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  • From: Una Smith <una.smith@att.net>
  • To: Mounted search and rescue <msar-riders@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [MSAR] Mounted orienteering
  • Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 21:24:21 -0600

Interesting...

For comparison, here is a short review of the foot-O I directed
in August of this year under USOF rules, and a FAQ for SAR folks.

Over 55 people participated in the New Mexico Orienteers meet on
August 27th, including a van load of JROTC cadets from El Paso TX
and members of NM SAR teams from Los Alamos and Albuquerque. Four
traditional orienteering courses (novice through advanced) and a
short GPS course were provided. Numerous participants enjoyed
more than one course. Course lengths were 1.6 to 5.6 kilometers,
with limited climb (for the terrain!) and from 7 to 15 controls.

For details, visit the NMO website http://www.nmorienteers.org/ ;
for each meet, course lengths, climbs, and individual results
are posted.

---------------------------- snip -----------------------------

Below are some FAQs from New Mexico SAR folks, and answers:

How is orienteering relevant to SAR? Orienteering develops
strong wilderness navigational skills: reading both map and
terrain, use of a compass, negotiation of terrain obstacles,
and selection of efficient cross-country routes of travel.

Can I bring my dog? Yes! Both SAR and pet dogs are welcome.

What should I wear and bring? Wear shoes comfy for walking
or running, whichever you plan to do. For the more advanced
courses, long pants and a quart (liter) bottle or camelback
of water are popular. For harder courses (ie, not white and
yellow), bring a compass if you have one, or rent one when
you register at the meet.

What makes a course easy or hard? The course design. Always,
the control is located on a land feature clearly shown on the
orienteering meet map. A white course is laid out entirely on
"handrails" such as trails and streambeds, and the control
typically will be located at an intersection. A yellow course
is laid on handrails but gives you the opportunity to take
cross-country shortcuts. An orange course makes less use of
handrails but uses "collecting" and "catching" land features
(boundaries such as thickets, canyon walls and fences) to keep
you from going far astray. More advanced courses are longer
(for those who like to *run* the course) and use increasingly
subtle land features.

What is a control? A control is a windsock or "flag" hanging
in plain view. To document visiting the control, you punch a
card that you carry, using a punch tool tied onto the control.

How long should I search for any control? Not at all. If you
don't see the control as you approach the location shown on the
map, STOP (Stop, Think, Observe, Plan). Odds are, you are in
the wrong location. Controls are not hidden. Orienteering is
about reading map and terrain, navigating in the terrain, and
planning your route; it is *not* about searching.

Can I go to the controls out of sequence? In an official meet,
no; it's against the rules. In practice, yes but you should
try not to go out of sequence. Course designs assume that you
will go to each control in sequence; following the course as
designed will help you avoid obstacles, dangerous terrain etc.

What does it cost? $1 per person (free if you join NMO), plus
$6 for a special map.

---------------------------- snip -----------------------------

The following month, September, our meet drew 154 participants,
including three school bus loads of Scout and JROTC kids; in
the southwest these are mostly "youth intervention" programs.
Also, most of the kids' families do not speak English at home.
New Mexico Orienteers is only two years old and next month will
start using its second custom map, for a location in the east
Sandias, east of Albuquerque.

Una Smith
New Mexico




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