Hi, The Survey Contest at the Texas Cavers Reunion was well attended this year, with twelve teams submitting their results of surveying parts of the dry creek bed. Sponsored by the Texas Speleological Survey (TSS), the survey consisted of nine legs forming a loop and included a few hurdles, such as one leg exceeding the length of the provided tapes, and some high-angle shots.
Team Fisher Ridgers (Andy Edwards and Sean Lewis) won first place, with a calculated loop closure error of 0.52 meters. Fittingly, their prize, a set of instruments made possible by the TSS with support of G4 Spatial (formerly Miller Blueprint) in Austin, will become project gear for the Fisher Ridge survey. Ben and Carrie Hutchins were on the Fisher Ridgers' heels, with an error of 0.58 m. They won station lights, donated as well by the TSS, that hopefully will come in handy in future surveys. There is some rounding involved in our method of computing the loop closure error, which resulted in a tie for the third place. Yaz Avila and Crash Kennedy, as well as Jen Foote and C.L. Kieffer, both surveyed with an error of 0.95 m. Thankfully, Gonzo Guano Gear was happy to double their donation of prizes in the last minute, and each of the surveyors got their own survey pouch. Although the course was set up and ready to be surveyed before noon on Friday, no results were submitted that day. Instead, survey teams reported being stuck behind each other on Saturday afternoon, trying to get their results in before the deadline. Besides our sponsors, special thanks go to Andrea Croskrey for helping to set up the survey on Friday morning, and to Terry Holsinger for helping with crunching the numbers instead of participating in the parade. Thanks to everybody else who contributed as well! If anybody is interested in more details or the results of their survey, or in providing feedback, feel free to get in touch. And don't forget to turn your surveys and cave maps in at http://texasspeleologicalsurvey.org! Cheers, David -- David Ochel, mailto:[email protected] -=> http://blog.ochel.net <=- -- David Ochel -=> http://blog.ochel.net <=- --------------------------------------------------------------------- Visit our website: http://texascavers.com To unsubscribe, e-mail: [email protected] For additional commands, e-mail: [email protected]
