Come join us for the annual BAOC Club Social at Stanford University on Saturday Dec. 13. There will be a full day of events for your orienteering pleasure:

• Beginner clinics: 10am - noon
• Daytime courses: 10am - 3pm
• Trail-O Workshop: 2 - 3:30pm
• Intermediate Skills Clinic: 3:30 - 5pm
• Night-O: approx 5:30pm (or when reasonably dark)
• Pot-luck: after the Score-O.

The events will be at the Gates Building on the Stanford campus, detailed directions are at the end of this announcement.

Daytime courses:

There will be the traditional White and Yellow courses, as well as a 3-loop Motala. Those who do the Motala can choose to do any or all of the loops, and in any order. Starts/finishes will be in front of the Gates building. Course stats are not yet final:

• White - 2.5 km, 8 Controls
• Yellow - 3.5 km, 11 Controls
• Motala Loop 1 - 2.1 km, 10 Controls - emphasizes shorter legs
• Motala Loop 2 - 2.9 km, 5 Controls - emphasizes a bit longer legs
• Motala Loop 3 - 3.4 km, 9 Controls

Trail-O Workshop

At this Saturday's BAOC event at Stanford, you will have the chance to explore the in's and out's of Trail Orienteering with Nick Corsano and Gary Kraght. There will be a workshop from 2:00 to 3:30 in the Gates Building on Trail O, and we will also set up a series of four controls, with self-serve start, finish and results, so you can try it out for yourself. The workshop is free; there will be a $1 map charge to do the mini-course.

Trail Orienteering is a new version of the sport designed to challenge a person's map reading ability and powers of observation, not physical speed or stamina. It provides people with limited mobility the chance to participate on equal terms with those who are more able-bodied. Manual or electric wheelchairs, walking aids and physical assistance are permitted.

You will get a map with control circles, and a clue sheet, but instead of navigating from control to control, you will follow a path (marked with streamers at Stanford) to a "viewing station", not marked on your map, in sight of the control location. There will be 3-4 control markers in view; your challenge is to decide which one marks the correct location of the control, according to the map and the control description.

Trail O is deceptively simple in concept, but in the workshop we will unravel its complexities, and hopefully whet your appetite for this unique type of competition. We will also cover some of the considerations in putting on a Trail Orienteering event.

The mini-course will be open from about noon to 3:00, and then again briefly after the end of the workshop. Maps and detailed instructions will be available in the registration area. We will also have a display of the correct answers for you to look at after you finish. From about 1:30 to 2:00, and then at 3:30, you will have the bonus of doing a "timed control".

Intermediate Skills Clinic

Dan Greene will be giving an intermediate orienteering clinic from 3:30 - 5:00 pm at the Stanford event this Saturday in the Gates Building.

Here's a rough outline. The emphasis of the clinic will be adjusted to match the skill levels of the participants.

1. Review of orienteering navigation and route planning techniques.
   A brief description of: attack points, collecting features, catching features, aiming off, following a bearing, pace counting, simplifying the map, green-yellow-red phase navigation, route choice, and backwards route planning.
2. Choosing the right routes and techniques.
   We'll look at sample maps of courses to understand which techniques to apply. This part of the clinic is aimed at developing the skills needed to quickly assess the likely benefits of different orienteering techniques and to judge the risks associated with various approaches to sample course legs.
3. How to learn from your experience.
   This portion is aimed at developing the ability to assess your own orienteering and to identify skills you need to develop. We'll cover common errors and how to avoid them, as well as more general ways to use splits, and after-event discussions to improve your orienteering.

Night-O

There will be 50 and 70 minute score-O courses. Participants can choose to do one or the other, and declare which course at the finish. Starts/finishes will be in front of the Gates building.

Pot-luck

The pot-luck will be in the Gates building, after the night-O. We will be able to plug in crock pots, There is also a small kitchen w/an equally small refrigerator, so please use coolers where possible. Bring a favorite dish to share. BAOC will supply plates/cups/utensils.