don't think I would be doing it. I am here to learn and this is what I am doing. But this was my first blown control I couldn't put a reasonable reason to why I missed it. I was totally at a loss. And thought about it all the way home, if I can't figure out what went wrong how can I learn?
Well there is hope - after a couple of minutes at home in a more relaxed state, I have come to the root of the problem. I didn't make a plan, like I was tought earlier in the morning, this had worked well so far. But for some reason I reverted to my old way, just run and sort it out. There was a fire cut that was a possitive catch feature, so I just ran to it. Once there I located a bare rock with a boulder below it as my attack and headed in. After closer map study there is a similar bare rock with a boulder about 100 meters downslope. I was at the upper one and should have been at the lower one. My rough compass to the fire cut was off heading by about 100 meters, this is where it all went wrong. While I was searching for my control the contours didn't seem right, but for some reason I kept ending up at the same spot.I just couldn't make it work in my head then. Looking at the map now it all makes sense, I should have treated this with the same respect I had done with the previous controls and used my newly learned skills and had a better, positive attack point. Looking at the map now I have a plan and I'm certain I could walk right to it, LOL.
I feel better now as I have learned what I have done wrong and can hopefully use it to improve.
All in all it was a great weekend, the weather was awesome and the Cadets are super friendly, helpfull and curtious. They did a great job.
Oh, the ride home was glorious too, gotta love two wheels...
See ya next time out chasing the ellusive O Control, Mike
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Reply by Petr on Sun May 1, 2011 at 10:20 pmI put few pictures from West Point here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/36926234@N05/sets/72157626501738895/
