Sailing race timing equipment

FPSC developed a race start / finish application for PC around the time I left to go sail on the lumpy stuff. Hopefully 'Pondscum' will be along soon to give more details.

The boat and her finish time has to be recorded somehow in handicap racing (says he, stating the bl**ding obvious), and whether a pen & paper method is used en-route to collating series results depends on how comfortable members are with technology...

I believe this has been discussed somewhere on here---

:goes off to find thread:

Starcross have a PC based system which works through a browser and does the race timing for multiple fleets and creates the results, posts them to a website and also updates the series results (also generates sailwave import files if that's what you prefer).  Supports class racing, handicap racing and pursuit races

Online demo/practice system of not quite the latest version available at

 http://www.starcrossyc.org.uk/SYC_RaceManager/index.php.

Works over the web for OOD practice - the real system works on a local PC in the OOD box and is much faster

Currently only works with IE (shame on me!).  Written with php, mysql and javascript for the nerds amongst you.




Edited by marke

Chris

Its probably more sensible to conduct this conversation via email - so I can give you the highs and lows of this development.  PM me you email and I'll send details.

In summary: yes there was a little resistance from some members; but this isn't too hard to get over.  A bigger problem for us is that most OODs do one duty a year - its very hard to write software that is easy to use if you are only going to use it once a year. To be successful, and there are lots of big benefits from this approach, you need a small team of 'experts' who are willing to support the use of the software.  [BTW - you don't need to be a sailing expert to use the software - if you are familiar with using a web application  most people can pick it up  with a15 minutes familiarisation - perfect for any non-sailing members of your club]

I have no objection to giving the software to other clubs - but the race configuration is customised for Starcross - 5 starts, 7 fleets, series races, trophy races, junior races etc.  To modify this you would need to get into the code - its 'relatively' easy to do, but would need someone familiar with PHP.  I intend to get round to developing the functions to allow these changes to be made without changing the code - but I'm unlikely to get to it this year (its pretty complicated).  If you tell me the different types of racing you do, number of starts, fleet organisation etc. I could tell you what sort of effort would take .

If you are ever near Starcross on a race day - please pop-in and we can show you the system working with our automatic lights system.

mark.

Edited by marke

Yes, helmsan, we are finding that sometimes taking the race times is a problem at Draycote. We reached a point where it all seemed to be running well but I think we became a bit lazy and assumed people knew to do it. It now seems that if the OD's arent reminded personally before the races it is becoming slightly hit and miss as to whether times are actually taken.

Our current OOD advice is that only fast handicap fleet need their times taken as there is quite a strong fleet ethos at the club, i.e. every other boat racing is part of a fleet race so only needs its position scoring. However, some have said that this approach, while it reduces the apparent workload on the OD (in reality it only means they dont have to look at a clock for some boats when finishing them), it also adds confusion since some people are not sure exactly which boats need to have times recorded.

While the current system we have works for 95% of the time, and for the first time we are now able to produce what some see as useful results for handicap racing, we are actively trying to find a way around the problem. Hopefully this solution will kill two birds with one stone and will mean that OOD duty is simplified (always a good thing and should hopefully encourage more to turn up), and all race times are taken giving us useful and accurate results for everyone racing, not just the fleets.

We would be interested to hear how any other clubs ensure that accurate times are taken for handicap racing. Do you time all boats or differentiate in to fleets? Do you use computer systems or the good old fashioned pencil and paper - what works best for you? We have heard from Starcross and Medway above, how does OOD duty work where you sail?