*|MC:SUBJECT|*

Greetings orienteering fans! This year has proven to be a challenging start for the FLO season. As you know, we had to postpone our big event at Kelly Park Oct 1st thanks to the arrival of Hurricane Ian, and the downstream effects of that unprecedented rain event have caused us problems with this month's scheduled event at Moss Park as well. Although the flood waters have drained away from Moss Park/Split Oak, the flooding damage to the electrical infrastructure at Moss Park's pavilions and campgrounds has caused the park to remain mostly closed long after the storm departed. At this time, Moss Park remains about 80% closed, and the swamp causeway to Split Oak remains blocked off at the Moss Park end. With so little area available, we had no choice but to abandon Moss Park as a staging area for this month's event.

However, we have worked out an alternate! There is a smaller trailhead called Eagles Roost that can be used as an entry point into the southwest side of Split Oak Forest. This is a part of Split Oak that most of our participants have never seen - it is so far from our regular start/finish in Moss Park that only the most distant Blue course controls would ever be down here. With substantial effort in the last 2-3 weeks, we have extended our new digital map to cover most of this area, and Bob has designed a set of courses to use it. We will therefore have our event this Saturday Nov 12 as scheduled, but at this alternate location - see maps below and w3w address above.

For civilians, the usual FLO registration fees will be in effect: $7 per Map for FLO members, $9 per Map for non-members and, still, a reduced rate of $6 per Map for Groups such as Scouts whose leaders register all their groups and individuals at once (this group rate minimizes the crowd and the confusion at the registration table and is well worth the discount to FLO registration volunteers!).

Because Eagles Roost has a smaller parking area, we chose to cancel the official JROTC side of this event. There will be no host school and no formal JROTC competition as we normally have. However, any schools that want to come to this event to get some woods practice prior to the big Navy Nationals Qualifier event Dec 10 at Wekiwa Springs are encouraged to participate. If you are with a school and would like to bring a squad in, please contact Blaik at 407-739-5579. A cost of $6 per cadet payable the morning of will cover the map fee. But please let us know ahead of time so we have enough maps on hand.

Aside: JROTC schools should also seriously consider competing at the Gold Head Branch State Park event scheduled for Nov 19. Although this may be a farther drive, this park is well worth the visit! It contains prime whitewoods orienteering terrain, elevation to practice in, and it has lovely facilities and amenities as well. In addition, this event will be scored using the same scoring system to be used at Navy Nationals and its Area 7 qualifier, so it's good practice for those events. Finally, this event draws schools from north FL and south GA, so you will get to meet and compete against a whole different group of people than at a typical central FL event. See the link on the FLO or SOAR web sites for registration details!

Venue Notes

Split Oak Forest is a much larger and wilder tract of natural land southwest of Moss Park and is connected to MP by a foot causeway (currently blocked at the MP end). This massive tract is shot through with numerous trails for access, but the terrain is much wilder, with no buildings or amenities, and areas with much thicker vegetation. This is great territory for our intermediate and longer advanced courses. The southernmost part of the tract, which we'll be using, has a couple of very nice small ponds connected by a canal, crossable only at a single land bridge. Both ponds have some interesting high ground adjacent to them.

Many of the swaths of terrain between the trails are heavily overgrown in this area, with limited accessible entry. However, there are also some whitewoods areas down here, containing some fairly spectacular root stocks and the massive oak trees for which Split Oak Forest is duly famous.

Wildlife: Deer are plentiful in both Moss Park and Split Oak Forest - I saw lots of them while mapping and course vetting. Turkeys, cranes, and other waterbirds are likewise common. Gopher tortoises are present, so watch for their burrows. I saw some broken ground indicating the presence of wild boar, but did not spot any while out in the park. I am pretty sure I saw a coyote at the south end of Moss Park last year, so there might be some or those living in Split Oak Forest as well.

Pests: We're at the end of the prime growing season, so be prepared for tall grass and other undergrowth off-trail, especially on the intermediate and advanced courses. Apply insect repellant to shoes, socks, and legs/pants to avoid mosquito and chigger bites. Mosquitoes especially can be plentiful in areas near the water, so bring bug spray and apply generously to ward off these pests.

Recent park changes: Hurricane Ian has left a few marks in Split Oak Forest in the form of new root stocks from trees the wind knocked down. The floodwaters from Ian have fully receded, but now of course we have Hurricane Nicole coming our way which promises to drop a few inches more rain on the area. Most of the southern end of Split Oak is relatively high ground, so I doubt this will affect us much, but keep your eyes open around the marshy areas for weather-related swamp creep. It is of course generally wise to pack a dry change of clothes and shoes & socks just in case you get some wet feet while on your course.

The Map
We are excited to announce that our map of Moss Park proper and the course areas of Split Oak Forest have been completely redrawn for this event using modern digital mapping tools! Everything from elevation contours to vegetation has been updated throughout the course areas. We hope you'll enjoy using this new & improved map!

DO NOT FORGET TO BRING WATER - LOTS OF WATER! Each competitor is expected to carry their own water or to be sufficiently hydrated before competing. And let’s not kid ourselves about this hydration thing - it's important! Orienteering is thirsty work, and dehydration can sneak up on you even under pleasant weather conditions. It may be fall, but it was still in the mid 80's this past Sunday when I was out there mapping, and it still felt hot. Carry more water than you think you will need. Always plan as though you may be spending more time out there than you expected. It's also handy to have extra water to have some to give away if you run into someone in trouble who didn't plan as well as you did.

SUMMARY OF COURSES

Yellow - for beginners. Course is mostly on trails with control points a short distance into the woods. There may be opportunities for those who feel able to take short cuts through the woods. Length 2.6 km.
Orange - intermediate difficulty. Mix of on- trail and off-trail, generally relying on the more obvious mapped features. Length 4.0 km.
Green - advanced course off trail and reliant on the subtler features of the terrain. Length 4.9 km.
Blue - the longest advanced course. Length 6.5 km.

Note that the course lengths mentioned above are measured straight-line from point to point to point. Your actual route on the ground will often be on more winding trails or diverted around obstacles like ponds or dense tickets, so your actual distance traveled will often be 25-50% longer than the stated course length.

If you are new and/or unsure of which course is right for you, ask us at registration and we will be happy to advise you. Precise course lengths will be on display at registration to give you an idea of how far you'll be travelling to complete a course. When in doubt, choose an easier course. If you complete that one too fast and haven't had enough fun yet, you can trade up to the next harder map and go out again!

As usual, there is a 3 hour time limit on all FLO courses, and all courses close at 3:00 pm (1500 hours).

Safety Bearing for all courses: W to paved Clapp Simms Duda Rd.

The Map

We will be using a brand new all-digital map for this event drawn from the latest hi-res Lidar. Due to lack of time, this map has not been fully digitally field checked, but the areas of our current courses and controls have been, so it's complete enough for us to use. We welcome your feedback on it.

We hope you all enjoy the day and this lovely venue. Thanks for coming out, and Bring A Friend!