Today I'm asking for your help (again).I'm looking for a software program that can accurately score a finish in a regatta. On a tablet or phone. Anything with a touchscreen.
To start with you have an entry list with all the sail numbers. They are sorted in order. At the finish line you tab the number of the boat/kite/board coming in and it records the number with a time.
The number is deleted from the list or at least changes color or some such distinction. (In special cases you should be able to record a finisher twice, remember?)
I can imagine making something like this in a spreadsheet - Excel or whatever - but that would require typing in a number - something that in some classes is a drag. (how many digits does a laser sail number have again?) So my question to you: Is there anything like this currently available or 'in the making'?
Please come back to me in a comment or send me an Email: rrs-study ed home dot nl
A Laser sail number has 6 digits, but it is common practice for race committees to use only the final 3 digits. It's worth a check first to see if there are any duplicates of the final 3 digits in the fleet, but this rarely happens. If it does you use the final 4 digits and I've never heard of there being duplicates of those (although it's possible.) That's why Lasers have the first two digits a different color - to make it easier on the RC. Aren't we kind?
ReplyDeleteHave you looked at this Jos? http://www.sprayeasytimer.com/
ReplyDeleteNo, but I will. Thanks Zaphod.
DeleteJos – look at yachtscoring.com. All done online from registration to results and everything in between. I scored a small regatta a few weeks ago on my iPhone while sighting the finish line and as the boats sailed away from the last race I announced on the VHF that their scores were available on their smartphones. Excellent service and very much worth the per boat fee they charge
ReplyDeletecheck out the US Sailing page at http://raceadmin.ussailing.org/Race_Officers/Race_Management_Materials/Scoring_Programs.htm
ReplyDeleteIt provides a number of programs and descriptions of their use.
On of our members wrote a program that we feature on our club web site, called Committee Boat Suite. It allows for remote control from a smart phone. It also integrates very well with Sailwave, and provides a great tool for designing and running races. We give it away for free here (there are no catches, honest!)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.vallartayachtclub.org/index.php/en/on-the-water/tools-for-sailors-downloads/category/1-race-management-software
Andy Barrow
Commodore
Vallarta Yacht Club
One of our members wrote a race management program called Committee Boat Suite. It provides for remote control finishing via a smart phone, as well as integration with Sailwave, starting sequences, etc. We make it available here http://www.vallartayachtclub.org/index.php/en/on-the-water/tools-for-sailors-downloads/category/1-race-management-software
ReplyDeleteIt's free - no catches. We just want to give back to the sailing community.
Andy Barrow
Commodore
Vallarta Yacht Club
I wrote software to do pretty much exactly as you ask.
ReplyDeleteIt loads an entry list from a csv file - boat number/name/skipper/handicap and displays in a table. Other boats can be entered manually. It also shows a timer with 5 min countdown and race elapsed time with spoken prompts for flag display and 10 sec countdowns.
Once the race is started, when the boat number is touched/clicked the elapsed and corrected times are automatically entered. The boats can be sorted at any time by any column.
The file can be re-saved with the times included.
It also provides an output via a digital IO card for a siren.
email me at myc at iinet dot net dot au if you want to try it. Free.
It doesn't get used at our club as the old fogies in the start box get flustered at computers (-; We use a simpler system that just automates all the starts but I haven't got it doing the flags yet (-;