Stakeout Mode
Stakeout Mode allows the user to set out a new slalom or jump course from scratch without the use of a traditional Total Station.
From Survey Slalom or Survey Jump Modes, open the menu and select Stakeout Mode. One of the following screens will animate in...
Use the yellow button to map where the "start point" for the course will be. In the case of slalom, this will be the centre point of the entrance gates. In the case of jump, this will be either the ST15 buoy or the ST19 buoy depending on the option selected.
Use the red button to map any point down the course which indicates the correct direction for the course. It doesn't matter how near or far the "direction" point is.
Once both "Start" and "Direction" points have been mapped, click the "Populate Course" button. Sure-Path will then create a "perfect" course and return you to the normal Survey Mode screen with all buoy positions populated with coordinates. You can then use the Buoy Locator function to find the approximate positions of as yet unplaced buoys. Once you have dropped a buoy into a new location and mapped its actual location, Sure-Path displays how far off the ideal position it is and its location can be further refined.
Important, at this point you will still be in so called Stakeout Mode. In this mode, whenever you map a new buoy, Sure-Path will be using the "perfect" course as its reference when indicating how far off any new buoy is. For certain buoys this is subtly different from normal Survey Mode as described in the following paragraphs!
Normally, Sure-Path is using certain course buoys as the reference for mapped "offsets from ideal". In the case of slalom, it is normally a course derived using the G1 to G4 buoys which define the entrance and exit gates. In the case of jump, it is the ST15 and MT15 buoys which define the reference. This means that when any of those reference buoys are mapped or remapped, the underlying reference changes also for all the remaining buoys.
In Stakeout Mode, the offsets shown are always to the reference course created from the "Start" and "Direction" points. This then allows you to adjust the buoys which are normally used as references until they are perfect without continually changing the underlying reference course.
Once you have placed G1 to G4 (slalom) or ST15 and MT15 (jump) as perfectly as you can, save the data as a File. You can then exit Stakeout Mode, reload the file and proceed to place and map all remaining buoys. During this process, Sure-Path is back to using a reference course derived from the normal reference buoys.