Steamer Full Results

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