#1 ran up the wrong valley about 100m before realizing my mistake
#2-#6 mostly OK
#7 a slow route up the hill, more left through the forest or using the path would have been better
#8 a small loop to find the flag
Firmaliiga result 40./61
Itärastit, Latokartano
Nice going on 1-4, then a little slower to #5.
Towards #6 I first had the wrong direction and found the road close to #7 instead. Then again the wrong direction from the road towards #6??
7-9 OKish. Big problems on #10 - should learn to recognize these harder legs and play it very safe. Many paths that were not marked on the map lead to all kinds of confusion..
Länsirastit, Kaitakorpi
Very long #2->#3 and #4->5 legs on this course. No major mistakes but not that fast going either..
Firmaliiga 2013/2, Laakso
21.5.2013 Firmaliiga, Laakso
#6 the organizers had placed this control incorrectly - more than half of the field did not find it.
#9 only major orienteering mistake here - looking for the control on the wrong hill for about 3 minutes before re-locating using the road.
#12 someone had stolen the control flag! By itself the small EMIT-control taped to a tree was hard to find.
#13 should have approached control from above, not below.
Firmaliiga result 35./58
Firmaliiga 2013/1, Salmi
14.5.2013 Firmaliiga, Salmi
#1 when initially lost, should have continued to the road, re-located on map, and would have found control much quicker.
#6 approaching the control from above would have been better.
Firmaliiga result 49./56
Equatorial Wedge - Drawings
By popular demand, drawings for the iOptron MiniTower Equatorial Wedge project I completed in 2010 August-September (see old blog posts: base, top, side, knobs)
Here's how the wedge looks like. It consists of a fixed plate that attaches to the tripod, two fixed side plates that bolt to the bottom plate, and a moving plate that tilts about 10 degrees. The wedge is designed so that the centre of gravity of the MiniTower is positioned straight over the middle of the tripod.
The extra 6mm hole in the side-plates is for an M6 threaded rod through the mount which should provide precise azimuth-adjustment. I did not complete this feature (for example a rotating nut in the fixed plate would be needed).
PDF drawings:
Aluerastit, Reuna
#4 veered off course and came close to #9. Should have taken the route shown as the blue line.
#5 too high up the hill close to the control
#12 running along the highest point of the hill would probably have been better
Iltarastit, Pirttibacka
6.5.2013, Pirttibacka. This should have been a familiar map... but made bigger mistakes on three out of twelve legs. (numbers refer to the control-codes on the map)
#30 Aaargh! How is it possible to start towards the first control at 90-degrees to the right direction??
#6 wanted to run along the path and find the less steep opening in the hill (blue-line). Didn't run far enough and instead circled around #19
#14 my route is direct but the second half is slow going through an area with many details. The blue line probably shows a route which is easier and more fool-proof to implement.
Itärastit, Salmenkallio
4.5.2013 Salmenkallio. Ugh - many mistakes (five out of twelve legs) - and they were out of maps so had to use a hand-drawn map.
#3 circling around as I was looking for the control on top of a ridge or at a saddle, when in fact it was much lower down. Wrong interpretation of height contours..
#5 BIG problems. It should have been easy to run along the path and look for the right cliff features on the right and find the control 50m from the path. I managed to climb the hill much too soon and circle around on top of it. Dead last in the split-times! 
#6 veering off compass course to the right, which resulted in unnecessary distance. Blue line shows a better direction.
#11 somehow I was afraid of the green area and decided to run around it, but made a much bigger loop than necessary. Should have run right through(blue line) the green thick area!
Länsirastit, Olars
2.5.2013 Olars. Again quite good! Maybe slightly harder course.
#1 maybe a bit too careful at the start
#3 very slow close to the control - went for the wrong feature inside the control-circle
#7 did not have very good control/feel for the distance along the #6-#7 path. should have kept up speed better along the path.
#10 amazingly, the huge detour right around the hill resulted in the best leg on this course! Fast running on the road/path, then very carefully into the control which looked hard to find on the map.
