Hope you all enjoyed the courses--the weather was good anyway. Apologies to
those on the medium who arrived at control 3 before I had hung it. I hope it
didn't cost you too much time. Also the siting of control 2 on the long left
a little to be desired. I should have allowed more time to hang the
controls--I was too late back from the Cragg Vale pantomine the evening
before!

The long and short courses were Norwegian style. This simplifies the
planning making premarked maps unnecessary--even contol cards and punches
are obsolete if done properly. Some competitors took a pen and marked their
maps as they went--this slows you down of course. Others didn't look at a
map at all between controls, using only the map sections hung at the flag.
Leaving the map behind forces you to visualise the leg and to plan your
route by working back from the control--its good training. Jackie, my wife,
didn't use a map and says she enjoyed doing it properly, although her time
was slower than she would have liked.

The short Norwegian didn't prove too popular with competitors--many did the
medium instead which was navigationally much more demanding. This explains
some very long times on this course. There is probably a case for four
courses at an informal like this--easy short, easy medium, technical medium
and technical long. This could be achieved with perhaps one or two extra
controls.

Phil Scarf. Planner.