Northwest Rally Council

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Not all who wander are lost!

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Despite a downturn in the weather bring drizzle the entire evening, twelve teams turned out for 3 Lefts & A Right, the June installment of the 2023 NWRC Friday Nighter Season.

FOOTZ delivered the second event using the Richta GPS Checkpoints system, lightly seasoned with time traps. All teams completed the route successfully. Once again, Farrelli’s Pizza in Maple Valley provided us will a good finish location.

A familiar odometer check led teams out to May Valley Road before competition began. Leg 1 went down Cedar Grove Road, then jogged over to Maxwell. Reaching a stop sign at a T, where NRI 21. L AT “STOP”, CAST 34 was available, the instruction could not be used as the route was forced left since the road to the right was a dead end. Teams using NRI 21 sped up, arriving at the checkpoint 15 seconds early.

Leg 2 cut east from Maxwell, skirted the edge of Hobart and passed local landmark The Yellow Submarine. While crossing the ridge before Ravensdale, teams executed a small speed change using NRI 30. CSD 2 AT [arrow] OR [deer]. This was the initial setup for the trap. The arrow sign comes up first and CSD at [arrow] is simple enough. There is a [deer] soon after, so even if the [arrow] was missed you move on to the next instruction. NRI 31. CAST 40 AT SECOND [arrow] OR [deer] seals your fate if done wrong. There is one more matching [arrow] and if treated as the second you’ll be 3 MPH faster (40 vs 37 here) for the rest of this leg. It was the first [arrow] encountered since executing the previous NRI. Good for 11 early at the checkpoint on the west side of Ravensdale Park.

The next leg used the pleasantly twisty Ravensdale-Black Diamond Road between its namesakes then headed out to the Green River Gorge. Along the way teams faced NRI 40. CAST 45 AT FOURTH PREMARKER OR PAUSE 9 AT “STOP”. A premarker is any of the many yellow, diamond-shape signs warning of something. Once outside of Black Diamond, there are two premarkers in quick succession. So far, so good. Then there is a long stretch of nothing. Eventually, two more appear on the horizon. They are still quite distant, but easy to see because they are the only things to spot. However, before you reach the third premarker, there is a stop sign on a gate in a wide turnout on the left. Amazing how the brain works, as that stop sign is hugely visible, but so hard to see once you’ve spotted those diamonds. The checkpoint was just before the GRG bridge. Using the first half of NRI 40 was good for 11 seconds early. 3rd & 4th premarkers are circled in red, below.

Leg 4 started just beyond the bridge, taking one of my favorite stretches of road up to Cumberland. On the way to Veazie, navigators became tense.

Stacking ITIS instructions is allowed, but frowned upon because it usually makes things very complicated. This stack only had shock value. It is much simpler than most stacked ITIS situations would be, as all of these ITIS instructions require finding the same [arrow] premarker. Although four NRIs are all on the table, you’re only looking for two things – that arrow and the sideroad sign. The first matching sign is the arrow, where NRI 46 is executed. Next comes another arrow. If you counted this sign as the 2nd and used NRI 47, that made you 11 early. Remember, it needed to be the 2nd after NRI 46. The crossroads premarker came next, but there had been no more arrows. If you executed NRI 48, add another 4 seconds early. Finally the sideroad premarker appeared and all that madness was behind you. Checkpoint just before Krain Korner.

Another short hop on SR169 and leg 5 started on SE 383rd. The phantom bantam was mentioned. NRI 53. CAST 34.4 AT JEMA RANCH RD ITIS (birthplace of famous rally rooster, Tatty) gave competitors a chance to forget that for this event, gravel roads did not exist. Cheap trap? Yes! I called it the chicken finger and kept the penalty small at 5 early. Otherwise, it was 5 miles of great road with nothing for the navigator to do except hang on. A right at stop brought you to the checkpoint just before Green Valley Road.

The final leg passed Flaming Geyser Park, then climbed the remarkably steep and twisty section of Green Valley. Hard to believe it still has a 40 speed limit. All the fun ends once GV reaches SR169 and the route heads to and through Black Diamond, then on to the last checkpoint about a mile before Four Corners.

Scoring was completed and awards presented as pizzas were coming out of the kitchen.

It was great to see the increase in turnout at this event. We had only seven cars in May. It takes more than six to cover the insurance cost, and at least ten with other expenses. The absence of Novice cars in May was alarming. One of the Novice teams this month came from Bellingham to check out the Richta system as they want to restart Chuckanut’s rally program. Perhaps the biggest surprise was the depth of the Master class, especially since one very consistent team was missing.

FOOTZ thanks: Bill and Charles Aggenbach for providing valuable feedback in the route/instructions checkout process. Charles also drove the pace car and assisted at the finish. Photo credit for the on-route image at the top of this post goes to Emily Winslow. The Winslows also spearhead the NWRC social media campaign. It takes a village.

