Akld Training Weekend

A brief report from James on the Akld training weekend...sounds good, Huriwai has always been a challenge "we started saturday arvo: 1st Exercise: simplification Aim: to try and eliminate all the unnecessary info, especially the intense rock. getting the kids to run across large strecthes of land and rather than identifying the hundreds of rocks, just think of them as big groups of rocks and navigate by using the contours. Then once Attack points have been reached, start reading the rock detail to nail the control. 2nd exercise: Hard out 'red light' navigation Aim: using the most intense rock detail on the map, we set a small course to try and get the kids to navigate through huge boulders and rock formations. Requiring heaps of 'thumbing' and concentration and paying special attention to the control descriptions to make sure they are attacking the controls from the right directions and are also lookin in the right place, rather than just 'in the control cirlce' and ideally saving those crucial seconds entering and exiting the control as they weave through a maze of giant rocks! 3rd exercise: Contour appreciation/Night navigation Aim: Careful map reading while trying to create safe routes using contours and rock formations as handrails. Also paying special attention to the compass as they cross areas of more detailed contours and aim for big attack points. Sunday: Long course: We set a course all over the map to simulate a big race. Aim:To try and put into practice all of the techniques that we worked on saturday."