JK 2007 Review

[distracted]

clearings on the detailed green hill that were ignored....

Interestingly, the maps that have appeared on routegadget for Day 3 seem to have plenty of clearings on the light-green covered spoil heap, which are definitely not on my printed map. I do now have vague memories of another map correction in the start lanes (as well as the random black dots) which might have been related to this - can anyone enlighten me?

[Simon E]

Interestingly, the maps that have appeared on routegadget for Day 3 seem to have plenty of clearings on the light-green covered spoil heap, which are definitely not on my printed map.

Map health warning! The Routegadget maps are derived from an early composite OCAD map covering all of the day 2 and 3 areas. They are slightly different in several places to the maps used in competition, but they made it easier for me to generate what I needed for Routegadget itself.

[awk]

Map health warning! They are slightly different in several places to the maps used in competition,

A pity, as the clearings on the green hill do make a lot more sense than what I had on my map- certainly would have helped prevent the parallel error I made.

[LostAgain]

Great event, great weather and great planning.

Would not be sorry if we never use EMIT again.
Many, many upset kids on Day 2!!!! Lots and lots of tears.....

[FatBoy]

Map health warning! They are slightly different in several places to the maps used in competition,

I didn't have a problem with the clearings not being on - didn't even notice as was map reading entirely by contours in there, although in hindsight I do remember the clearings. I presume they were taken off for clarity?

[bendover]

did anyone else notice how the JK seems to drag a load of old faces from out of the woodwork?

[King Tim]

Some faces looking older than others hey, Ben?!

[Stodgetta]

It's not all the old faces that are scarey - it's their children

[JimB]

1:3000 was great for the Sprint.

Also sweet was the touch-free punching. This is definitely my favorite form of punching so far as a competitor, from what I experienced. The focus is on orienteering, not fiddling with a mechanism or discerning a beep. Way easier than stick-in-a-hole, which is way easier than wrench-a-wrist. (Although, I hear that conventional Emit is less difficult if you have a version 3 card with display, and just tap the control unit with the end of the card, and use the card's display to verify punching as with touch-free.)

I wonder how the organizing is with touch-free. If the units are always-on, like normal Emits, and the software is decent, then it could be a dreamy system...low hassle for organizers and competitors alike.

Did anyone have any problem with it?

[Adventure Racer]

Apologies for bringing this back up again, but what exactly was the problem with day 2 and Emit on the kids' courses? (if there is a real issue with Emit, then it does need resolving - most of what I've heard so far is along the lines of people putting SI d*bbers in the wrong side of the hole, as I've seen done at ARs with free hanging control units - oh, and personally I've mispunched twice with SI, never with Emit).

[FatBoy]

I wonder how the organizing is with touch-free.

I think the only problem is the "units" (flags?) are bulky so putting many out away from civilisation is a pain. Of course all e-punching units are bulkier than bamboo canes...

[PeteL]

It's not the emit blocks that are bulky, it's the metal stakes! Our club has a set of 'free hanging' emit blocks we use for smaller events and attach them either to control features or canes - much easier to put out and collect.

We've not had problems with juniors mis-punching as far as i know, but then we try to make sure all new starters get a good briefing before they start, most kids seem to like the idea of seeing the scrolling bars as a form of comfort they are doing the right thing. I take it there were demonstrator controls in the assembly areas at the JK? If so, those not familiar should have made use of them to sort out their technique before getting into the heat of the battle.

I'm with AdventureRacer on the mis-punching thing, I must have used emit approx. 10-15 times/year for the last five years and not mis-punched once yet (famous last words...).

I can't believe the moaning about emit - just get on with it, it's not going away!

[tendon]

Apologies for bringing this back up again, but what exactly was the problem with day 2 and Emit on the kids' courses? (if there is a real issue with Emit, then it does need resolving

Early starters went through without the bricks being started. Those children that had been to the demo in the field were ok, as were later starters, once it was realised that there was a problem

Not an EMIT problem, and not the kids/beginners fault either.

[Adventure Racer]

Much like not having clear and check with SI then?

[LostAgain]

Apologies for bringing this back up again, but what exactly was the problem with day 2 and Emit on the kids' courses? .

I understand it was something to do with starting the EMIT cards at their start. All the early to middle starter (before 11.30'ish)approx 50% got to the finish to find they were disqualified.

The first kids were deemed to have mispunched and left to believe they had. As it became apparent that it was all the kids that were disqualified something was done to rectify the problem.

Unfortuantely kids continued to finish and were informed they were disqualified.... Tears and much upset. Re-instated next day.