Photo gallery image (click to enlarge)

Point Pinole Regional Shoreline

Date: (Sun.) Feb. 9, 2025
Location: Richmond, CA
Event Director: - 510.407.1876
Course Setter: Steve Gregg
Type: C; How will Steve challenge us this year? Everyone is welcome, including non-members and beginners, with free, brief, beginner instruction available

Please note that fees and time limits apply. Events are typically not canceled due to bad weather.


Wet Feet and Control Location alert!

Bring an extra, dry pair of shoes to Point Pinole! There is a lot of standing water in the park, and especially on the Orange courses, you will finish with either somewhat wet or very wet feet, depending on your chosen route in and out of a particular control — more on that later. Fortunately, there is no mud to speak of, so you shouldn't have to worry about your shoes falling off, unlike a couple of Point Pinole events in days of yore.
There are two controls on the Orange courses that I was unable to place in their proper locations today, since they are currently under about a foot and a half of water. The descriptions for both of those controls are "between two rootstocks". Amusingly enough, the pink vetting streamers are still visible above the water, and are in the right place in both cases. I moved both controls to the nearest spot that was still on dry ground — about 3 meters away in both cases. In one case, no one will have any trouble spotting the bag and punching the control, since it is quite a bit more visible now than it would have been otherwise.
However, the second control is more problematic, as a nearby swamp is now quite a bit larger than mapped, and covers the control location. One previously quite reasonable route choice was to go through the almost dry swamp, but to do that now will require splashing through shin- to knee-deep water for 20 meters or so. And there is a lot of poison oak in the neighborhood of the control, too. I apologize in advance for anyone who finds this control annoying, or difficult to reach, or both.
On a positive note, the weather will be beautiful, and the grass in the open meadows is still short and green. Hope to see you at the event!
Steve Gregg, Course Setter
(Feb. 8 at 6:15 PM)


Course Setter's Notes

by Steve Gregg

This year's Point Pinole event returns to its usual mid-winter date. Unless we encounter heavy rain on the day of the event, this should lead to a better orienteering experience than was the case last year. The grass is still nice and short in the open meadows, with the running conditions there about as good as it gets. Yes, there is still a lot of poison oak in the wooded areas of the park, but it has not leafed out yet, and currently takes the form of bare brown sticks. You will almost certainly come into contact with it on both of the Orange courses, and you should take the usual precautions, but at least you won't be seeing any of the large, scary, green, poison-oak bushes this year!

The courses offered are similar to last year. The Sprint Orange course features many short legs — as technical as the map allows — while keeping you out of the really bad poison-oak areas. The Long Orange course is more of a "runner's course", featuring longer legs, with more time spent in the open areas, and on trails.

There are a lot of newly fallen eucalyptus trees in the park. I have mapped all of the ones that I deemed important for navigation, and used a couple of them for control locations. However, you will possibly encounter some large fallen trees that are still unmapped. Additionally, some of the previously-mapped trees are no longer quite as distinct on the ground as they once were. Rootstocks are mapped with a brown ×, and in the cases where the trunk of the tree is also mapped, a brown line will extend out from the brown ×.

You will probably encounter some orange, temporary fencing on the Orange courses. I did not map these fences, as they will not require you to deviate from the optimal straight-line routes between the controls. Just be aware that they exist.

All the maps will be printed on 8½"x11" paper, at 1:7500 scale. The contour interval is 2.5 meters.

There will be no water placed on any of the courses, so please carry with you any water that you might need.

Here are the course stats:

    Course          Distance   Climb  Controls
    White            2.4 km     50 m     10  
    Yellow           2.8 km     50 m     12
    Sprint Orange    3.4 km     65 m     14  
    Long Orange      5.3 km     65 m     13
    Combo Orange     8.7 km    130 m     27

Note for the Combo Orange Course

You will start with the Sprint Orange map. After punching the GO control on that course, you will head directly to the Start (not to the Finish shown on the map), pick up a Long Orange map, and then proceed to control #1 on the Long Orange course. You will not punch a control at the Start area for this second course — all you need to do there is pick up your second map.

The Sprint Orange and Long Orange courses share several controls, but for the most part you will be approaching them from different directions on each course, so there will be some fresh navigational challenges.