We did the usual check-in, ate dinner, went to pre-race, and dropped our bikes. We would get maps the next morning, but we knew the general course layout the night before.
Start at TA1
1. Short Orienteering Prolog
2. Long paddle
3. Bike to another park
4. Orienteering at park
5. Bike back to TA1
6. Orienteering at TA1
7. Bike to TA2
8. Orienteering at TA2
9. Long paddle to Finish
10. Bike leg returning to finish
Quite a fun course with many transitions and sections. I was really looking forward to the race.
1. Short Orienteering Prolog - 2 1/2 mile and 12 checkpoints. We headed out at a light jog and made quick of this section. We were about 2/3 back in the pack when we hit the boats for the long paddle. It was a beautiful morning and I was quite happy with how it was going. We had not expended too much energy and had not wasted too much time in navigation errors.
2. The long paddle was just that. We took a clockwise route. I love paddling and really enjoyed this section. JJ, however did not - an injury (torn rotator cuff) was severely aggravated and by the last 5 miles of the paddle, JJ was really struggling with the paddling. Early in the paddle he was steering - and we should have moved him, but that was our first mistake.
3. By the time we returned from the paddle we were near the back of the pack. This was fine - we prepared to ride and headed out. We had a small issue with finding the Bartram trailhead - but were soon on the route. There was no real navigation and we simply tried to optimize our timing. As we hit one road section we passed Adventure Medical Kits going the other way, doing well over 20 mph and eating on the bike. A few spots along the trail were tricky and we ended up walking rather than sliding of the trail. (I did slide off the trail as I did attempt to ride it). We were essentially in the same place as we arrived at CP12 and started the first orienteering course.
4. Orienteering 1 - Starting up the road we well overshot the attack point and found a control from another race (as did many others). By dropping south to the water I quickly realized my mistake we double back to CP13. Next we followed the shoreline finding the North-South channel and shot into CP14. From there we headed due south to the trail (second trail) - headed east to the hilltop on the trail and dropped south to the control (also bring a half dozen teams in the area to it). From there it was a straight run on trail back to CP12.
5. Bike back to TA1 - We decided to use the south route (on the loop) to return. Two things happened - it got dark and the trail disappeared. I knew pretty well where we were and we simply bike whacked north (at the north dimple) and picked up the south dimple, and finally bike whacked out and finished the ride to TA1.
6. Orienteering 2 - We seemed to have picked up a lot of places as we headed out on orienteering 2. We decided on a counter clockwise route. CP19 and CP16 went quickly. CP17 was a disaster and I finally got it by shooting a bearing from the gate house of the park. My mistake was using the clue and trying to search each re-entrant. The control really was not really in a re-entrant, but was in an area where there were plenty of them. We did help some teams that were struggling with it (as did we). CP18 and CP21 went quickly, however I totally misjudged CP20 (and let my attention lapse). We ended up having to go to the water where I mistook the coves, which led us on a long back and forth where we ran into Team Chunk - and we got the control and headed back to the TA. We had pretty much lost all our gains from the first Orienteering.
7. Bike to TA2 - This was simply fun and fast (Bartram Trail). Awesome flowing single track with a couple of checkpoints along the way.
8. Orienteering 3 - My this time it was obvious we would not be able to do paddle 3. Not because of timing, but JJ had no shoulder left. We could have paddled with just Courtney and I - but for some reason this never occurred to me. Still we were having fun - and I was looking forward to the next orienteering. Unfortunately it was not looking forward to me. I had misplotted CP27 (see both locations on map). Jeff from FLX was supposed to check my plots - but had missed this one as we ran short on time. We grabbed CP25 and CP29 quickly. We decided to go around by road to CP28 where we ran into AK-47 man. At first he was upset about people that had cut through his yard, but after some chatting at the Bait shop all was OK. I also helped them to know where the best fishing was as we had paddled the day before through some massive schools of fish that I had noted. Some locals were still not happy about our approach to CP28 and it was getting light - so we called it a day and headed back to the TA (on the road).
From here we simply biked back to the finish. We were looking forward to some real food and got some awesome South Carolina BBQ. The banquet was great and it was great to see everyone. I also won an entry to the 4 day race in Virginia sponsored by 361 adventures which I am setting up a team already. All in all I would have liked to been able to clear the course. Neither JJ, nor I were at 100% - but I also was satisfied and enjoyed simply enjoying the race.