See you all in July!

Stop him! He’s been thinking, again.

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I’ve been pondering the universe more than usual in the last few days. And by that I mean I have poured over the Generals front and back looking for cracks in the foundation. Not to exploit, but to mend. I prefer to exploit solid rules. I was testing alternate interpretations against the June route instructions to see if it held up and avoided weak spots.

Some of the rules in the Generals are simple and clear. Some are confusing or lumpy. Lumpy? That’s a rule that almost did the job and then a problem was noticed so the cooks just dropped another word or two into the pot as a fix. That pot hasn’t been stirred since 2007. Yes, I was among those in the kitchen at the time.

I challenge you to read the first two sentences of section 4.1 and say the words “that is perfectly clear” in a believable manner.

4.1 A route instruction may have multiple actions and may also have multiple ACTION POINT(s). Execute each route instruction at its first possible ACTION POINT(s).

That looks pretty harmless. Multiple actions and ACTION POINTs are allowed, correct? Is it possible for a route instruction to have no action or ACTION POINT? Can the number of actions be different from the number of ACTION POINTs? I’ll suggest that the last question might be answered by the language used in the first sentence. I think that was probably the intent. If the action quantity was lockstep with the ACTION POINT count, the “may also have” would not be needed. Still wouldn’t be perfectly clear.

Route instructions are meant to be logical and readable (special terms and definitions aside). We can easily understand the instruction RIGHT AT SIGNAL PAUSE 30 and accept it as legitimate. It has two actions [RIGHT] and [PAUSE] doesn’t it? And they occur at the same ACTION POINT, so this may help answer the question of differing quantities and does so more clearly, if the example holds. If you want to raise your hand and ask about 4.5, you’re reading ahead in the Generals. Just back the truck up. We’ll get there soon enough. Until then, your punishment is to think about whether or not PAUSE is really an action. I assure you that its definition makes no convincing argument.

Which conveniently brings us back to the first question: can a route instruction have no action and/or ACTION POINT? Yes, and no. I have come to the understanding that the no action condition must be acceptable and yet there must be at least one ACTION POINT. To make things worse, the ACTION POINT can also be invisible, hypothetical, or fictional. You might hear people speak of an implied action. That is weak sauce. We use things like OBSERVE “NEXT EXIT” on almost every event. Sometimes it is just “NEXT EXIT”. Is there a need to imply OBSERVE? Is a lonely “NEXT EXIT” an executable instruction? I posit that it is fully compliant with 4.3.2. There is no change of direction specified but there is a REFERENCE, so the instruction should be executed AT the REFERENCE. The ACTION POINT is AT the REFERENCE, because 4.3.2 told us where to execute and 4.3 labels that an ACTION POINT. The only action that took place was the completion of the instruction. Woof. Invisible, hypothetical, and fictional ACTION POINTs are mentioned only to emphasize that while we’ve used 4.3 to identify the ACTION POINT(s) where execution actually took place, the definition in section 8 reads “can be…”

I’ll tear apart the second sentence of 4.1 in a future rant.

You, in the back having your 4.5 fit, wanted to ask how RIGHT AT SIGNAL PAUSE 30 is allowed when 4.5 reads

4.5 The same ACTION POINT will not be used simultaneously for two route instructions.

RIGHT and PAUSE are two actions (argument for another time) of the same route instruction, not two route instructions. This is an important distinction. It is part of the reason the first sentence of 4.1 specifically mentions multiple actions and ACTION POINTs. This example is considered two actions at a single ACTION POINT. I’ll let you stew over 6.7 for a bit.

I’ll end for now with a summary of how FOOTZ interprets the following instructions:

  1. SIGNAL – no action, one ACTION POINT
  2. RIGHT AT SIGNAL – one action, one ACTION POINT
  3. RIGHT AT SIGNAL AFTER SIGNAL – one action, two ACTION POINTs (maybe, really tough to justify)
  4. RIGHT AT 2ND SIGNAL – one action, one ACTION POINT
  5. OBSERVE SIGNAL THEN RIGHT AT SIGNAL – two actions, two ACTION POINTs

In Just One Week:

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We’re back again for more fun going places. 3L&AR is loaded with fun roads, bright yellow signs, and an occasional, mild, instructional exercise. This is a clean event suitable for beginners and masters alike.

Checkpoint procedure will be a bit different than last month. There is another post on this site which describes it in detail, along with an example checkpoint slip. Upon reaching a checkpoint, pull to the side of the road as soon as it is safe to do. Open the checkpoint slip and follow the information in it to continue the rally. The start of the next leg will be nearby. The slip tells you how to get there and how much time you have.

There are Supplemental Generals for June. Read up! Make sure you understand the new defined terms PREMARKER, SPEED LIMIT, and SNOCONE.

From the regular NWRC Generals, the usual suspects include BEAR, ITIS, MBCU, OR, and the quintuplets of the Through Route Determinant family.

