STeveD
01-09-2011, 04:07 PM
We were pleased to see Perry show up to register, and we were wondering who his driver was. Well, no one. He was going to run it solo, doing the driving and the navigation.
Intermediate? Solo? Yes, that IS insane. If you happen to be lucky enough to get a simple set of NOVICE notes it's doable. But there were two challenges in this plan:
#1: Kurt is known to be a very technical organizer, with just enough little "gotchas" in there to challenge people.
#2: Intermediate happened to get EXPERT notes at this rally. So take the challenge that #1 proposes and CUBE that difficulty level.
So we had a quick strategy meeting with Perry... all he had to do is make it to EOL A and hand in his card roughly on time, and then make it to EOR and do the same, and he'd count as a finisher. We THOUGHT that would give him 2nd place automatically as there were only two expected intermediate entries.
He could almost do a Trevor strategy on this one... enter the rally, then proceed straight to the Pub and drink beer while you calculate your in time to the End of Leg. But no! Kurt made End of Leg at a Tim Hortons out in Smithville. So Perry would actually have to drive most of the rally and ended up finding two checkpoints by accident while darting from one EOS to the next.
And then it got worse for Perry... By the end of registration, there were two extra Intermediate teams entered! So he'd have to work through it and try to win or settle for a mere 7 points in 4th. Oy vey!
Suffice to say, as Opal went through the navigator intensive Leg A notes, she kept lamenting, "Oh.... poor Perry." So when it comes down to insane and dedicated motorsports efforts, Perry has got to be up at the top of the list. :cheer:
Oh, and another problem before it started. The organizer was about a half hour late to the rally. Why? Apparently part of the very long 28km ODO check was shut down. Uh oh.... Fortunately, the blockage was fixed in time for us to start! (Yay!) and with a nice long ODO Check the Timewise was wonderfully accurate throughout the rally. That was a good lesson for organizers though. You can work around most road closures as Car 0, but a screwed up ODO check is something that's a big challenge to work around.
The road conditions were perfect for the JJ; about 3" of snow on most of the roads, with some clear more major roads salted, but the majority fun to drive with no ice. CAS was quite fun, with Kurt often taking advantage of the 5% below the speed limit rule for pavement. I hope that more organizers do the same.
The expert notes for A were really well done in the style of the notes. They were all Navigation oriented, not codes or tricks, and they obviously took a lot of time and thought to put together.
A2: Eastings/Northings (Map C-ordinates)
A3: Blind Map
A4: Maplips (Intersection snap shots that you have to find on a map)
A5: Plot according to certain Rules
A6: Straight Line diagram cross (simpler than it looked)
There were a couple of problems with the execution (part of the blind map got cut off by the printer) ... and unfortunately without a magnifying glass we just couldn't find one of the Maplip intersections. Opal struggled through this while I did Section A1 and A2 (after she plotted it for me) from the paper. She just set CAS and alarms to keep us on time while she struggled through the A4 maplips. We were pulled over during that kind and generous 10min break in Leg A with me trying to help and I wasn't doing much better. On top of that, I forgot to transfer the maplight from Smokey to Pugsy so we just used the dome light all night.
In the end, we couldn't find the one Maplip, so we couldn't map out ANY of section A4 after the second turn. We had no idea where to go... at some less used intersections we were able to read the tire tracks, but we had to revert to Plan B: Start following novices, because their notes are (hopefully!) simpler. So we ended up passing novices when we thought we knew where we were, then falling back when we were lost again. Then passing again, then falling back again. They were quite understanding at the end of Leg A. Thanks to the Red GC RS, white GC RS, Dark Blue Legacy for your patience.
We had one scary moment. It was on one of our mapping sections where it was very hard to read the details, and at that point we were really just following novices in certain sections. So I chose to follow a novice in an RS that turned out to be going the wrong way.... We corrected our direction after losing a few minutes and then I was recovering on route. We came to a downhill that seemed to drop off pretty fast. I looked at the GPS, then the road and I realized that the road actually went RIGHT and I almost went up someone's driveway at 72km/h. It was a long driveway running up to a house on a hill, but I'm sure it still wouldn't have been appreciated. That was a reminder of several winter rally moments in the Bancroft area... Throw on the binders to scrub speed, pitch it right (staring straight at a hydro pole)... and thankfully... she stuck and made the turn!
Dietmar was right around the corner from there at a CP, and by then Opal had the rest of the route plotted. We got dinged for -4 minutes at CP A9 (Dietmar), which didn't make sense. Yes, we took a 2.5 TA there, but we were 3 minutes behind on the road when we found Dietmar due to the aforementioned wrong turn after the novice. I don't know how that managed to put is 4 minutes early unless there was a keyboarding error. Ah well. It might have bumped us to second if we were right, but we didn't argue it.
The notes for Leg B were nicely paced for an evening drive, except for one issue in the expert notes; the instructions given to decode B5 omitted a very important portion. So Opal struggled through the code while I ran B1, B2, B3, and B4 mostly by myself. She handled CAS and kept us on time, I did the route.
