Compass, compass, compass

Matt Ogden, November 2017

The compass is the only tool that we as orienteers can carry with us to aid our navigation. I cannot emphasise enough how important it is to be proficient with the compass, and how significantly our orienteering can improve by simple ensuring we have good direction. Reflecting on Aussie Champs and Nationals, I can attribute nearly every one of my mistakes to a poor exit direction or drifting off my intended line. In fact, the majority of our fundamental orienteering techniques – exit direction, stepping stones, aiming off etc. – all have direction components and therefore require strong compass skills. 

The question then is, how does one master the compass? There is a bucket load of tricks that various people will have and I encourage you at the next event to ask some of the more experienced orienteers how they use the compass and what their secrets are. A few thoughts from me:

• Invest the time in the control circle;
• Continually check your direction, every look at the map have a quick look at the compass; 
• Find common trends, is there a direction which you tend to drift, and if so how do can you go about correcting it; and
• Practice makes perfect.

…and then after years of practice, you begin to realise that straight is truly great. 

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