7.2km brown course.
I like sand dunes but can't say I enjoyed this. Finished so frustrated with my run that I thought it best not to talk about it.
Overshot 1 - getting used to scale and contours +1 min. Ok to 2 and caught Joe up by here but didn't translate contours at all well. Purposely slowed down so that Joe wouldn't feel any pressure from me being just behind. Saw him on and off in the distance until he was half way to 7.
3-4-5 all clean, read contours well. Then 6 - got through the bushes fine then the bearing went off a bit - should have gone where Joe went - lost 2 mins or so working from the big depression by the fence to the east. 7 - again bearing went slightly out after the bushes. Lost 2-3 mins relocating and couldn't match the contours at all - work with distances from the fence.
8 - 1 min lost as my attackpoint did not exist on the ground. Was the easiest control on the course too, lost 1 min due to poor route choice too. 9 and 10 both clean.
11 a complete disaster. Seemed to have caught Joe again but got pretty much into the control circle and then couldn't line up the contours at all. Found control 229 where I was expecting to find my own. In the end had to find control 12 and work back up. Good 4 mins lost.
13 - went west and then on edge of control circle found a big unmapped patch of bare sand and assumed it to be the bare sand just west of the circle. Went to the east and had to fight through 8 ft deep bushes to climb up only to find that the sand was unmapped and the control was just behind it. Good 2 mins lost.
14 clean. 15 cleanish - thought I was taking a good north bearing but control to my left. Tried to go past 6 to 16 and succeeded. Found control exactly where I expected to. Then no major troubles until the finish.
In total about 14 mins or so of mistakes, and 3 mins I would say weren't wholly my fault. To make my feelings for the day even worse have found a tick eating me for the first time.
With three bad runs in a row think I'm now back to being fed up with orienteering again...
http://connect.garmin.com/activity/332270720