Sunday August 23rd  2020 Multi-DF    Organiser  Roy E Location   Pods Wood near Tiptree.   Picnic   On site.

Saturday - on the way to set up Tx A.

I have used this wood for several Multis over the years, so decided I didn't need to pre-check the site, just go on Saturday with a rough plan for Tx locations and refine as I went around. The Tx PIC code had been updated to allow adjustments to Morse  and the number of phases extended from 7 to 10. This allowed me to use two test phases, one on the Saturday at 4pm so I could check before leaving the site and another on the Sunday at 11am in case night gremlins had affected anything.  However, midweek I thought I better do an internet search in case there were any problems related to the wood and came across this.  It wasn't clear whether the fire had affected the wood so I decided to get there early allowing time to swap sites if necessary. On arrival the only problem seemed to be a lot of water around the main gate, a bit strange since the rest of the wood was dry. To keep people's feet dry I decided to move the start close to the entrance to Conyfield wood. Having arrived on site at 11:30 it gave me plenty of time to locate the Txs, all were close to paths with easy access IF you were on the right path. Those of you who know the wood will be aware that there are a LOT of unmarked paths so locations were not all obvious!

In attempt to minimise the number of people heading for each Tx, at the ...

briefing regular competitors were advised that red Txs would give the same length of transmission as the yellow until 14:00, after that they would be 'red hard' until 15:00 when the ghost would go off.

At 15:00 the ghost closed down, well done to Colin F, Philip, Colin M and Richard who managed to spot the back-lit Triffid with camouflage working well in the leaves, can you spot it? Left -  Tim seems a little confused by a new DF set, can Ben help?

Results - Points mean prizes! Pos Competitor Hcap Joker A B C F G H K L M 1 Score Raw % Total 1 Colin F 68 G 17 20 26 20 80 32 17 32 40 40 324 100 256 2 Philip C 92 B 40 80 40 11 15 20 23 26 32 32 319 98 227 3 Tom I 0 K 26 32 0 15 0 0 80 15 20 0 188 58 188 4 Vaughn L 0 F 20 23 0 80 20 17 11 11 0 0 182 56 182 5 Ben G 0 * 13 15 20 52 23 23 8 8 15 0 177 54 177 6 Colin M 80 H 8 11 15 17 32 80 20 20 26 26 255 78 175 7 Richard S 40 L 9 13 23 9 11 0 32 80 13 23 213 65 173 8 Chris I 2 A 64 0 0 13 13 0 26 23 0 0 139 42 137 9 George F 0 F 11 0 0 64 17 15 13 13 0 0 133 41 133 10 Tim P 118 M 15 17 17 23 26 26 9 9 34 0 176 54 58 11 Gary P 130 C 23 26 64 8 9 0 15 17 23 0 185 57 55

Times for info only: Competitor Joker A B C F G H K L M 1 Validation Ben G * 14:41:53 15:01:18 15:15:46 13:42:50 14:03:07 14:27:57 15:31:44 15:36:00 15:40:59 16:00:00 Chris I A 13:54:44 14:59:34 15:13:20 14:20:37 14:31:55 15:31:34 Colin F G 14:41:25 14:48:28 15:00:38 13:56:53 13:43:19 13:49:19 14:35:26 14:31:00 14:24:01 14:11:27 15:16:33 Colin M H 15:00:56 15:08:21 15:16:00 14:03:39 13:59:08 13:44:53 14:30:28 14:35:00 14:49:44 14:19:46 15:27:38 Gary P C 14:01:22 14:32:06 14:12:12 15:23:05 15:33:27 14:52:30 15:05:00 15:10:14 15:50:45 George F F 14:42:10 13:42:40 14:09:51 15:49:15 14:56:09 15:20:00 15:55:23 Philip C B 13:41:18 13:55:52 14:05:36 15:09:58 14:55:35 15:03:22 14:26:03 14:31:09 14:44:44 14:19:26 15:22:03 Richard S L 14:54:12 15:01:25 15:15:38 15:22:58 15:33:11 13:41:16 14:01:45 15:54:41 14:45:03 15:59:29 Tim P M 14:41:36 15:01:08 15:15:52 13:42:56 14:02:56 14:27:09 15:31:37 15:35:00 15:40:40 15:40:40 Tom I K 13:55:04 14:10:49 14:56:48 13:40:46 15:10:00 15:34:39 15:43:50 Vaughn L F 14:29:25 14:40:39 13:42:30 14:09:31 15:49:05 15:04:54 15:20:15 15:55:32 Times at Triffid L are approximate because an intermittent connection caused clock errors, however, after the event the raw data was analysed to reveal the arrival order on which points are based, so points awarded should be correct. Other people were Triffid hunting for fun only and did not wish to be included in the competition,  their 'anonymous' times are available on request.

