The Start of Navigation

Two weeks ago we started our navigation training in earnest.  Previously, we had been learning how to navigate with instructors and open maps.  Now we have begun navigating in pairs without maps.  It is a long process that takes almost the entire day.

We spend the morning and afternoon plotting our course.  Each pair receives three to four coordinates that they must reach on their way from the beginning to the end of the navigation.  After the route has been drawn out on the map we spend the afternoon memorizing various azimuths (an angle measured in degrees between a reference plane and a point) that we will have to recall during the navigation.  Additionally, we scan the topographical map for anything that might be of use during the actual navigation.  For instance, some people find it useful to count how many hills they will see on their way to a certain point.  Aside from the difficulty of remembering these details for a 6 or 7 mile navigation, you would not believe how much more difficult it becomes to navigate at night.  While it is clear where one hill starts and ends during the day, at night it infinitely more difficult.  

As a result, a lot of people tend to get lost during navigations.  Our first night of navigations we left around 5:30 and we finished around 10 or 10:30.  However there were about two or three groups that got really lost and finished around 3:30 in the morning.  At this phase in the training it was actually somewhat amusing, but as we progress the navigations will get longer and we will be carrying more weight (right now we have one person who carries a 20 pound radio, but we will eventually work up to around 60 pounds).  

So far I have been doing pretty well.  On our last navigation I finished first, and learned the benefit of being good at navigating.  We finished around 1:30 in the morning and went to sleep on the bus while waiting for the other groups to finish.  As it turns out, the last group finished at 5:45 in the morning.  That meant that I got to sleep for 4 hours, while the last group to finish did not get to sleep at all.  

This week coming up will be our first week of navigation in the north.  It is also going to be a new style of navigation.  We will still be navigating as a pair, except this week we will not be allowed to learn our partners section of the navigation.  One person will navigate the first half, and the second person will navigate the second half.  I just hope my partner can get me to the right spot, if not it will make for a long night...