Winter Wednesday #2 – North SeaTac Park
Winter Wednesdays
Wednesday, January 29 at North SeaTac Park in SeaTac, WA
Meet Director: Mike Schuh
[Updated 2025-01-28: course lengths, nonstandard use of description symbols]
Winter Wednesdays is a new series offering training opportunities between the Winter League meets. The training events are low-key with two point-to-point courses, the Easier with reflective control markers and the Harder with non-reflective markers. In addition, a Score-O format course will be offered. The timing is self-provided if you so choose; there will be no punching (neither manual nor electronic).
The second event will be held at North SeaTac Park (we will use just the northern half). The final event will be February 12th at Jackson Park Golf Course (north Seattle) on a new map.
Please check in before going out on a course and check back in before leaving the venue. (We don’t want to search for you in the dark.)
Remember to bring a headlamp or flashlight. Whistles are required.
COURSES
Course designer(s): Mike Schuh
Course distances will be provided here once the courses are finalized.
Meanwhile, here are the estimated distances:
Easier Course 1.3 km, 8 controls
Harder Course 2.9 km, 15 controls
Create Your Own Course (Score)
How are courses measured?
Courses are measured as the crow flies, in a direct line from control to control. Unless you have wings, you will travel farther than this distance! Courses are measured in kilometers, so a good rule of thumb is to simply round up to miles to estimate how far you will go. So in a 5 kilometer race, you’ll likely travel up to 5 miles.
MAP AND COURSE NOTES
Map detail! The opening Winter Wednesday event at Lynnwood Golf Course provided a welcoming venue for practicing compass skills. While the terrain at North SeaTac Park is similarly flat (and includes a golf course), straight compass runs will be less inviting than at Lynnwood. More important at SeaTac will be carefully reading the features in the terrain, checking them off on the map while passing them. That said, good compass skills will still matter – challenges in navigating through fine detail can only be amplified by heading in a suboptimal direction. Any aircraft overhead (400′ above the parking lot if they are landing to the south) generally will be flying true north-south. This might be useful for approximate navigation but should not be relied on. Nor should the light provided by aircraft landing lights be depended on for illumination.
Since the park was first mapped in 2006 the disc golf community has cleared non-trivial amounts of underbrush from the park and the current version of the map shows areas of open forest that originally were mapped as impassable dark green “fight”. We thank them.
The map includes the locations of disc golf baskets, shown with an open black triangle. On the description sheet these are indicated with the “witch’s hat” statue symbol (decidedly nonstandard use).
– Mike Schuh
SCHEDULE
5:06 pm – sunset
5:39 pm – civil twilight ends
6:00 pm – 8:00 pm: Start window (no assigned start times)
8:30 pm: Course closure
Report to Finish by 8:30 pm even if you have to abandon your course.
Why is there a start window?
This event uses an interval start, which means that participants are started in waves instead of all at once. When you arrive at the start, follow the start volunteer’s instructions.
PRICES
PRE-REGISTRATION PRICES
$12 base price
– subtract $4 for Cascade OC members
Participating as a group? Just add $5 for each additional adult (18+) group
member, no cost for additional minors. Max group size is 3 including the group leader.
SIGN UP
LOCATION
PARKING
Park in the major parking lot east of the ball fields (enter from S 128th St at 20th Ave S). The staging area is on the west side of this parking lot toward the the south end of the lot.
Restrooms are available just northwest of the north end of the parking lot.
CARPOOL
Looking for a carpool? Join the club email group and share your request to find a ride.
THE MAP
North SeaTac Park is a unique park–an answer to the question, “What would happen if all the people and their houses disappeared from a neighborhood?” There’s a mostly intact grid system of overgrown streets, trees and other vegetation that have grown back withe a vengeance, and open, grassy areas with intermittent vegetation clusters that are easy to navigate through if you don’t make a parallel feature error.
We typically start from the northeast area of the park, where there is ample parking and permanent restrooms. There is one busy street mid-course (on the longer courses), which usually has a crossing guard as a volunteer role.
Read more on the map pageSAFETY & ETIQUETTE
Return to the Finish
All participants MUST return to the finish and download their e-punch or turn in their punch card.
Even if you have not finished your course, you must still return to the the finish and confirm with event staff that you have returned safely.
Out of Bounds
Some areas may be marked out of bounds. It is imperative to respect these boundaries to maintain our relationships with land managers. Participants MUST NOT go out of bounds. Any participant caught going out of bounds will be disqualified.
Course Closure
All participants MUST return to the finish by course closure time. If a participant does not return by course closure, event volunteers will begin coordinating a search party.
If you need a long time on the course, start as early in the start window as possible, wear a watch, and be prepared to cut your course short to make it back by the course closure time.
Whistle
All participants MUST carry a whistle on the course. Complimentary whistles are available at the start tent (please only take one).
If you are injured on the course and need assistance, blow three long blasts to call for help.
If you hear a call for help, abandon your course to find the person in distress.
Voices
Part of the fun and fairness of orienteering is navigating your own course, so please be polite when you find a checkpoint and don’t holler that you’ve found it.
