Discussion: Pawtuckaway Camping Weekend September 8-9
in: UNO Camping Weekend (Sep 8–9, 2007 - Raymond, NH)
Aug 29, 2007 2:06 PM
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barb:
Perhaps some of you are coming to the Pawtuckaway camping weekend in New Hampshire, for two days of fun orienteering. http://www.upnoor.org/
So I think this could be a record: the opportunity to do SIX different orienteering disciplines in one day! Regular foot O, canoe O, radio O, bus stop O, vampire-O, and wicked hard night-O!
I'm looking for good orienteers to be busses for the bus stop O - please let me know if you're interested. More details:
Bus-Stop O
3:30 pm, finishing before 5:00
YOU WILL NEED A WATCH (and a compass)
Come try the latest orienteering craze, pioneered by junior juniors in Colorado this summer, but suitable and fun for kids and adults alike! The game is a score-O with precisely timed moving controls. The objective is to plan and execute a route that allows you to punch at as many controls as possible.
Here is how it works: Each participant is either a BUS or a RIDER.
A few very reliable orienteers are busses. Each bus follows its own bus route (a line-O). There are bus stops along the route, with a schedule for when the bus leaves each bus stop. Usually the bus will get to the bus stop a few minutes before it is scheduled to leave, and so it idles there. (This is a good opportunity for riders to find the bus.) Each bus carries a control punch with them.
Most people are riders, and their objective is to intercept as many busses as possible. To prove they found a bus, the bus will punch their control card ("bus ticket"). Riders will be given the map of all the bus routes and the schedule of when each bus will be at each bus stop. Riders can go in teams. Prizes will be awarded to the top adult and junior finishers (you win if you get the most points, with time being a tie-breaker).
Riders can intercept the bus anywhere along the bus route, not necessarily just at a bus stop. If a rider gets to a bus stop and the bus isn't there yet, they can wait there, or walk the bus route backwards (a line-O) to meet the bus. If they get to the bus stop a little late, they can run forward along the bus route to catch up to the bus. Riders also may follow ("ride") the bus along its route after getting the punch. For beginning orienteers, riding the bus might be a good way to take shortcuts across complicated terrain from one place to another.
Players are advised to synchronize their watches before the weekend using, for example, http://www.atomictime.net/
The actual time in the woods will be no more than 50 minutes. At 3:30 we'll explain the game, synchronize any watches not yet synchronized, and hand out the maps to allow riders to plan their routes.
So I think this could be a record: the opportunity to do SIX different orienteering disciplines in one day! Regular foot O, canoe O, radio O, bus stop O, vampire-O, and wicked hard night-O!
I'm looking for good orienteers to be busses for the bus stop O - please let me know if you're interested. More details:
Bus-Stop O
3:30 pm, finishing before 5:00
YOU WILL NEED A WATCH (and a compass)
Come try the latest orienteering craze, pioneered by junior juniors in Colorado this summer, but suitable and fun for kids and adults alike! The game is a score-O with precisely timed moving controls. The objective is to plan and execute a route that allows you to punch at as many controls as possible.
Here is how it works: Each participant is either a BUS or a RIDER.
A few very reliable orienteers are busses. Each bus follows its own bus route (a line-O). There are bus stops along the route, with a schedule for when the bus leaves each bus stop. Usually the bus will get to the bus stop a few minutes before it is scheduled to leave, and so it idles there. (This is a good opportunity for riders to find the bus.) Each bus carries a control punch with them.
Most people are riders, and their objective is to intercept as many busses as possible. To prove they found a bus, the bus will punch their control card ("bus ticket"). Riders will be given the map of all the bus routes and the schedule of when each bus will be at each bus stop. Riders can go in teams. Prizes will be awarded to the top adult and junior finishers (you win if you get the most points, with time being a tie-breaker).
Riders can intercept the bus anywhere along the bus route, not necessarily just at a bus stop. If a rider gets to a bus stop and the bus isn't there yet, they can wait there, or walk the bus route backwards (a line-O) to meet the bus. If they get to the bus stop a little late, they can run forward along the bus route to catch up to the bus. Riders also may follow ("ride") the bus along its route after getting the punch. For beginning orienteers, riding the bus might be a good way to take shortcuts across complicated terrain from one place to another.
Players are advised to synchronize their watches before the weekend using, for example, http://www.atomictime.net/
The actual time in the woods will be no more than 50 minutes. At 3:30 we'll explain the game, synchronize any watches not yet synchronized, and hand out the maps to allow riders to plan their routes.
