Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Wekiva Orienteering

I had to try this - here is an animated GPS track of the Red Course Orienteering from Wekiva this last weekend. Pretty cool to see this. The little slowdown you see at each flag is me untying the flag and then also tying it up correctly to be able to carry with my pack. Little note - I decided to try and find the little "alley" between CP 7 and CP 8 rather than the easy and obvious trail route, it is cool how it picks up those turns on the animation.

Tuesday, March 08, 2011

Solar Power Forum

We just recently hosted a Solar Power Forum here at Daytona State (I worked on hosting). The question I get A LOT is why is Solar power not taking off as fast in Florida as it is in other states - well here is one answer as to why Florida is lagging behind "non-sunshine" states;


1. A Solar PPA (or Power Purchasing Agreement) is an agreement where a company places a solar system on your property and then you pay (at a reduced rate) for the power it produces.  The company maintains, insures, and monitors the system - and pays for the installation up-front. This model has become very popular in many states.

Bottom line for consumer - pay nothing, enter long term lease for purchasing reduced rate power from PPA provider. This reduces your overall power bill - so you end up paying less for power (here is a good easy to read paper on it) http://www.solarpowerpartners.com/PDFs/Is%20a%20Solar%20PPA%20Right%20for%20you.pdf

2. Florida faces some challenges with PPA - Florida does not allow third party ownership PPA model and it is the only state where this is not even in debate. A court ruling from 1981 ruled that if a provider sold power to a single (defined as one) buyer - they would be considered a public utility (and all that this means). In 2007 the Florida Energy Commission recommended changing the statute to the governor, the recommendation was never taken up in the legislature. (http://dukespace.lib.duke.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/10161/843/MP_kwk5_a_.20090;jsessionid=32EDE11200E39248219052EC724AE9CA?sequence=1 )

3. The point that the group was making - was that until PPA becomes a viable option in Florida, we will not see widespread adoption of solar power within the state of Florida. They encouraged everyone to contact their elected officials to "move" on this issue.

Sunday, March 06, 2011

BOAR Adventure Race

After running the 8 K through the marshes of the St. John's - I guess running is a strong word since much of it was slogging through mud that sucked you in to the tops of your ankles - we were the second team to reach the boats. We had taken some good shortcuts that allowed us to get ahead of faster teams. The first team, Oscar and company was heading the wrong way on the river, we really needed to portage 1/4 mile back the way we came to Lake Cone and get in their.

Manny was just behind us with about 5-6 more teams close on their heels. I saw a small cut-through portage that would gain us a little bit of ground and get us out of the water too shallow to paddle. The first 3 steps into the water were solid and then the ground just dropped off completely. I was in a muck hole up to my neck. Luckily Jim was able to hop in the boat before he too got sucked in. I held on to the boat to stay above water and told them to paddle and toss me the rope we had been using to portage. The muck was bubbling up in front of me as I tried to move forward. A little to our left Manny was in the same predicament. I told Jim and Wanda to paddle hard and I would tow behind the boat trying to get my legs onto a plane with the water instead of straight down. A couple of minutes of that and I was now horizontal in the water (instead of vertical) and crawling across the black gook and water. Another 2 minutes and the ground was solid enough for me to pull myself into the boat and we were paddling. By this time the 5-6 teams that were behind us were now 5-6 teams in front of us.

And so goes adventure racing. We made some really good navigation choices on teh next 3 controls and another strategic portage (leaving CP9) that put us back in the lead for a few minutes.

 This is how the day would go for this race. I think that at least 8 teams led this race at some point during the race. We had a tight group of strong teams with no one team able to pull ahead for much longer. In the end - it was Utility Mutants who would use their strong biking to get ahead of the pack. Nature Calls was on their heels for second place, and we pulled in third (FL Xtreme II) - with three more teams right on our wheels. We battled the marsh - had an incredible paddle, biked through some incredible headwinds. The navigation was relatively easy making for a tight race field and a tight finish. A beautiful day, an incredible area, - all made for an outstanding experience. Thanks to Manny for a course map (shown) and Pangea for a well set race - results are here http://www.pangeaadventureracing.com/event-details/events/2011-boar-ar