Urban Hunters

Trevor's got it George Leigh Mallory gave this famous reply in 1924 apon the question, why he wanted to climb Mt Everest. Even today it seems to be a very acceptable (if only) reason for mountaineers to push themselves to their limits (that was before geocaching of course ). A very good read on the subject and the differences between mountaineering in 1924 and 1999 is "The Ghost of Everest" by by Hemmleb, Johnson & Simonson

Maybe it is time for a hint before Santa gets involved in all of this GEO936 is as close as Cincol and Discombob. He was a pioneer of Himalayan mountaineering and laid the foundations for the use of bottled oxygen at high altitude. There was a long debate weather he was the first man to summit Everest in 1924 (since he didn’t return it was difficult to conclude) but after the discovery of his body 75 years later and the notes in is pocket, all doubts was cleared and the mystery solved. He remains on Everest with his British compatriot Andrew Irvine

OK, GEO936 - it is a natural wonder Cincol - is very hot, but have to come back from the future Discombob - got the idea, but headed too far South Besem - is aiming way too high

A good guess Cincol But we are sure that even Sir Edmund Hillary would have preferred to be known for "Because it is there" rather than: "Well, we knocked the bastard off !" if he had the opportunity agian.

Whoohaa!! UH got one Here is an easy one. Who explained his actions by saying "Because it is there" and in what context?

Bakkies

Thinking of it, we are REALLY no SQL experts. Even the excel method will be more complicated than that!!!!! If you have a cache spree once every three years the Excel method will not work at first glance, now we need to add dates. Ag nee man! Back to the drawing board, needs some refinement, first sort by team names, then dates?????

We are not SQL experts, but given the info seen of yesterday we would approach it as follows: You have the number of finds per team per day. Various team’s names were listed more than once due to the fact that they have found 44 a specific day, 24 some time ago, 21 months ago, etc. Group the data per team name, and obtain the sum. This we would do via Excel, again no SQL expert on our side. I have an interest in SQL though, so won’t mind to have a peak at the macro when it runs with more than 5 teams.

Hi Cincol I can appreciate your skepticism on this one, but it can be done. The teams worked together, but all of them had visited each of the cache sites and all the log sheets were signed by each of the various team members in their own name, i.e. no “general” team name for the day. The time was also recorded at each cache site and on the web page. They tried to break the record in Brisbane, here is the coordinates where I stayed in Brissi: S27 27.740, E153 01.406. If you searched the nearest caches on geocaching.com you will find 200 caches in a 5,7km radius and 400 caches in a 9,7km radius. Just in theory walking in a straight line form one side to the other the distance will be 9,7x2 = 19,4km. The average walking speed of a person (not my granny with her walking aid) = 1,2m/sec, thus approximately 270min for 19,4km. If you are in hurrying (trying to break a record) it will be faster. Add 2 min search time per cache (which they allowed themselves) = 392 min. A total of 662 min (11 hours). Using a car, like they did, will make it a lot easier and not so tedious.

We recently had a good day of caching in Vanderbijlpark. This made us wander, what is currently the maximum number of caches that was found in one caching day in South Africa? Some other stats: When I attended my first event in Australia I met the caching teams that equaled the world record for the most cache finds in 24 hours. The first teams that set the record was teams from New Zealand and set the record in Australia. This did not go down very well with the Australian guys, someone else setting a world record in their back yard. The Australians sorted out their teams to beat it, but they could only equal the record. 196 (one hundred and ninety six) in 24 hours. It is obviously a different ball game there with the caching density and the ability to safely cache at night.

Playing within the rules, which applies to all, seems fair to us We doubt it if our Race TB will get so lucky, if so cool, if not, it still remains fun

Thanks Cincol, We were not sure if it applies to all cache sizes or just the small ones. But it is clear now that size (like numbers) doesn't matter after all Was good to meet you and have fun in Qatar

Getting back to the FTF's. Just before we stir, upset or freak out any of the contestants (including ourselves) Can TB's be "dipped" in any size FTF container (with the confirming photo of cause)? Or should it be a micro. We came across small caches that coins can fit, but not TB's. Does this mean we have to leave the coin, and "dip" the TB's, which seem to give the latter a bit of an advantage?

