By: Rob Gibbs & Wendy Larsen
What happens to the scoresheets between the time the race ends and the scores are posted? This sacred art of turning scribbles on paper into race scores seems like it would be straightforward, but it is actually fraught with challenges. Here are some things you can do to help the alchemist behind the publication of scores do them faster, and with less confusion.
As a Competitor
- Register with your sail number (your actual one)
- Register with your handicap (if you aren’t a One Design fleet)
- Register on time
- Check in with Race Committee
- Adopt-A-Boaters: Check in with your NAME and SAIL NUMBER
On Race Committee
- Identify boats by sail number AND skipper when they check in
- Fill out the ENTIRE Scoresheet – that means the TOP also!
- Indicate which boats start each race
- Always record FINISH TIMES – even One Design
- Use the Racing Codes in addition to a finish time if required
- Enter each finish into the online scores form (more on this in a moment)
- Turn in the actual Scoresheets to the Club Scorer
Finally, here is a quick, one pager on these tips for the next time you are on Race Committee.
Finish Times for Everyone?
Okay…answer to the first question “Why do I need finish times for One Design Fleets?” There are several reasons this is important from a scoring perspective.
- There are times that the scorekeeping process is challenged by a racer. If they know who they finished near, or just behind, or just ahead of, any issues on incorrect recorded times can be more easily resolved.
- The first boat in each fleet must have their time recorded so that the Time Limit Expired (TLE) can be calculated.
- Every other boat needs a time so we know if they are TLE.
- If a boat is scored with the wrong fleet, the error is easily fixed if times are recorded.
Bottom line is, you need to take finish times for everyone.
Online Form
One of the most challenging things about scoring is reading other’s handwriting. This is often compounded when scoresheets are turned in via scanner or photo. This can add hours to the time it takes to produce results and countless days to resolving issues over what was actually written on the scoresheet and where someone finished.
In order to reduce the errors and the cycle times from the end of racing to results posted online, we’ve implemented turning in race scores via an online form. Each person who starts a race gets an entry into this system. This is not intended to replace the paper sheets, as finishes often happen too fast to do online in real-time. Ideally, the person who wrote the scores/times enters the data as they are the best person to understand their own handwriting.
The online form is available to anyone under the RACING INFORMATION menu on the AYC Racing Pages.
Thanks for helping our club maintain the highest level of competition possible!