CHCCS ARDF
2017-10-08, Fall #3, 80m Classic
Carolina North Forest - East
Event Report
Island Creative TimeThe family website of Kelly and Patrick Sears
This page is an event report for one of the Chapel Hill - Carrboro City Schools ARDF events directed by Kelly and Patrick Sears. For comments, suggestions, and questions; please contact Kelly Sears [ksears (at) chccs (dot) k12 (dot) nc (dot) us].
Everyone was in good cheer, braving the hot, muggy weather. Quite a few decided to go out on their own after a quick refresher and everyone found at least two of the foxes - Excellent! Overall, there were eleven participants from three middle schools (5 students, 6 family members). They went out in five teams. If you find a mistake or need some information changed, please let me know [ patrick (dot) r (dot) sears [at] gmail (dot) com ].
The course. The courses were only slightly longer this time. Red (all 5 foxes) was 3.1 km, green (4 foxes) was 2.6 km, and orange (3 foxes) was 2.0 km. We used the same area as last time, CNF on the East side of Seawell School Rd. The longest distance across the course area was 1.7 km.
Equipment.
For those interested,
I added a few notes about the equipment in
small web page here.
Thank you to all our helpers. Thanks to all the middle school and high school teachers and staff who helped get the word out to the students: Rachel Hopler (Science Teacher, Culbreth Middle School), Christine Lippy (Science Teacher, McDougle Middle School), Al McArthur (Technology Facilitator, Phillips Middle School), Haley Wamble (Science Teacher, East Chapel Hill High School), SaCola Lehr (Media Specialist, Chapel Hill High School), Libby Diesel (Library Assistant, Chapel Hill High School), Kara Watson (Media Specialist, Carrboro High School). Thanks to Charles and Nadia Scharlau for help during the event and with control pickup. Thanks to Isaac Sears who came to help with control pickup. Thanks to Greg Kopsch (Park Manager at Carolina North Forest) for the use of CNF.
When we arrived to set up the start, our volunteers, Charles and Nadia, were already there. Soon Lucy arrived with her father. They got a refresher and then went off on the orange course. We had a big group arrive next. Josie and Jack and their fathers arrived. Again, a refreshed and off they went. It was great fun to see such a large group going out. Then Toby and his family arrived. Toby joined with Nadia, one of our volunteers, to discuss some advanced strategy and try out some equipment that Charles and Nadia had brought. Toby then went off on the red course for a serious run while Toby's family took the orange course. Harper and his mother arrived soon after Toby. It was their first time and we had the class followed by the class outing on the orange course.
The class group started on the course by going straight up the main path to leave the exclusion zone. Soon we were searching for Fox 4. That was an easy first find and we met Lucy and her father there. They were doing an excellent job on the orange course without knowing the optimum order. Very cool! The class group went on to search for Fox 1. Mostly this was getting back on the major trails and heading west. A few cycles later, we were at Fox 1. At this point, everyone was getting used to the technique and we headed for Fox 5, our last one. As we searched for an easy path along our intended bearing, it became clear that Fox 5 would be different. There was no trail consistently going in the correct direction. But the group was up to the challenge. Five or six cycles later, Fox 5 came into view. Here we met Josie and Jack's large group. They came in fast and took off fast again. After this came the straight shot through open woods to the homing beacon. We arrived back at the finish table, and everyone was there talking about their adventures. ☺
A big thank you to the parents who came out to help support the event: Jason, Kate, Pete, Carol, John, and David. You guys make it a super event. We couldn't do it without you.
| # | participants (school, grade) | finds | time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course: 5 foxes (all) | |||
| 1 | Toby (SMS-7), Nadia (v) | 1 2 3 4 5 H | 75' |
| Course: 4 foxes (1 2 4 5) | |||
| 1 | Josie (McDMS-6), Jack (McDMS-6), Pete (f), John (f) | 1 2 4 5 H | 100' |
| Course: 3 foxes (1 4 5) | |||
| 1 | Jason (f), Kate (f) | 1 4 5 H | 75' |
| 2 | Lucy (PMS-7), David (f) | 1 4 H | 107' |
| Course: class, 3 foxes (1 4 5) / known order | |||
| 1 | Harper (PMS-7), Carol (f) | 1 4 5 H | 69' |
The entries are listed first by chosen course. Those starting with the class group are listed at the end. Then entries are listed by the number of foxes found on that course and finally by the time on course. The # column gives the results placement for that course. The finds column notes the controls found: foxes 1 through 5 and H for the homing beacon. Foxes numbers in parentheses were not on the chosen course. The time column is the time on course. Students are listed with their school and grade. We use the following schools abbreviations: PMS Phillips MS, SMS Smith MS, McDMS McDougle MS, CMS Culbreth MS, CHHS Chapel Hill HS, ECHHS East Chapel Hill HS, CaHS Carrboro HS, f family or guest friend, es elementary school, s chccs student (no school info).
Clicking pictures will bring up original full-sized versions. All participants are listed as seen in the picture from left to right. Pictures are generally listed in chronological order trying to keep groups together.
Sorry, there is only one picture of the start time. It was totally crazy with for a while and we didn't have the time.
Kate, Kelly. Kate is checking out headphones and probably listening to the homing beacon. [1]
Harper, Carol, Patrick. Discussing the map.
David, Lucy. Coming back from their hunt.
Kate, Jason. At the homing beacon punch.
Kate, Jason. Coming in through the finish shoot.
Jack. In the finish shoot, untangling a vine from his receiver.
Toby running in through the finish shoot. [1]
Charles, Toby, Kate, Josie (behind), Jack, Pete, John. The usual post-hunt discussion around the main table.
Pete, Josie, Jack, John. A happy crew after an arduous and successful hunt.
Toby, Jason. Around the equipment area.
Patrick, Carol, Harper. Returning through the finish shoot.
Harper, Carol. Just finished. Excellent job!
A ball on the side of a tree. I saw it next to Fox 4 during the antenna setting run, the day before the event. Cool. I'm not sure what it is. It looks a bit like an dried up puffball mushroom with a hole.
Spider friend. This is one of the crazy big spiders we've all been seeing in the woods. Beautiful yellow and black abdomen, orange thorax and head, orange first section of legs, black and light tan stripped on the rest of the legs. This one hitched a ride on the backpack right behind my head during the transmitter course setting run on the morning of the event.
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