Column 8, Sydney question

[blisspix]

Today's column 8 in the Sydney Morning Herald has a reader asking why skaters travel in a counter-clockwise direction -

Jenny Rollo, of Putney, wants some advice on traffic rules. "I was watching the skaters at Macquarie icerink yesterday," she writes, "and it occurred to me that they always take a counter-clockwise route. What is the direction in other rinks, in Australia and the world? One would have thought that the natural direction here would be clockwise, because of our driving on the left-hand side of the road. Or does this have something to do with the direction of the water going down a drain according to the hemisphere you are in?"

http://www.smh.com.au/column8/index.html

I've found all Australian rinks go counter-clockwise, Wollman Rink in Central Park, NYC goes clockwise, McFetridge in Chicago goes counter.

I'm assuming it's to do with the fact that 90% of skaters jump in a counter-clockwise direction.

[Kelli]

Most skaters naturally prefer to skate counterclockwise. At many public sessions, the direction will switch halfway through so that skaters get to skate in both directions.

In USFSA tests, any moves in the field pattern that is only skated in one direction is skated counterclockwise. As the levels get higher, skaters are required to do more patterns in both directions. All dance tests are done counterclockwise.

[Isk8NYC]

Most of the rinks I skate at in NYC and NJ head off counter-clockwise to start. After the ice cut, some of them reverse the direction and send everyone clockwise.


It's usually the skate guards that direct the traffic.

Maybe it's because many people are right-handed and this lets the beginners hang onto the wall with their stronger arm?