Solutions:
Timed controls -
TC1,
TC2
Controls -
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
7,
8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15
Since this course was in dissimilar terrain to the following day’s BTOC we couldn’t really consider this a Model Event, but where possible we tried to duplicate the procedures for the following day. We tried to make the most of the Urban terrain but tried to add some variety as we went round.
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TC1
C |
 |
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An indoor Timed Control (TC)! You might have got distracted as to where the Decision Point (DP) was on the map or whether the wall round the pond was actually on the “edge” of it but hopefully you realised that since you were viewing from the North the West edge was the single kite on the right not one of those on the left.
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TC2
C |
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The expectation here was that you would be distracted by how many fences there were and be surprised by all the fences on top of the buildings. Care had to be taken since the fences were at many different heights and you had to work out which way the corners went and what direction that was.
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1
B |
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The centre of the circle was in-line with the middle of the building on the right, this middle could be worked out from moving up the road. This led to it being in-line with the middle of the third portacabin. Looking between the buildings you could see that 3 of the kites were not at that position and so could be eliminated leaving one kite that had to be pretty close to that position. The viewing point from the SE would have given you a better view but you weren’t permitted to go there.
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2
C |
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Two controls on one cluster! Both were centred on the statue (which celebrates the use of nuclear fission for peaceful purposes BTW). So what is the definition of NW side for a point feature? Do you include any overhang? How about underhang? The answer is that it should be at control height, so overhang is ignored.
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3
A |
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Note that the statue has multiple pieces. You could tell by following the line of the building that the mapped point feature was NOT centred on the largest piece of the statue, but instead between the pieces. For Trail-O when there is no column G discriminator then the geographic centre of the feature as viewed from above is used.
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4
Z |
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So was the vegetation boundary where the main trunks were, where the canopy reaches to, or where the small line of saplings is? It was in fact the latter, but since none of the kites were far enough up the hill it was a Z control.
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5
A |
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The first of our long-range controls. The path pointed at the small depression and the fence line went just to its right. The 2 nearer kites were too close to the steeper part of slope (and fence top) leaving the other which was at the correct distance. Note that since you couldn’t see the small depression it would be unfair to have a control so close to the middle without it being correct.
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6
Z |
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If you looked at your compass you’d see that none of these angles were facing the right way, the correct angle was on the other side of the building. Not so hard for those of you who do Urban/Sprint Foot-O.
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7
C |
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An asymmetric hill: the vegetation coincided with the base contour on the map and so it was easy to work out the extent of the hill. Pacing along the road gave the midway point, all kites being along the longer centreline of the hill.
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8
C |
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The open on the flat gave way to rough open in the lower part of the hill and then open forest above that with a high canopy (and hence no distinct veg symbol). 2 of the kites were as described in the control descriptions with one on the flat open part and the other on the hill in the rough (and in middle of the circle). The other was too high up the hill and hence must be under the canopy.
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9
B |
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A was too close to building line on the left, by reading the vegetation and/or judging the distances you could see that C was too far to the right leaving B correct.
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10
B |
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From DP you could see two thickets, but by moving you could see that there was a 3rd higher up. The middle thicket was too small to map and the correct flag was the one in front of it and directly between the outer two large ones.
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11
Z |
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You had to look over a (low) building to see the kites. Like the TC earlier working out which direction the fence was going was tricky and while there was one kite very close to the middle bend it wasn’t where the corner was (although the fence did bend there in the vertical plane).
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12
B |
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Another long range control; the plan here was to line up the fences around the golf nets with the end of the thicket in the distance and assess the relative distances from the kites to the front of the thicket.
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13
B |
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Relatively straightforward as long as you could see that the curve of the thicket ended precisely at the middle of the wall when it met it.
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14
E |
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Could be solved by compass bearing over a 40m distance (kites on correct side of fence were at 4m intervals) when viewed from further along the track from the DP.
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15
D |
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A question of what is mapped and what isn’t: this should have been an easy one to finish with as long as you didn’t make a quick decision from the DP. The smaller bush wasn’t mapped, the isolated tree being the one near the bench.
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