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My Way Or The Highway? Mystery Cache

Hidden : 5/3/2015
Difficulty:
4 out of 5
Terrain:
1.5 out of 5

Size: Size:   other (other)

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Geocache Description:

The story below took place at the above coordinates. This cache is not hidden at these coordinates.

Willy, a skilled biker, and Pierre, a skilled runner, were out hunting for a cache together. They rode their bikes to the last waypoint before the cache, at the coordinates listed above. After piecing all the info together, and doing some simple math, they found out that the cache was hidden at a distance of exactly 501m, under an angle of exactly 44 degrees.

Having a good topographic map, they saw they would be having to cross a river 40m wide, running from west to east, at 1/3 of the distance. It was obvious from the cache attributes, that they would have to leave their bikes at this side of the river, and swim across. They had a feeling that, if they were fast enough, they could still get the FTF.

This gave rise to a heated discussion, because they could not agree on the fastest course to the cache. A friendly wager was born: they would both go separate ways, the fastest could claim FTF for himself, and the other one would have to place a new cache. For the location of the newly placed cache, they thought up the following:
  • After they have both reached the other side of the river, they will start monitoring the distance between them. When one sees the distance starts to increase he must call out to the other.
  • Upon calling out they immediately register distance&bearing and GPS location.
  • Any one of them can only register distance&bearing or GPS location, but does not have enough time to register both. They both act logical in order to acquire all data together.
  • After the data has been registered, they stop monitoring.
  • If no data has been registered once the first reaches GZ, he will call out there.
  • From the registered location a projection along the registered distance&bearing is made, to determine the place where the STF will hide his new cache.
Obviously, thinking about all of this has cost them much more time than it actually saved, but it was also a lot more fun than going straight for the box.

Here is some info that may be useful for the reconstruction of what happened:
  • For taking the GPS location they use a GPS tracker on their wrists
  • For taking the distance and bearing, they attach a 50m measuring tape between them, and add a compass at both ends
  • The measuring tape is not elastic, and frictionless. The unit is equipped with automatic retraction, so it will never slack
  • Willy and Pierre both weigh 80kg, including equipment, excluding their identical bikes of 10kg each. They leave only their bikes at the river
  • For skilled athletes the following average speeds may be applied:
    • biking: 8 m/s
    • swimming: 1.5 m/s
    • running: 4 m/s
    • For all disciplines we assume that a skilled athlete has a 20% higher average speed
  • Due to an extraordinary alignment in the constellations, the water current is negligible that day.
Their friend Ibn, a skilled triathlete, heard about their adventure, and was curious how fast he would be able to do it: he sets a reference time of 1:59.49. Water conditions were identical for him.

Can you find out where the STF has hidden his cache ?

To check your solution, you may enter the following point into the geochecker:
from the registered location, along half of the registered distance, in the opposite direction than was registered.
Thanks to JG for the beta test!

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

Hfnva jbhyq xabj jung gb qb

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)