Pictorial Descriptions

[seabird]

Purplepen allows you to print a text description alongside the pictorial description without repeating the control code and number, on whichever courses you choose. With the shorter courses there is usually plenty of space on the map for this. This seems the obvious solution for anyone who feels that it is necessary or advisable to have a text backup.

Apologies if I've missed this being addressed previously. I've just skimmed through this thread after a good few days absence and didn't spot such a reference.

[Copepod]

Today, on an AIRE o-lite race, I chose to run Orange, due to running earlier in day. So, I caught up with a man, in his 30s or 40s, I guess, who was having some difficulty coping with map, compass and punch card on a very windy moor. He was obviously a competent navigator, able to take bearings, even if that wasn't the best route choice. At the time, I didn't know it was his first orienteering event, so suggested that he pinned his punch card to an item of clothing to lessen chance of it blowing off again - it had just been stopped by a taller heather plant. Back at download, he asked me for more help, regarding pictoral descriptions, as all he'd been told at registration / start was "go to the centre of the circle and look for the flag". He wanted to know more, and it turned out that if someone had told him about the column which states N / E / S / W side of feature would have helped him greatly. I gave him a couple of web search terms so he can find a page to print out for reference, to keep in pocket in case of complete puzzlement on future events.