Yes, I do think this Red/Green, +/- placards will be easier to understand and improve the racing. And it will make life easier for the RC and Mark Boats.

I guess it is due to my education in Mech Eng that I find that I can think in degrees, and rotation ... I remember problems in Statics/Structures where everything was stated in different units and on different axial orientations .... first you had to convert everything to common units and axises. Then you could solve the problem.

When you first see a mark boat signaling a course change at a gate, the boat and you are usually traveling in the opposite direction to the axial orientation of the course change signals ....this means port/starb referencing the course vs port/starb referencing your vessel are opposite .... this could be confusing to some people in the action/excitment of a gate rounding. So personally I prefer to use port/starb in terms of the boat .... and try not to use similiar terms referenced to the course. Also, I do not want to wait until after rounding through the gate to fiqure out which way I need to go, therefore I'm forced to think in reverse (port is starb ... starb is port)while still heading downwind, so I eliminate in my (feeble) mind port/starb when referencing the race course and instead use the terms counter clock-wise or clock-wise to discribe the change to the race course. I try to have "my plan" in my mind before I reach the gate and start the next leg. (Sometimes the plans work ... sometimes they don't ... Oh well)

But this reflects my personal thinking process .... that many individuals think is slightly "skewed" to say the least ....


Harry