I did actually call the tower and talked to the guy in charge (at least at that shift), and we had a friendly chat about it. He wasn't really able to clarify it for me, he said he obviously knew about our climbout procedure since we are based at the airfield, and he would normally expect us to fly that one. However, he said, that in good, clear, CAVOK conditions, he expected us to turn visually on course, since that's what we usually do. When I asked him if we had to specify a visual right turn he said he wasn't sure; he thought he had seen it somewhere that a left turn was standard, but he also said he would be surprised if we actually did that (when a right turn would be more direct).
So I'm not sure, I can't find anything in our ops manuals, the guy in the tower doesn't have a definite answer, ask two senior captains that have two completely different answers, and then even more different answers here... That's why I'm wondering if there's ever been printed anything seemingly official with regards to this
