Timing Clock – Dinghy Pursuit Races

Originally posted by Paramedic

Originally posted by Paramedic

Originally posted by 423zero

GC, very hard to see that pursuit is easier to run than a handicap, please explain.

Anything is easy if you know how to do it............

With a pursuit race once the start sequence is out of the way its sit back at watch almost. If your course/lake is too small and slower boats have sailed a lap before faster boats have started it becomes a bit more problematic but other than that the race finish is a simple work/motor back through the fleet and record positions. No times, no entering results into a computer to generate the result with the associated risk of getting it wrong.

Race system choice is horses for courses. They work brilliantly in some settings, abysmally in others. If your RO is incompetent you stand little chance with either.

Re the original post assuming a committee boat start whats wrong with an analogue kitchen clock, set to midnight and released at the race start? You only need to give the competitors a clue as go when the next start is and when they should start their watch. If its shore based this simply shouldn't be a problem unless you're late arriving and thats not the fault of the race system.

Paramedic thanks  very much for posting this explanation. You did it much clearer than I would have done and with out my innate grumpiness  

Re RO s . This is a thankless job and clubs need to organise as much help as possible for them both with training and with auto starting systems . Not only does our m/c do all the starting and finish guns .When doing handicap races all club members are already entering in to the m/c( with a manual override if people are swapping boats )  so all the RO has to do is click on their name to enter them into the race and at the finish all the RO has to click on their name again and the m/c automatically records their time and works out the results.