Aug 29, 2007 7:09 PM
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"Very reliable"? How about "moderately reliable"? Anyway,I'll be at Pawtuckaway and will be a bus if you need one.
Aug 29, 2007 8:13 PM
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This could be a great fundraiser too: you should have to pay to ride the bus!
Aug 30, 2007 10:19 PM
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walk:
We'll be there Friday night setting up, if our new tent/sleeping bags arrive.
Aug 31, 2007 2:29 AM
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walk:
Woohoo!!! Need to coordinate a visit. You visiting this way this weekend?
Sep 7, 2007 11:40 AM
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barb:
John, Charlie, Samantha, THANKS! You are awesome!! I've got your bus routes figured out. One is the "ridge runner" route; another is the "lowland" route... Stops are 10 minutes apart.
Dave will be there Saturday if you want to ask him any questions. Feel free to talk it up. I have a map planned that I'm hoping will work for grownup and kid riders alike. (I have to be in Cambridge for Isabel's soccer game mid-day Saturday, and expect to show up at Pawtuckaway around 3:00, for the 3:30 start of the event. Dave is the backup organizer.)
Barb
Dave will be there Saturday if you want to ask him any questions. Feel free to talk it up. I have a map planned that I'm hoping will work for grownup and kid riders alike. (I have to be in Cambridge for Isabel's soccer game mid-day Saturday, and expect to show up at Pawtuckaway around 3:00, for the 3:30 start of the event. Dave is the backup organizer.)
Barb
Sep 7, 2007 11:41 AM
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barb:
(Still need 3 more busses; two of them have short routes that can be done at a slow walk.)
Sep 7, 2007 12:25 PM
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This is one of the best oddball ideas I've heard in a long time! Have fun with it.
Sep 7, 2007 1:17 PM
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barb:
We have a ton of extra camping space reserved, and it's too late to cancel, so if anyone wants to camp, please contact me or Dave Yee!!! We have 3 sites reserved for 2 nights (tonight and Saturday), and we only really need 1!!!
Sep 7, 2007 3:42 PM
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I am likely to be back from other errands in time to be a bus, but I'm not certain yet.
Sep 7, 2007 3:51 PM
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barb:
Ah, great, we've just about got a full bus company then, because Tim Parson said he'd be one of the slow ones. Now we have to see how willing people are to WEAR THE HATS! Heh heh heh...
Sep 7, 2007 3:56 PM
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Sorry Barb, I'm not going to be able to make it up after all this weekend. I hope you can find another bus to fill my route :(
Sep 7, 2007 6:14 PM
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Now we have to see how willing people are to WEAR THE HATS! Heh heh heh...
Those wouldn't be PG's original FDF hats, would they?
Those wouldn't be PG's original FDF hats, would they?
Sep 9, 2007 9:38 PM
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barb:
Here is the map for the bus stop O. Click on it for a close-up. There were 6 busses. The schedule was:
4:10 pm leave bus stop #1
4:20 pm leave bus stop #2
etc.
5:00 pm buses stop punching, and are at bus stop #6
Samantha, Ross, Tim, Brendan and Phil were buses, and I am extremely grateful to them for letting me play out my little fantasy. Most of the teams were juniors, so we didn't get the outside-the-beltway competition that I was hoping for amongst adults. The buses picked up controls from the morning's orange, white and yellow courses, because these were cleverly designed to lie along their bus routes. Bus riders got extra credit for taking these controls from the buses and bringing them back to home base.
Points were awarded in such a way as to encourage juniors to stay inside the area bounded by the paved road (the "inner city" zone), while adults were encouraged to intercept the buses in the area beyond the paved road (the "suburban" zone). (20 points for intercepting a bus in your favored zone; 10 points otherwise.)
Participants had good things to say about the game, and seemed enthusiastic out in the field. The buses actually wore the hats, for which I am also grateful.
Buses were pretty much on their own out in the suburbs, since no adults were out there vying to get a better time, and therefore being clever about intercepting out in the 'burbs. So it was just a line-O with a lot of time pressure, and control pickup, for those guys. They were so nice about it. Samantha said it was good training, and Ross liked that it was an innovation. They could have ragged on me for making them run their asses off for little good reason, but they didn't.
4:10 pm leave bus stop #1
4:20 pm leave bus stop #2
etc.
