Steamer Full Results

The full results are up on the website under the Opens option in the racing menu.

Apologies for not getting them out yesterday - but there were a few little niggles I had to resolve and I didn't want to push them out without having a chance to review them carefully. Trying to find out what happened to nearly 80 boats, finishing in four different locations, is always a little challenging.

From the results perspective - thankyou to everyone helped make it happen:

• The combined reception, race starting, and lap recording team - club juniors (and a couple of grey hairs!) doing a great job.  I didn't find a single inconsistent record.
• The finish line recorders in the RIBS - thanks for having handwriting that is significantly more legible than mine
• and finally to the SSW tracking team - their data was priceless in helping me resolve the "niggles" 

The club owes a great deal of thanks to John Donovan for organising the event so successfully for so many years.  

cheers

Mark

Hi Mark .Are the results on club racing results ? Steve 

They are now Steve

Can I add my thanks to John and the entire team for a great event.
Robin Charles  Vice Commodore

At the end of the race James and I in Hornet 2160 were in 6th place, behind Figs in the RS 400 but ahead of the other 400 and the B14. Boats around us knew the finish positions because it was noted as such. However both of the above boats shortly overtook us because they were faster and blanketed us from behind. For this reason, and others, we decided that sailing another half an hour downwind in a dying breeze and then having to sail back against the tide would not be sensible and take probably another 3/4 hour or more. The results of the race would have potentially been delayed. Therefore we sailed in, knowing the tracker would record the positions, only to be advised later that our result would not be counted. I accepted this but have subsequently found out that the finishing positions of other boats, that did not sail to a finish line either, have been given either by the tracker or observers from the race box etc noting positions at the finish. I've heard this from Dick, Tim, Figs etc parties. Whilst I accepted that our result may not be counted I did not likewise expect other non formal finishers to be treated any differently! Not the fault of the results observers but rather an interpretation of what determined the finish, what was sensible given the conditions and consistency of interpretation as to what or who determines an actual finishing position. Just a thought? Thank you.

Nigel, I suppose you could check what was written in the Sailing Instructions (I don't have them).

This is event was brilliantly organised as always, unfortunately the conditions were hard due to the (lack of) breeze. I could just make a little suggestion: if boats could be helped understand when they have been finished using a hoot or a voice hail from the rescue boat, to avoid remaining adrift for a long time without knowing what to do next.... Thanks!

Your  right, however it's the inconsistency I was commenting on. If the trackers were intended to give the finishing position then that's what should be used, otherwise why have them? Faster Boats were overtaking after the finish signal and it was a long way to the next fixed mark, hence we were being pushed back the longer it went on. It's the way it can be on these types of races, but isn't that why the trackers should be giving the finishing position. I'm not overly concerned in the end but to keep visitors coming things need to consistent otherwise events could become discredited, and that would not be a true reflection of the event and the organisation that makes it successful. Just saying!

I'm on holiday and wasn't intending to respond to this - but as the person who put the results together here is a quick description of how it was done.

First, the tracker technology available for dinghy racing in the UK is currently not capable of producing accurate finishing results.  I am a member of one of the RYA's technical committees and at a recent meeting with most of the clubs responsible for running the big handicap and pursuit races, it was confirmed that NONE of them use tracker data to produce the results - even though most have tracker data available.  There are three technical reasons for this which I won't bore you with. If we could solve one of these it might be possible to use the tracker data to produce the results for all but the boats in the first 10 places - which could be finished in the normal way.  We are hoping to work with SSW to get this fix into their system so that at some point in the future we could use trackers to produce most of the results - but the technology isn't there yet and it isn't clear whether the suppliers of any of the systems will want to invest to make them capable of providing results directly.  [Note:  the SAP system and the AC systems are capable of providing finish results - but not quite in our league regarding cost!]

Since we knew limitations of the tracker system there was never any intention to use it to produce the results and the SIs reflected this.  The tracker system, however, does give us a VERY useful data source to help resolved anomalies which are inevitable when trying to finish ~80 boats at multiple finishing lines.

The finishes for this year's Steamer were recorded at 4 finish lines -  the mobile finish, a finishing boat at MI, a finishing boat at BV (that motored up to SP) and a final boat at 27.  I first consolidated the finishing positions recorded at each of these finish lines - taking into account the lap counts for each boat recorded in the race box - a few boats were lapped.  I then used the tracker data (which ran on for about 10 minutes after the end of the race) for EACH boat independently to confirm that they had indeed finished at the finish line they were recorded at, or did not finish according to the SIs.  I found no errors in the finish line reports from the first three finish lines - the boats that were included in the results all sailed to the finish line they were recorded at.  I did have an issue with the last three boats in the race - they weren't recorded at the Buoy 27 finish although they were all in very close vicinity of the buoy.  The tracker data had stopped before it was possible to confirm their finish - I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt.

The "lessons learned" wrapup meeting for this year's Steamer identified that the lack of a finishing line at CL was not ideal and in future years the finishing lines will be at every buoy working back from the leaders - OR we might consider having mobile finishing lines starting from each buoy.

Mark

Hi Mark, if I can contribute, I would say that it is the finishing leg against the tide that is crucial when conditions get so light, therefore the one to prioritise to finish boats. I would assume this may not be the case in all conditions though.

I think it would also be useful to have some way to inform sailors that they have been finished (e.g. hoot, hail, or a shout from the loudspeaker) and also a rule (to add in the SIs I suppose) for the case of a boat who is still racing after 2h30' but for a reason or another cannot make it to the next finish line (due to lack of wind or other incident).

Thanks for your attention,

Franco

Hi Franco

Ben Cutler-Sharp is taking over from John Donovan as leading the organisation of the Steamer and I know that finishing will be reviewed again leading up to next year's events. My Steamer role is helping out with the administrative stuff related to entries, documents, and results - but I will be on holiday for the Steamer next year so the club will need a volunteer or two to handle this.


As someone who has sailed the Bloody Mary several times, I think the finishing issues in the Steamer are as nothing compared to sailing half a lap to find a finish line.  As a died-in-the-wool technology geek I would really like to see trackers play a much bigger part in producing the results but it needs an investment of time and probably money to make it happen.

Mark