B1: Snowmen (easy, no tricks)
B2: Clock faces (easy, no tricks)
B3: Time to turn (A bit of a challenge, but a running stop watch or accurate Timewise kept you on track)
B4: One line instruction (TRICK!!! One key part of this was on the cover page of Leg B and we missed it)
B5: Binary code (with an incorrect decoding instruction)
So in B4, following Fiddlers Green we get to a T at Jerseyville, in Ancaster. We thought it was also called Lover's Lane. Turned left when we should have turned right. Ended up going about 6km the wrong way before we decided to just go to EOS, which was supposed to be at 17.42. We knew we were supposed to find Crooks Hollow, so we key that into the GPS and GO. That got us to CP 6. At this point, our ODO was reading 24km (7km longer than the section was supposed to be.) We had gone at a CAS of 36 in the wrong direction for all of those km, so I just ask for a TA of 15.5. (I knew we didn't have that much left, but I figured it would use up all we had. We still ended up with a 6 minutes late into CP6.
Then it was EOS B4. We couldn't decode more than a couple of instructions in B5... so Opal sighs and reminds me that there's beer waiting back at the Coachman.
GPS, Recently Found, Royal Coachman, GO!
"Two Smithwicks please!" :pint:
Turns out all of the experts and Perry bailed on the binary, so Kurt tossed the B5 CP's and made the finish a Route In for us. I'm not sure if Brownhill and Corbett figured it out or not, but they checked in awful late.
Speaking of Perry... at the end of Leg A he picked up a driver, and managed to finish with a score of 187. Not too shabby!!! And... get this... GOOD ENOUGH FOR 2nd INTERMEDIATE!! Why? The other two Intermediate teams BAILED earlier than he did and didn't return to the Coachman, so they were deemed DNF. Yes, stubborn to the point of insanity CAN pay off!! So Perry achieved the best result that he could hope for, and my respect! :bow:
Oh, and please welcome his stand-in driver, Ian P ("Iceypee") as as our newest SPDA member! So rallying with Perry must have been a good experience. :-)
A challenging rally, but a good one. Good points for SPDA, with Kyle winning Novice class driver. Opal and I third in expert, and Perry 2nd (!!! still can't believe that !!!) in intermediate.
We're debating the expense of the next event, Jan 22-23 which should have a more Drivex flavour. Hopefully with appropriate CAS to boot this time. MLWR will be a definite, Feb 12-13 out of Bancroft. We need some better tires though...
See you there!
Intermediate? Solo? Yes, that IS insane. If you happen to be lucky enough to get a simple set of NOVICE notes it's doable. But there were two challenges in this plan:
#1: Kurt is known to be a very technical organizer, with just enough little "gotchas" in there to challenge people.
#2: Intermediate happened to get EXPERT notes at this rally. So take the challenge that #1 proposes and CUBE that difficulty level.
So we had a quick strategy meeting with Perry... all he had to do is make it to EOL A and hand in his card roughly on time, and then make it to EOR and do the same, and he'd count as a finisher. We THOUGHT that would give him 2nd place automatically as there were only two expected intermediate entries.
He could almost do a Trevor strategy on this one... enter the rally, then proceed straight to the Pub and drink beer while you calculate your in time to the End of Leg. But no! Kurt made End of Leg at a Tim Hortons out in Smithville. So Perry would actually have to drive most of the rally and ended up finding two checkpoints by accident while darting from one EOS to the next.
And then it got worse for Perry... By the end of registration, there were two extra Intermediate teams entered! So he'd have to work through it and try to win or settle for a mere 7 points in 4th. Oy vey!
Suffice to say, as Opal went through the navigator intensive Leg A notes, she kept lamenting, "Oh.... poor Perry." So when it comes down to insane and dedicated motorsports efforts, Perry has got to be up at the top of the list. :cheer:
Oh, and another problem before it started. The organizer was about a half hour late to the rally. Why? Apparently part of the very long 28km ODO check was shut down. Uh oh.... Fortunately, the blockage was fixed in time for us to start! (Yay!) and with a nice long ODO Check the Timewise was wonderfully accurate throughout the rally. That was a good lesson for organizers though. You can work around most road closures as Car 0, but a screwed up ODO check is something that's a big challenge to work around.
The road conditions were perfect for the JJ; about 3" of snow on most of the roads, with some clear more major roads salted, but the majority fun to drive with no ice. CAS was quite fun, with Kurt often taking advantage of the 5% below the speed limit rule for pavement. I hope that more organizers do the same.
The expert notes for A were really well done in the style of the notes. They were all Navigation oriented, not codes or tricks, and they obviously took a lot of time and thought to put together.