5:00 pm buses stop punching, and are at bus stop #6
Samantha, Ross, Tim, Brendan and Phil were buses, and I am extremely grateful to them for letting me play out my little fantasy. Most of the teams were juniors, so we didn't get the outside-the-beltway competition that I was hoping for amongst adults. The buses picked up controls from the morning's orange, white and yellow courses, because these were cleverly designed to lie along their bus routes. Bus riders got extra credit for taking these controls from the buses and bringing them back to home base.
Points were awarded in such a way as to encourage juniors to stay inside the area bounded by the paved road (the "inner city" zone), while adults were encouraged to intercept the buses in the area beyond the paved road (the "suburban" zone). (20 points for intercepting a bus in your favored zone; 10 points otherwise.)
Participants had good things to say about the game, and seemed enthusiastic out in the field. The buses actually wore the hats, for which I am also grateful.
Buses were pretty much on their own out in the suburbs, since no adults were out there vying to get a better time, and therefore being clever about intercepting out in the 'burbs. So it was just a line-O with a lot of time pressure, and control pickup, for those guys. They were so nice about it. Samantha said it was good training, and Ross liked that it was an innovation. They could have ragged on me for making them run their asses off for little good reason, but they didn't.
Sep 9, 2007 9:41 PM
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barb:
Thinking that it might help with route planning, I made "time slice" maps for each 10-minute period between bus stops. For example, here are the routes for the 6 buses from 4:10 to 4:20:
And 4:20 to 4:30:
And 4:20 to 4:30:
Sep 9, 2007 11:24 PM
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Since picking off the controls from the busses was the potential tie-breaker (to a potential 6x20=120 point max for punching all 6 busses in your optimal zone), I was able to see parts of the race unfolding as I tooled around on my bike. The need to intercept the busses along their route *before* they reached the bus stop, but *after* they'd had the chance to pick up controls, posed an interesting challenge.
I was in the parking lot when I saw the A bus (Tim Parson) along his route, while 2 teams were at A4 waiting. Terry Magnus came into the parking lot from the north side, intending to intercept the A bus prior to the A4 stop, when one of the team members at A4 raced to the bus, getting the control(s) from him. Terry saw this, and changed direction to A4, seeing she would not win the race to the bus for the extra points.
I saw 2 teams of riders intercept bus A along the beach. I also saw one rider get to the near side of the bridge while the bus was stopped at A3, look around, and go off north, not having met the bus at A3. The bus said perhaps the rider had already gotten the punch from bus A; he couldn't remember.
Another interesting visual memory: the beach at Pawtuckaway, packed with beachgoers oblivious to O, with their kids, sand toys, water toys, barbecue grills, frisbees, beverages, etc. Through the middle of this calmly walking his line-O came Tim Parson, wearing the striped hat. It struck me as a scene from "Where's Waldo?"
It was a lot of fun to watch parts of this competition. Hats off (pun intended) to Barb for staging it.
I was in the parking lot when I saw the A bus (Tim Parson) along his route, while 2 teams were at A4 waiting. Terry Magnus came into the parking lot from the north side, intending to intercept the A bus prior to the A4 stop, when one of the team members at A4 raced to the bus, getting the control(s) from him. Terry saw this, and changed direction to A4, seeing she would not win the race to the bus for the extra points.
I saw 2 teams of riders intercept bus A along the beach. I also saw one rider get to the near side of the bridge while the bus was stopped at A3, look around, and go off north, not having met the bus at A3. The bus said perhaps the rider had already gotten the punch from bus A; he couldn't remember.
Another interesting visual memory: the beach at Pawtuckaway, packed with beachgoers oblivious to O, with their kids, sand toys, water toys, barbecue grills, frisbees, beverages, etc. Through the middle of this calmly walking his line-O came Tim Parson, wearing the striped hat. It struck me as a scene from "Where's Waldo?"
It was a lot of fun to watch parts of this competition. Hats off (pun intended) to Barb for staging it.
Sep 9, 2007 11:46 PM
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PG:
So, the bus drivers' hats. First, Brendan, night O' star --
Then the very stylish Phil --
And then the impressario Berb, with Ross looking on --
Then the very stylish Phil --
And then the impressario Berb, with Ross looking on --
Sep 10, 2007 12:02 AM
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The bus-o was very fun, although I admit that I didn't know that I was getting into being a bus! I really had to move to make some of my bus stops on time. Which is better than Ross did, as he got behind and then even at a sprint was 20 seconds late to most of his stops :) It was challenging to follow the line at speed, and know that if you messed up someone might miss the bus.
This discussion thread is closed.