Clock Faces
Clock-face instructions are quite simple to understand, but they have been known to trip up the even the most experienced navigators. This is one type of instruction where it pays to always double check your assumptions, and where a simple little gadget in your bag of navigator's supplies can be worth its weight in gold!
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The rally master will provide you with both a list of distances and the time of day. The time of day may be written in either digital or analog form, as shown in the list on the left. |
0.00 km 1:22 0.58 7:05 1.07 10:37 6.29 Nine o'clock 7.68 Ten to four 9.22 Twenty-five past eight |
At each distance given, you will determine the direction to travel by picturing the time on an analog clock face. You will be told to enter the intersection by the hour hand and leave by the minute hand (or vice versa). For example, at 1:22, the hour hand is just past one and the minute hand is at a 90 degree angle to the left of it. Therefore, you would turn left. At 10:37 you would turn right, and so on. At ten to four (3:50), the hour hand is in a straight line with the minute hand, instructing you to go straight ahead.
HOT TIPS:
Make yourself a cardboard clock face and keep it in your rally bag. Cut a circle from
foam-core or very stiff cardboard, mark the numbers 1 through 12 around the edges, and
then punch a small hole in the centre. Make two hands out of cardboard they should be
of noticeably different lengths with arrows on the end and fasten the hands through
the centre of the circle using a butterfly fastener. Use this clock face to confirm the
direction of your turns.
Last Updated: 2001-04-18
Copyright © 2001 Gail L. Walker, reproduction forbidden without written authorization.