Both Colin F and Philip did incredibly well on this event but in the end Colin had it by a nose, so how did he do it? Assembling in a small car park on the north side of the busy B1022, Roy was busy organising, giving us the usual pre-hunt talk, jokers and socially distanced photoshoot before the start, after moving into the woods adjacent to our cars. I found a nice flattish mound of moss, and cleared a few leaves and twigs to rest my map and orientate it with my compass. With pens ready at 13:30 we hurriedly plotted bearings until all Tx’s had transmitted, and with Roy announcing we could depart at 13:35, one by one we left the site. My joker was G, so I took a northerly path, then NW on a meandering route around trees, the path took me close to the open fields to the West then veered north. I soon caught a glimpse of Colin M ahead on a more direct path, I followed, wondering what his joker might be, and hoping it wasn’t the same as mine. I lost G’s signal for a while, and when it returned I realised I had already gone too far. Colin had now gone as I turned east by a small pond, then passed a large horizontal fallen tree with a red swing hanging from one of the upper branches (I should be able to remember that shouldn’t I ?).

G was in fact very close, but I couldn’t access it from the north and had to use a path to go around, then I saw the ‘entrance’, it was hidden behind the furthest accessible tree, the triffid being wedged low down between some branches. I dibbed and watched the circle of red . . white flash and a 1, I would have been more surprised if it hadn’t been ! This was now 13mins in and now I had to decide on F or H . . I decided to follow in Colin M’s footsteps, and this turned out to lead me to H, the path continued north, then turned west but then the signal stopped, I sensed I wasn’t far off and waited for the signal again. Loud and clear it said go SW, so I did, but being a red it soon went off again, and I was left wondering how far to go. The next signal was now NE, I’d gone too far so went back toward the path, there it was just 10 feet from the path, this one showed me as 2nd and confirmed Colin M’s joker.  So quickly tuning to F, the next signal took me well past G back towards the start. F said I was 6th but later gave me 5th with 20 points. Still nobody in sight, I made the decision to tackle KLM with my bearings suggesting M was possibly the most northerly, and near the busy road.

As I approached the road I could see cars parked opposite and a group standing on the access to the 1st path.  I worked my way around keeping a good distance but missed this path and was looking for another, when suddenly a good signal pointed me in the opposite direction to the right. I listened carefully, it was the ghost, I suddenly decided why not, and broke into a bit of a canter ! Now the ghost is an elusive beast, you never know how long it will be before the next transmission, I then wondered if I was doing the right thing, but told myself, ‘stick with it, you can do M later’.  This ghost was teasing me no end, I was pretty sure it was in this clump of Rhodo’s, but they seemed to go on forever. I must have had half a dozen signals before eventually entering the last section, and even then it was still a bit further, however my reward for patience was another 1st place . . now I was happy to resume my search for M.

I found an EW path quite close and decided some ground needed covering, so I gently ran to the NS path and continued south, after about 100yds or so the signal was pretty much west. Do I continue south and pick up the next path, or take the direct route through the trees? This is always a risk, but I did it anyway, it wasn’t that bad dodging back and forth around the trees, I kept moving, it was a fair way before the signal rapidly increased announcing my closing approach to A, already a few DFers were here. It had taken just 6mins from K to find A, but Rosie was there already pouncing on the triffid, as I discovered the Tx by an adjacent tree. I had to wait my turn while she dibbed, but at 14:41 it indicated a 7th place which was actually 6th. My bearing for C was looking more likely to have been the ghost, as I now didn’t have a clue where C might be I tuned for B instead, and headed west to a crossroads. I waited there whilst a family and dogs crossed on the northern path. I was ready to go south or west but infuriatingly the next signal was north. I couldn’t pass this crowd on the path so I headed into the undergrowth on the west side but made little headway,

Note the number displayed on the Triffids is the entries in the log, double dibs, validations and dibs by those not competing mean that this number may be considerably greater than your event position, particularly near the end of the event - so don't be disheartened! Ed.

15mins later I was at the fallen tree, and soon worked out where G was, after validating my scores I retired to the tree and sat whilst I cooled down, spotting Colin M on the path heading for his H to do the same. The results were delayed whilst Roy wrestled with an L of a problem because triffid L had not recorded times correctly. But Roy being Roy he came up with a likely answer. This was only just in time before the heavens opened, and we all packed up in search of the drier comfort inside our cars. Tom had taken 3rd, Phil 2nd, leaving me surprised to be 1st, Wow ! . . and before it had time to sink in, Roy thrust a bottle of wine and a trophy into each hand, then hastily took a photo under the shelter of the nearest tree, and then we were heading home! What just happened ? . . that was the weirdest end to any hunt I’ve ever been on! Now my thanks must go to Roy once again, for an excellent and almost perfect event, also thanks to all who attended, I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. Lets hope the ‘Covid devil’ doesn’t hamper us for too much longer, pubs are definitely more agreeable than woods !