Tuesday 11^th September 2012

Ewen

Model event day. Very simple event. Two 2m transmitters, one of which changed into a homing beacon at some stage, and two 80m transmitter, plus homing beacons. The 2 and 80 metre transmitters were colocated. After hunting on 2 metres there didn’t seem to be much point in hunting on 80 so checked that the 80M sniffer gave sensible directions and called it quits. After giving Jenelle some 80 DF coaching we went back to the hotel for a shower before lunch. After lunch Ewen investigated the ARDF “spare” 80m receiver to see if it could be made to cover the frequencies proposed for the sprint event later in the week. After some discussion with Bruce it was decided that it might not be possible with the available resources.

The opening ceremony was advertised for 4pm but as usual with these events it was nearer to 4.30 before things got underway.  There were the usual speeches by various dignitaries, including the president and vice presidents of the IARU and the competition was declared open.

Jenelle

There was enough time after the formalities to check out the pool, rather a challenge aerobically, after about 20 laps (each lap 20 metres) I called it quits. Didn’t feel very comfortable to join those reclining on the lounges on the pool deck.

 

Wednesday 12^th September 2012

Jenelle

Early start today. At 8 am we set off for a walk to the start about 20 minutes away from the main entrance to the resort.

Bruce

The problem with start quarantines is that if you luck a late start it can be a long-long wait till you head out, and since my start time was midday this proved to be the case.

Read on if you really want to know about the course J. Hills, and valleys, lots of them, and unavoidable. Starting at 1800m (higher than the very very top of Mt Buller) this proved quite a challenge physically. My knee wasn’t too much of an issue except for climbing over the many fallen large and small pine trees spread all over the place, including across tracks.

Have a look at the map to make some more sense of this bit. Conveniently our start corridor (for 80m) turned northwards, which was where I’d planned to head anyway, away from the finish to the south (the finish was actually near the hotels). Got TX#3 that direction at 13mins, and then a long trek to TX#1 way up in the NW corner.  I lost a bit of map contact, but my route wasn’t bad in retrospect, but possibly slower as I’m more confident if I know where I am exactly.  Some others, including Ewen, did TX#4 (near the dam wall NW of start) 2nd, but my plan was to do that next (3^rd) since I had TX#5 placed way down south near the finish. My order wasn’t bad as it turned out. My route TX#1 to TX#4 was very steep and probably not optimal as I ended up in a creek valley that was hard to get out of. Luckily I saw the large dam wall near TX#4 and relocated. Headed south to TX#5, up a very steep hill track I staggered up. I punched and headed to the finish. Caught up with Kristian who was just finishing M21 80m and punched the finish just behind him. He started quite a while before me, so though I was a bit slow at times, 72mins for all the ones I needed (don’t get TX#2 for M40) seemed not bad for me. But. Took me a while to notice, but when comparing splits with Kristian it seemed I hadn’t punched at TX#5 at all, but instead at a 2m transmitter (they run the courses concurrently with different age-groups doing 80m or 2m) number 3. I have yet to see where TX#5(80m) and TX#3(2m) were actually located, but I don’t think far. This was a bit upsetting. Bruce had some strong words with Bruce which are best not repeated here.

Kristian did fabulously well to get all his 5 TXs for M21, back in time, still fighting the final leftovers of bronchitis. Ewen found 3 or his 4 TXs, having to skip the last one near the finish due to time constraints. Frustrating as he thought he wasn’t far from it, but with only 3 mins to spare from the 150min time limit, this wasn’t advisable. The single person cheer squad did well to welcome us home.

This afternoon, after a late lunch, we fiddled about with 80m receivers to make them cover the range required for the Sprint event tomorrow and the FoxOr later (sorry Greg, we made changes). Yet to work on the ARDF club one which is physically more difficult due to heatshrunk hidden circuitry. The model event for the sprint followed the usual model of zero information about where and how, and only about 1.5 hours late. Suspect their organising team is very small indeed.

We have a problem. A significant problem. No corkscrew. As you can imagine, this is a disaster, as we cannot possibly take all the wine we bought home with us due to luggage limits. Even the waiter in the restaurant wouldn’t let us use one. Some initial confusion when he first brought me a pepper grinder, but then he understood. No ! I’m sure there was a reason, but it was in Serbian.

Incidentally, Stephan from Germany is back.