Opinions vary, but the tails don't give an exact course, just a general direction. Anyone with enough sense to report a ship sighting would at least know enough to add a general speed and direction, east-southeast, north-northwest, something even if it's not the closest to one of the 32 cardinal points of the compass. For that reason I always felt objections to the tails as not being realistic is kind of silly, it's not close enough to an exact course to be a cheat.
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