A2: Eastings/Northings (Map C-ordinates)
A3: Blind Map
A4: Maplips (Intersection snap shots that you have to find on a map)
A5: Plot according to certain Rules
A6: Straight Line diagram cross (simpler than it looked)
There were a couple of problems with the execution (part of the blind map got cut off by the printer) ... and unfortunately without a magnifying glass we just couldn't find one of the Maplip intersections. Opal struggled through this while I did Section A1 and A2 (after she plotted it for me) from the paper. She just set CAS and alarms to keep us on time while she struggled through the A4 maplips. We were pulled over during that kind and generous 10min break in Leg A with me trying to help and I wasn't doing much better. On top of that, I forgot to transfer the maplight from Smokey to Pugsy so we just used the dome light all night.
In the end, we couldn't find the one Maplip, so we couldn't map out ANY of section A4 after the second turn. We had no idea where to go... at some less used intersections we were able to read the tire tracks, but we had to revert to Plan B: Start following novices, because their notes are (hopefully!) simpler. So we ended up passing novices when we thought we knew where we were, then falling back when we were lost again. Then passing again, then falling back again. They were quite understanding at the end of Leg A. Thanks to the Red GC RS, white GC RS, Dark Blue Legacy for your patience.
We had one scary moment. It was on one of our mapping sections where it was very hard to read the details, and at that point we were really just following novices in certain sections. So I chose to follow a novice in an RS that turned out to be going the wrong way.... We corrected our direction after losing a few minutes and then I was recovering on route. We came to a downhill that seemed to drop off pretty fast. I looked at the GPS, then the road and I realized that the road actually went RIGHT and I almost went up someone's driveway at 72km/h. It was a long driveway running up to a house on a hill, but I'm sure it still wouldn't have been appreciated. That was a reminder of several winter rally moments in the Bancroft area... Throw on the binders to scrub speed, pitch it right (staring straight at a hydro pole)... and thankfully... she stuck and made the turn!
Dietmar was right around the corner from there at a CP, and by then Opal had the rest of the route plotted. We got dinged for -4 minutes at CP A9 (Dietmar), which didn't make sense. Yes, we took a 2.5 TA there, but we were 3 minutes behind on the road when we found Dietmar due to the aforementioned wrong turn after the novice. I don't know how that managed to put is 4 minutes early unless there was a keyboarding error. Ah well. It might have bumped us to second if we were right, but we didn't argue it.
The notes for Leg B were nicely paced for an evening drive, except for one issue in the expert notes; the instructions given to decode B5 omitted a very important portion. So Opal struggled through the code while I ran B1, B2, B3, and B4 mostly by myself. She handled CAS and kept us on time, I did the route.
B1: Snowmen (easy, no tricks)
B2: Clock faces (easy, no tricks)
B3: Time to turn (A bit of a challenge, but a running stop watch or accurate Timewise kept you on track)
B4: One line instruction (TRICK!!! One key part of this was on the cover page of Leg B and we missed it)
B5: Binary code (with an incorrect decoding instruction)
So in B4, following Fiddlers Green we get to a T at Jerseyville, in Ancaster. We thought it was also called Lover's Lane. Turned left when we should have turned right. Ended up going about 6km the wrong way before we decided to just go to EOS, which was supposed to be at 17.42. We knew we were supposed to find Crooks Hollow, so we key that into the GPS and GO. That got us to CP 6. At this point, our ODO was reading 24km (7km longer than the section was supposed to be.) We had gone at a CAS of 36 in the wrong direction for all of those km, so I just ask for a TA of 15.5. (I knew we didn't have that much left, but I figured it would use up all we had. We still ended up with a 6 minutes late into CP6.
Then it was EOS B4. We couldn't decode more than a couple of instructions in B5... so Opal sighs and reminds me that there's beer waiting back at the Coachman.
GPS, Recently Found, Royal Coachman, GO!
"Two Smithwicks please!" :pint:
Turns out all of the experts and Perry bailed on the binary, so Kurt tossed the B5 CP's and made the finish a Route In for us. I'm not sure if Brownhill and Corbett figured it out or not, but they checked in awful late.
Speaking of Perry... at the end of Leg A he picked up a driver, and managed to finish with a score of 187. Not too shabby!!! And... get this... GOOD ENOUGH FOR 2nd INTERMEDIATE!! Why? The other two Intermediate teams BAILED earlier than he did and didn't return to the Coachman, so they were deemed DNF. Yes, stubborn to the point of insanity CAN pay off!! So Perry achieved the best result that he could hope for, and my respect! :bow:
Oh, and please welcome his stand-in driver, Ian P ("Iceypee") as as our newest SPDA member! So rallying with Perry must have been a good experience. :-)
A challenging rally, but a good one. Good points for SPDA, with Kyle winning Novice class driver. Opal and I third in expert, and Perry 2nd (!!! still can't believe that !!!) in intermediate.
We're debating the expense of the next event, Jan 22-23 which should have a more Drivex flavour. Hopefully with appropriate CAS to boot this time. MLWR will be a definite, Feb 12-13 out of Bancroft. We need some better tires though...
See you there!