Monk.
I would have thought that haveing your rods high up (3') but on the horizontal would make for easier striking.
funny think about that Baz in the 70s we all had our own ideas, in the late sixties we would have a rod within reaching distance, but mainly we fished the margins for carp in those days, in the 70s, the long range stuff started to appear and we often fished with the rods at waist level, towards thew mid 70s our runners started to twitch, mainly because of the influx of particle baits, the carp twitched so we went back to sitting over the rods, the late 70s bolt rigs became available, the carp started to run again, and we moved the bivvies back from the margins and started partying. I fished the Llandrindodd sydicate back in the 70s with Des Taylor, it was a popular place for easy doubles, you cvould tell which part of the country each carp angler came from by the wat they set up their rods, the Kent lads would be waist high sitting under the rods and casting to the far banks, we were in the margins sat over the rods, we all caught regardless , the distance you fish is a deciding factor along with the rig type running (so called or fixed bolt type), you must however remember that a running carp has often hooked itself so a strong strike is often unwise, its usually just a case of lifting the rod and pulling into the fish, particulary close in