Big handicap event management

   Any ROs on here who have managed big handicap events with 50+ boats on the water in two or more fleets, e.g. Great Lakes series?  How many assistants do you need on the Committee Boat and how do you allocate up their tasks?  Any special tricks to help record times and numbers for mass finishes apart from the obvious ones of film and voice recorder? 

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NickM99 Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Posting king Joined: 26 Apr 14 Online Status: Offline Posts: 145	Post Options Post Reply Quote NickM99 Report Post Quote Reply Topic: Big handicap event management Posted: 27 Jan 20 at 10:58am
	Any ROs on here who have managed big handicap events with 50+ boats on the water in two or more fleets, e.g. Great Lakes series? How many assistants do you need on the Committee Boat and how do you allocate up their tasks? Any special tricks to help record times and numbers for mass finishes apart from the obvious ones of film and voice recorder?

Sam.Spoons Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 07 Mar 12 Location: Manchester UK Online Status: Offline Posts: 3370	Post Options Post Reply Quote Sam.Spoons Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 27 Jan 20 at 3:21pm
	Not a regular RO but we manage 60-80 boats with three on the committee boat Edited by Sam.Spoons - 27 Jan 20 at 4:07pm
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Brass Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 24 Mar 08 Location: Australia Online Status: Offline Posts: 1143	Post Options Post Reply Quote Brass Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 28 Jan 20 at 1:07am
	Key trick, as size and pressure builds up is to ensure that each person has only one job/function. I suggest the following functions: Caller/Line Sighter, usually the RO Timekeeper Recorder 1 Recorder 2 Hoots/Division Tracker (increasingly important with 4 or more Divisions) Sound Signals So, recording is redundantly duplicated. If recording on-line, one of the Recorders, is electronic. Voice recorder ON, and a Go Pro, head mounted on RO or steady-cam mount on finishing line is a bonus, but don't forget that you will need a 15in laptop to get anything worthwhile out of viewing footage. Video is a last resort: it takes time. Caller and Recorders build lists of sail numbers approaching the finishing line, then Caller calls sail numbers as they cross, Timer calls seconds, and Recorders write times against correct sail numbers. If possible watch 'gates' or preceding marks and build rounding sequences or times so that you have some idea of how the Divisions are going relative to one another, and in the event of disaster, you can reconstruct an 'order at last mark'. Note that Sailwave, and the DSRC mobile phone app can produce finishing line lists sorted by handicap order, or (for DSRC, at least, recorded time at previous mark/lap) If you are having a handicap/pursuit start, you don't want every single boat perfectly handicapped, finishing at the same instant. Hopefully, you are racing in Divisions, grouped more or less by potential boat speed. Arrange your handicap starting times so that, the Target Race Time for each Division will deliver that Division to the finishing line in a 'window' separate (by say 5 minutes) from the 'windows' for each other division. Hope this helps. Edited by Brass - 28 Jan 20 at 1:10am

NickM99 Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Posting king Joined: 26 Apr 14 Online Status: Offline Posts: 145	Post Options Post Reply Quote NickM99 Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 28 Jan 20 at 4:27pm
	Really helpful, many thanks Brass.

craiggo Send Private Message Find Member's Posts Really should get out more Joined: 01 Apr 04 Location: United Kingdom Online Status: Offline Posts: 1810	Post Options Post Reply Quote craiggo Report Post Quote Reply Posted: 29 Jan 20 at 9:15pm
	I've run handicap events with 3 fleets and over 50 boats. My advice is: Get someone to enter all the competitors details into Sailwave while you and your race team set courses, prepare flags and generally prepare for the day. Do not attempt to try and enter times directly into the computer. Leave it and an operator in your clubhouse. As boats approach the finish you'll need a couple of spotters to recognise boats and sail numbers (Before you start it often pays to check sail numbers for classes like lasers to see if you can just use last three numbers) call them out and call "now" as they cross the line. Have someone jot finishes down in chronological order on paper recording the sail no and time. Don't attempt to record anything else. One completed send your paper sheets to the person in the club house to insert into Sailwave while you get on with the next few races. Repeat At the end, your person in the clubhouse on Sailwave should be able to rapidly input the final race results and give you very quick results while you tidy up. My key advice, make sure your Sailwave operator is well trained and make sure your fleet files are well prepared, your discard profiles etc. Are all sorted. Record boats and times in chronological order on paper as it's easier to shoot errors and fix mistakes.
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