Discussion: isthmus on Sunday's Long

so... who got to this point and went ahead and got their feet wet, and who instead chose to retreat ?

I took it as accurate as mapped. That is it was wet but passable (and legal to do so).
So I went for it while I saw a number of others choose to go around the smaller pond. I got wet to upper thigh.
That didn't bother me; I was pretty wet already.
What bothered me was that going around probably set others up for a faster approach to the next control.
I suspect the water level was a little higher than usual.

I jumped in.

I took a few seconds to confirm it was legal then waded across. I'd seen someone on my course retreat to go around, and she asked me a few minutes later if I had gone swimming. I felt badly because I think she thought (at least at the time) that I had broken the rules but I was pretty sure I hadn't.

I was planning to go across and double-checked that there wasn't a black line as I approached, then hesitated when I saw how substantial the water was and went around when I saw the guy in front of me go in up to mid-thigh.

My plan was to go between the ponds but I could see the "dam" had been breached and it was too far to jump so around I went.

I went around both times, as it looked too wet and I wasn't in the mood for it at that point. Too bad, since going through that isthmus would actually have been better for me route-wise. I'm just becoming a sissy in my old age...

I went swimming both times. Waist-deep but the cool water felt good.
I thought the map showed the isthmus went all the way across. It wasn't until someone pointed it out to me afterward that there is actually a spot of blue between the black bank lines.

Like tstrat, I thought the isthmus went all the way across from the map, but went around without going out on to it because I could see that I couldn't jump it...

I guess I'm witnessing the cultural divide between adventure racers and orienteers here. :) It was such a short distance that I wouldn't care if it were over my head as long as it was legal!

Right - once I saw it was legal, and I was already out on the spit of land, I would have swum had I needed to. Thankfully the swamp monsters didn't notice me, and I escaped unscathed. Those swamp monsters can be vicious.

I took the trail for the long traverse, so only went along the lake and past the dam later on without having to cross. But I can confidently say I would never ever dive into that leechy soup! :) Firmly on the orienteering side for now, haha.

I'm going to try to recruit Alex for our AR team!

And Gorhun and Pi. That gives us a full team and for once, I won't have to navigate. :)

As a general rule, I try to keep dry. My thinking is that wet shoes/socks are heavy shoes/socks. Of course, by that point, I was pretty wet anyway but the instinct was still there.

It was refreshing on the legs!

water had nothing on that sticky mud when you went through marshes. There are shoes out there with a low wet weight, like the Inov-8 Orocs or X-talons (disclaimer: they sponsor me, but I still speak truth), and the water drains out within a few steps. I think the fall-apart type of Icebugs also have a relatively low wet weight. Something to consider in an orienteering shoe, for sure!

I'll agree about the Oroc 280's low wet weight, so I wear those when I know it'll be wet. The Salomon Spikecross tend to hold in a lot of water, so I only wear those on longer runs or hikes when I know it'll be dry.

Most O shoes do have low "wet weight" and I wear nylon socks that hold little water too. Still, I'm sure my wet shoes (oroc 340), socks, ankle braces and opants will weigh at least 1/2 lb more than dry ones; (that's 1 cup of water). Again, at this event it didn't make any difference since I was pretty wet by the time I got to the point in question. Still, on a general note, I am surprised to see other folks boldly splash through streams when a few hops on some stones/logs/whatever will get them across dry.

I went around, and was slow compared to going through the water. If I saw someone going through before me maybe?

Going across the pond was nothing compared to the mishap one orienteer told me happened to him last weekend. Crossing one seemingly marshy but firm area, one leg suddenly submerged to thigh deep. First it was quite a job to extricate his leg. Then he realized his shoe had stayed behind. Back in to the closing muck goes his hand, his arm and almost his shoulder. With a bit of stirring around he was able to retrieve the shoe. That was not the end of the problems. Before he could put the shoe back on its foot he had to remove the tape keeping the laces tied. That is not an easy task when the shoes are wet and mud-covered.

I opted to go around after seeing someone else fairly deep. Got stuck in the mud south of the smaller pond, west of the stream, losing a shoe. Recovering from the mud I picked up the wrong redline and went to 8 instead of 3.... Retrospectively wished that i'd gone for a swim.

Depending on where you were headed, I think thru the water was faster if you were quick to decide.

That's funny, I also opted to go around after watching someone ahead of me go in up to his waist. No shoe trouble but then I also started off towards #8 and got to the top of the first hill before noticing and turning back towards #3.

Isthmus be my lucky day