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Point Pinole Regional Shoreline

Date: (Sun.) Feb. 9, 2025
Location: Richmond, CA
Event Director: - 510.407.1876
Course Setter: Steve Gregg
Type: C; How will Steve challenge us this year? Everyone is welcome, including non-members and beginners, with free, brief, beginner instruction available

Related Event Information

Optional Online Registration (https://eventreg.orienteeringusa.org/eventregister/register/start/ptpinole2025) Course Setter’s Notes Last Year’s Event

Please note that fees and time limits apply. Events are typically not canceled due to bad weather.


Intermediate Training Will Be Available

An Intermediate Training session will be available at this event. This "beyond beginner" training is offered only a few times each year, so this might be an opportunity not to be missed. See below for more information.


We return to Point Pinole Regional Shoreline (http://www.ebparks.org/parks/pt_pinole/) for our (nearly) annual event.

As usual, we have reserved the Palms Picnic Area as our event center (i.e., the location we have traditionally used). The Palms Picnic Area is a short 5–10 minute walk along a paved walkway from the parking lot.

A flyer for the park, which includes an overview map, is available here (1.5MB PDF) (https://www.ebparks.org/sites/default/files/Point-Pinole-map_0.pdf).

In addition to our orienteering activities, you can explore the explosive history (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_Powder_Company) of this park, or check out the wildlife in the woods or by the shoreline.

What is Orienteering?

An adventure! Discover the outdoors and discover yourself! You can explore a course by yourself or go as a team with your friends. You will get a highly detailed orienteering map, probably unlike any map you have seen before. The map will have a lot of detail on it, such as fences, boulders, lone trees, vegetation boundaries, and anything else you might see. Your course will be printed on the map.

Orienteering is easy to learn, a challenge to master, and incredibly fun! You can read more about orienteering here.

Schedule

 9:00 AM – 11:59 AM: Registration open
 9:30 AM – 10:30 AM: Beginner clinics instruction (free)
 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM: Starts are open for all the courses
   1:00 PM – 2:00 PM: Intermediate Training session (free)
                 2:00 PM: Everyone must have returned to the Finish
Note: At registration, all participants under age 18 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian, or bring with them a waiver signed by their parent or legal guardian (the registration form is available here [12KB PDF]).

Note that you can register and start on the courses anytime during the open times above. Thus, for example, you do not need to be "punctual" at 9:00 (but you can if you want, but please don’t show up earlier and expect to be served).

Beginner clinics are 15–20 minute, repeating sessions that introduce the sport of orienteering, and provide enough instruction to be able to complete the beginner (White) course.

Note: Beginners are given their White or Yellow course maps at registration. You should get your map before joining a beginner clinic.

This event will have an Intermediate Training session at 1 PM, aimed at orienteers completing Yellow or Orange courses. This session will go over topics such as aiming off and map simplification, and then provide the option to complete a short training course.

Note: Participants in the Intermediate Training session will need to have completed their event course before the session.

Everyone must return to the Finish by 2:00 PM, and then promptly go to the download tent, even if they have not completed their course. Please do not leave without checking in! If there are unaccounted people after 2:00, we must initiate a search for them.

Costs & Registration

The following fees apply for this event:

  $3 for each junior on Beginner (White) and Advanced Beginner (Yellow) courses
  $8 for each adult on Beginner and Advanced Beginner courses
  $5 for each junior on Intermediate (Sprint Orange, Long Orange, Combo Orange) courses  
$15 for each adult member on Intermediate courses
$20 for each adult non-member on Intermediate courses
  $1 for a compass rental (optional)  
  $5 for an electronic fingerstick rental (if you don’t own one; each group will need one to complete their course)
$15 for the lowest-cost individual one-year BAOC membership (optional)  
Notes:
  • There might be a park entrance fee, but only if the kiosk at the parking lot is open. Typically, it has not been open during our past events.
  • You can register at the event or online before the event (see below).
  • At the event, we can accept payment by cash, check, or credit/debit card (but no electronic payments — e.g., PayPal, Venmo).
  • Juniors are age 8 through 20 (under age 8 is free).
  • There is no charge for a second course (but you must end up paying for the more expensive course​—​e.g., an Intermediate course after a Beginner course).
  • Members of other orienteering clubs can pay the "member" fee. (We hope your club would do the same for our members. 🙂)

More information about event pricing is available in the club FAQ. All the prices are also shown on the standard entry form (12KB PDF), which you can print and fill out in advance to save some time at the event. (You will need one entry form for each group of people going on a course together.)

Online Registration

You can (but are not required to) register online here (https://eventreg.orienteeringusa.org/eventregister/register/start/ptpinole2025) for this event. If you do that, you must pay via PayPal (with credit card, debit card, or PayPal account​—​you do not need to have a PayPal account).

Note: If you register online, you must pay online before the event, and you must complete the online waiver.

Online registration for this event will close on Saturday, February 8th, at 6:00 PM.

