The VK3YQN team conducted Friday night’s hunt, with seven teams taking part. Six started from the agreed meeting place, while VK3BLN was *unusually* late and started while in transit from Ringwood. Weather was cool but clear, perfect for foxhunting. The were four two-legged hunts, all on 2m although frequencies had to be changed from time to time to avoid upsetting other amateurs occupying “our” frequencies.
On each hunt the first fox was on for 10 minutes from first discovery and the second fox for 20 minutes from its first discovery. All hunts were scored on leg time, ie the time each team took on each leg compared with the fastest team on that leg. So if you took 16 minutes and the fastest team took 10 minutes then you would score 6. Note that if you took 16 minutes and the fastest team took 3 minutes then you would score 16-3=13 but 13 > 10 so your score = 10. Teams that did not get in on a leg automatically scored 10 for that leg. Teams not in on Leg ‘a’ but finding leg ‘b’ were scored according to the time between leg ‘a’ being turned off and their arrival at leg ‘b’.
Maximum score for the night was (10 + 10) x 4 = 80 points
Hunt 1: The first leg was on a emergency vehicle access road under the Westgate Freeway near the (inbound) Shell service station. BLN arrived first (0 but subsequently disqualified (10) because their rolling start gave them too much of an advantage), followed by VK3MZ (0 due to BLN disqualifiation) and VK3ZPF (3). The second leg was behind the Yarraville Tennis Club on Cowper St. BLN (0), ZPF (2), HDF (3), MZ (5), PW & VT (9), HBD (DNF = 10).
Hunt 2: First leg on new industrial estate beside Kororoit Creek off Little Boundary Rd Laverton North. BLN (0), MZ (1) PW (9). The second leg was on the old Melbourne Outfall Sewer off Jones Rd Brooklyn. BLN (0), VT (3), HDF (5), MZ, ZPF & PW (in but too late = 10), HBD (DNF = 10).
Hunt 3: First leg 100m south of railway line beside Laverton Creek Altona. BLN (0), MZ (1), HDF (3), PW (4). All others DNF. Second leg in new housing estate in Point Cook around the Melway 207 J3 area. ZPF (0), VT (1), PW (4), BLN & HDF (7), MZ (in but too late = 10), HBD (DNF = 10).
Hunt 4: First leg on Melbourne Water disused outfall sewer in Hoppers Crossing. VT (0), HDF (2), BLN (3), PW (4), HBD (5 – yippee), ZPF & MZ (DNF = 10). Second leg in new housing estate behind Roger’s house, 202 B8 area. MZ (0), HDF (7), BLN (9), PW, ZPF, VT & HBD (in but too late = 10).
Supper was held at Roger’s house. Children and my_wife@home.com.au left undisturbed – thanks.
Scores were calculated, re-calculated, discussed, announced, corrected, announced again, checked further and corrected once more. Mental arithmetic needs more effort. So, after the tenth check, I am now confident that I have it right. Scores as follows:
Team Hunt Total
1 2 3 4
VK3HBD 20 20 20 15 75 = 7th
VK3ZPF 5 20 10 20 55 = 5th
VK3PW 19 19 8 14 60 = 6th
VK3VT 19 13 11 10 53 = 4th
VK3HDF 13 15 10 9 47 = 3rd
VK3MZ 5 11 11 10 37 = 2nd
VK3BLN 10 0 7 12 29 = 1st
VK3YQN………………………………………………………………………. = 1st too, well how about that (joke only, no flames please).
Sorry about all the confusion, but it only affected all of the placings a lot. BLN’s disqualification on hunt 1a ultimately didn’t matter.