Entry fee for 2023 NWRC Friday Nighters is $30.

Registration will be open from 6:45pm-7:15pm.

Start location details if you haven’t done this before.

See you Friday!

What’s more fun than a discussion of rally minutiae? Many things. Since we’re on the topic of Many Things…

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Extensive waffling and editing has taken place since this post first appeared 5/28. As of the evening of 5/29 some things are completely different. It might be worth reading it again.

While writing a checkpoint slip, I suddenly realized one (ha!) of the route instructions might be faulty. It passed the sniff test initially, but as I retraced the logic and checked specifics in the rules, my confidence in it wavered. What concerned me even more was that I used similar instructions earlier without incurring any doubt. Something was critically different this time, but what?

There are still a lot of holes in the NWRC Generals. When I fell into TSD rally, the entirety of the NWRC Generals fit on a single, double-sided page. Today it fits on four, with much of the increase due to larger font size and formatting. That’s still pretty thin for rules that support course following events. I don’t have any problem with a thin rulebook. My focus is where the rules get vague or leave a gap that is open to multiple interpretations.

Today’s soapbox is about route instruction actions and ACTION POINT(s).

  • [A] All route instructions have one or more actions to be executed, whether or not an action is explicitly stated.
  • [B] All route instructions have one or more ACTION POINT(s) where actions are executed.
  • [C] Multiple actions within a route instruction may occur at one ACTION POINT.
  • [D] An action may consist of several sub-actions occurring at different ACTION POINT(s). The sub-actions may be implied.

These statements are not found in the NWRC Generals but can be derived from the rules therein and stand up in practice.

Section 4.1 only says that an instruction may have multiple actions and it may have multiple ACTION POINT(s). That an instruction must have at least one action and ACTION POINT comes from section 4.3 telling us that an instruction can only be executed at an ACTION POINT.

  • 77. R AT STOP, CAST 25

NRI 77 has two actions at one ACTION POINT. This conforms to [A] & [B], demonstrates [C], and [D] does not apply.

  • 78. L AT “STOP”, CAST 25

This is less obvious. You could make a case that NRI 78 has three actions and two ACTION POINT(s). Is there an implied action to OBSERVE “STOP”? In this instance, I think there is no need to visually note and pass “STOP” before taking other action because AT places the REFERENCE in the vicinity. NRI 78 has two actions at one ACTION POINT. This conforms to [A] & [B], demonstrates [C], and [D] does not apply.

  • 79. OBSERVE “TRUCK ROUTE”

This is the easy one, in case you weren’t paying attention. NRI 79 has one action and one ACTION POINT. This conforms to [A] & [B], while [C] & [D] do not apply.

  • 80. “CONGESTION”

WTF (words, too few). Lazy Rallymaster? Saving toner? This is the previously mentioned implied OBSERVE. One action and one ACTION POINT. The instruction must be executable, and section 4.3 tells us it must have an ACTION POINT. The appropriate action is OBSERVE, although it is not explicitly stated in the NRI. While there is nothing in the Generals about implied actions, they must exist for 4.3 to hold up. The ACTION POINT is at the REFERENCE. Once again, this conforms to [A] & [B], while [C] & [D] do not apply.

  • 81. L AFTER “TUNNEL”

Two actions and two ACTION POINT(s)? Nope. There is no implied OBSERVE hiding here. The AFTER requires that you pass the indicated REFERENCE before you can execute the L. This is just another one action, one ACTION POINT instruction when written as above. I would consider it two actions with independent ACTION POINT(s) if it was worded OBSERVE “TUNNEL” THEN L. Both ways conform to [A] & [B], while [C] & [D] do not apply.

Now let’s jump ahead a few chapters and get this over with.

  • 119. R AFTER 2ND “TRAIL CROSSING”, CAST 25, WATCH FOR HORSES FOR 1 MILE

Are there five actions? Three, maybe four ACTION POINT(s)? Perhaps multiple implied OBSERVE(s)? That was my thinking, too. But there is nothing to support that position in the NWRC Generals. The foundation established with NRIs 78 and 80 above means the AFTER kills off thoughts of an implied OBSERVE action. The first ACTION POINT has three actions – R, CAST, WATCH FOR HORSES FOR 1 MILE. We don’t have terms for the situation where (or when) the start and end of an action occur at different points. The instruction is readable and logical, so I maintain there must be another action and ACTION POINT. At that first ACTION POINT, the three actions are actually R, CAST, and [Start WATCH FOR HORSES FOR 1 MILE]. The final action – [End WATCH FOR HORSES FOR 1 MILE] – and second ACTION POINT occur one mile later. This NRI effectively demonstrates all of the concepts [A]-[D].

I hope that all made sense. When the Generals talk about actions/ACTION POINT(s), whether or not a REFERENCE is needed/used, and determining execution or completion of an instruction there are some places that could use improvement.