Urban Hunters will enter one called “Beaver Fever”

While we were doing a couple of caches for the day we were informed that the postman has arrived with the full length DVD. Can’t wait to pick up the DVD this weekend. Thanks Sakkie!! Our feedback will be posted soon

Baie dankie Sakkie Ons wil ook graag ons "Ooh's" en "Aah's" toevoeg tot die forum. Die fliek is baie profesioneel en vat soveel van die essensie van reeks saam. Ons hou elke Poskantoor fiets wat hier verby ry met groot afwagting dop met die hoop dat dit die volledige DVD vir ons bring

Here you go: Tonteldoos XIX th Hole Get-Together (GC1P5MK)

The Tonteldoos Event has been published. Needless to say the event, that will start at 14:00 on Saturday 11 April 2009, is open for all and not just for the cachers who are planning to hunt for the final cache in the series. So, if you are planning to hunt for the final cache or just want to relax and have a braai you can join us at the published coordinates.

Well done to RedGlobe for being the first team to retrieve ALL 18 clues! And there is still 4 weeks to go

Thanks Gerhard You make it sound so easy ! Unfortunately we are back in Gauteng already . We only flew down for a couple of days to ride the Cape Argus race. There is also not much hope for another day or two off work untill the event - this leave us with a few weekends to cover a very long distance

We are definitely planning to put a lot of effort into obtaining all 18 clues and sign all 18 log sheets in the very limited time left before setting off for the final Tontoldoos cache / event. We agree that keeping to the spirit of geocaching and keeping an event enjoyable to everyone all teams will should have the opportunity to hunt for the final one. A penalty of 10min per clue required is a good idea, but it seems very short compared to the time effort and planning necessary to find say the “Hanover” cache. What about a minimum start delay of 60min and thereafter a time penalty on a sliding scale10 - 1 minute depending on the number of outstanding clues – still not eligible for a FTF? One last thought. It would surely be the cherry on top if all the cachers who enthusiastically joined the whole Tonteldoos series by hiding caches, can put in some additional time and effort to attend the grand finale of this very exciting series.

Our 2cents by using GSAK for caches on a route, especially if the route was not listed before. Most of us have GSAK and a database of a specific area (or more) populated by means of various pocket queries. What we love about GSAK is the ease of route determination and thereafter we can filter through the list (difficulty/terrain, last found, active, etc) and export it to the MapSource or GPSr. How to guide…. 1) Draw your desired route in MapSource and save it as a MPS File (*.mps). 2) Open GSAK and select our data base 3) Use the filter option (Ctrl+F) or from the menu Search/Filter 4) On the new window “Set Filter” select the Arc/Poly Tab 5) Choose the option Get points from file by clicking on the Select File button 6) Enter the distance value (from route line ) in the text box, .250 for 250m 7) Click GO! Just an alternative………..

Thanks ClydeE for that explanation, it makes perfect sense as our caching has been done about 50/50 in South Africa and East coast Austalia. I'm still relieved that all the caclulations can be done at the click of a botton and no need to try and work it out ourselves!

We calculated our Centroid using GSAK, but find the results odd. We've done 90+% of our caching between S25 and S27, our "Most Southernly cache found" is at S 34° 19.778, but our Centroid according to GSAK is S 47° 38.850 E 101° 40.670 (which is somewhere in the ocean with no hope of reaching land), we've never even been that far South. Are we missing something?

We’ll try to do our bit But for poetry we’re very unfit Wazat’s troubles had me inspired So I closed my eyes and fired… Still in the land of the Ozzies We’re forever tortured by mozzies But bravely I took the geobike To do the deed we so much like In the woods the road suddenly ended Which left no choice but for rules to be bended Bundu-bashing to the treasure I fought off fat spiders to my displeasure With cache in hand I started to survey the land… Where the geobike could be Was not very easy to see… At very long last the bike was in hand One thing I clearly understand – What makes me want to fight: It was all in broad daylight! One important lesson was learned In order not to get burned - In future coords should be taken Otherwise you might be badly mistaken!!