Notes:
  • Online registration is not required​—​you can register at the event.
  • If you register online, and later change your mind about the course you'll do, you can easily make the change at the event.
  • Compass rental cannot be arranged during online registration, but you can register online and rent a compass at the event.
  • E-punch fingerstick rental can be arranged during online registration.
  • You can see who is registered here (https://eventreg.orienteeringusa.org/eventregister/reglist/home/ptpinole2025) (but keep in mind that others will register at the event.

Venue Facilities

The event center will be at the Palms Picnic Area. Registration, E-punch sign-in/download and the Start/Finish for all the courses will be located there, or nearby. This is the same location we used for our 2024 event, for our inaugural 1997 event, and for almost every event in between (i.e., our "standard location"). Driving directions are provided below.

Picnic tables, piped water, and toilets are available, so please feel free to bring along a picnic lunch to enjoy after you finish your course.

We're planning to have light snacks! (But please bring your own food if you will want a meal.)

What to Bring

For the beginner (White) course, comfortable outdoors attire and shoes are fine.

Hiking boots or sturdy running shoes are recommended for the Advanced Beginner (Yellow) course.

Long pants and/or gaiters are suggested for the Intermediate (Orange) courses.

A compass is not necessary, but can be quite helpful. We have compasses available at Registration for a $1 rental fee.

We time the courses with the SPORTident system, so each entry/team needs to have a SPORTident fingerstick. If you don’t have your own, you can rent one at registration for $5. (Use of the "E-punch" system is easy. You can learn how at the event, or read about it here.)

If participants will want water while on their course, they should plan to carry their own water. There will not be any water at control locations. Piped water is available at the event center.

Courses

The course details are below. Be sure to read the Course Setter's Notes for more information. 

    Course          Distance   Climb  Controls
    White            2.4 km     50 m     10  
    Yellow           2.8 km     50 m     12
    Sprint Orange    3.4 km     65 m     14  
    Long Orange      5.3 km     65 m     13
    Combo Orange     8.7 km    130 m     27

The Combo Orange course will have competitors first run the Sprint Orange course, return to the Start for a map exchange, and then run the Long Orange course immediately afterwards (without punching again at the Start). Their course time will be from their start of the Sprint Orange course to their finish of the Long Orange course.
Beginners should be aware that the distances shown are the cumulative straight-line distances between controls. The climb numbers represent the amount of ascending that would be done on the "optimum route" (in the Course Setters' opinion), without regard for any descending. Because you won't travel in straight lines, and might not follow the optimum routes, your actual distance and climb will be somewhat more than what is shown above, and will depend on your route choices (and any errors you make).

Since Point Pinole is one of our flattest BAOC venues, while still providing some forested navigational challenge, it is a very appropriate place for beginners to receive their initial introduction to orienteering. Also, people with experience on Yellow courses might consider "moving up" to one of the Orange courses at this event.

Hazards

Poison Oak: Participants on all except the beginner (White) course will encounter some poison oak, which you will want to avoid. It looks like this. Washing clothes and shoes and bathing exposed skin with dish-washing soap or a commercial product such as Tecnu is highly recommended to remove the irritant oil.

Possible Hazards

Horses are occasionally present at this park. Horses always have the right of way. If you encounter a horse, you must stop running and respond to the rider’s direction.

Request for Volunteers

We can’t make this meet happen without your help! Please help make this event a success by volunteering — even helping for part of a shift listed below will be helpful.

Please contact Vicki Woolworth, the Event Director, if you can help (, 510.407.1876). Or you can sign up in this online form (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1P_oMWu2gO1G_fZuUDUANAsdCGRT-G53wSJoohPa3MBk/edit?gid=0#gid=0) (which includes guidance on how to add yourself).

Driving Directions

Note: You want the Giant Highway park entrance, not the Atlas Bridge entrance.

The approximate coordinates for the parking lot are 37.992,-122.356. (Note: If you look for the park by name in Google Maps, you’ll get wrong final directions. Instead, use the coordinates above or the address "5551 Giant Hwy, Richmond, CA".)

To get there, take the Richmond Parkway exit off Interstate 80 in Richmond, and go west for 1.3 miles. Shortly after the stoplight at San Pablo Avenue, turn right at the next light onto Atlas Road. After 0.8 miles on Atlas, you will cross over a set of railroad tracks and encounter a stop sign. Turn left onto Giant Highway at this intersection (do not go straight). You will pass a detention center on your right, and the park entrance will be immediately after that, also on your right.

There is an entrance kiosk at the parking lot, but they might not be there to collect the $3 fee. (See the note above about the possibility of needing to pay the fee.)

For the first time in over a decade, I had to pay a $3 parking fee at Point Pinole one day last year. So, it is very possible that you will have to pay a fee when you arrive at the event.
A fee is required only when the booth is staffed, so if you arrive early enough, you might be able to get in without paying. But be aware that payment could be required!
Steve Gregg, Course Setter

Please carpool if possible, since parking might be limited.

From the parking lot, walk up the hill, over the railroad bridge, and follow the paved path to the staging area.