Adventure 101: What is a checkpoint?

Here’s one for the “things new racers may not know” category.

This is a checkpoint flag.

Sometimes you’ll hear them called “orienteering control points”.

We call them CPs, or BPs.

BPs = bonus points. Harder to find, same shape & color.

They’re bright orange and white triangle/square flags, sometimes with a blue stripe down the center to make them more visible for anyone who’s color blind.

We try to hang them so you can see them from a distance. Occasionally there’s a cliff face or tree in the way, but we don’t want you to have to look under every leaf pile to find the points.

This is the tag that hangs under the flag so you know whether you’ve found the spot you were looking for.

This is a punch, that hangs from the tag, under the flag… in a hole in the bottom of the sea.

Each punch has a unique pattern of pins.

And this is a passport. It’s made of tyvek, should be water-proof & tear-proof. When you reach a CP, you punch the appropriate box on the passport, and by comparing the patterns we know that you’ve found the point!

Just remember: you’re never lost when you’re at a checkpoint!

(Assuming, of course, that you still have a map.)