Discussion: Nice recovery

With you thumb compass :-)

Thanks for posting Saturday's maps so quickly. Congrats on keeping your race together despite looming disaster on that rugged terrain.

I put my thumb in my eye by not having a spare compass:-).

I've not been attracted to the thumb compass approach but suspect it may be superior - facile, more confident, thus likely faster. I have the good base plate company of PG. I'm pretty sure, though, that he does not put compass on map - which I usually do. My pedantic -- vs. facile.

I've been using the thumb variety for many years. Maybe 25 years ago I took a tumble running a course at Sebago, and when I looked later for a compass bearing all I had was the strap and a bit of the plastic housing. Seemed like a disaster, but I ended up having quite a good run. Just had to pay more attention to the terrain. Not that I would voluntarily go out without one.

I still do my best with a baseplate, though I use the thumb for sprints. I got a nice thumb about a year ago and have been practicing with it but I will have to change my technique to be better with it.
Good reminder to always bring a spare.

I switched to thumb compass (with magnifier) about 15 years ago. The reason initially was that I needed a magnifier to read the map and it became a problem to find a good solution for both magnifier and base plate working together.

I found out rather quickly that my previously sloppy orienteering technique - very often by rough bearings - became much better with a thumb compass - forcing you to actually look at both the map and compass at the same time.