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Traffic Light Orienteering.
Finding each control effortlessly and quickly may
seem second nature for good orienteers but in reality they have worked
hard to achieve skills and strategies that make this possible.
Traffic light orienteering gives a rough framework which should help
you move at the appropriate pace but help prevent getting lost
because you have over run the control.
This method breaks each leg of the course into three parts, green,
orange and red. The colours correspond to the colours of traffic
lights and your reactions / speed should reflect this ( so long as
your response to orange is not to accelerate rapidly!)
During the first part (the green section) the idea is to cover quickly as
much ground as possible but without getting lost. You do this
by simplifying the navigation - use rough orienteering skills. Look
for large features which will be difficult to miss. Perhaps there is a
track or stream going in roughly the right direction, a ridge you
have to cross, a major path junction or bend: something prominent,
easily recognised and easily found. Ideally this section should be the
major part of the leg. You do need to identify where you will come
out of the 'green' phase and move to 'orange'. Also look to see if
there is a distinct feature which will stop you from going too far.
(Orange section). Slow down a little as you pass your transition feature.
You now need to have a reasonably precise view of where you are on the
map so set your speed slow enough to allow you to pick out the
necessary mapped features on the ground. This should lead you to your
attack point or perhaps even to the control site. The important issue
now is to keep fully in touch with the map: be sure that you know
what you are looking for and how you are going to know if you have
gone too far.
(Red section) By now you should almost be at the control and good
speed control is essential. If you are in complex terrain then it may
be necessary to walk in this phase - in such areas it is otherwise
all too easy to overshoot the feature and waste valuable time. Tick
off any features on the map as you pass them but also keep a sharp
look out just in case you are a little off course. And once you have
seen the feature which the control is on (or better still the kite
itself) you can speed up a little as you sort out your direction out
of the control.
The first example is the leg from control 6 to 7. The green phase
starts immediately as you head roughly east of south to the path
shown and then run to the prominent path junction half way to control
7. This could extend to turning right reaching the road and head for
the sharp bend. Alternatively shift to the orange phase at the path
junction and head along the side of the thicker vegetation to the ride.
This would be the attack point and you then go slowly on a bearing
looking for the rising ground: the control is on a knoll one contour
line (roughly 5m) above the lower lying ground you are traversing.
You can also see that to get to the control
from the attack point you need to cross a small marsh - further
information to use as you close in on the control.
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@ Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. PU 43423U. BOF Map
Registration No.SO-02-402
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In this example the leg is from the start to number one. It has been
chosen because there are no line features to follow but the same
principles apply as this example illustrates. The first step is to
identify the feature or features that will act as the line feature
and hence allow traffic light orienteering. The green phase is
achieved by using the prominent feature in the contour lines (the
re-entrant) and following the re-entrant up until the shoulder of
the hill is reached. The orange section is very brief starting as
soon as you leave the re-entrant. The red section starts as soon as
the ground drops down into the re-entrant with the linear marsh. On
entering the red section make sure you are on the right bearing.
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@ Crown Copyright. All rights reserved. PU 43423U. BOF Map
Registration No. SO-99-269
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