The setup process involves the steps below and is normally only needed once. After that occaisional edits may be necessary but they will be infrequent.

• Number of starts: Select one or two. One start is generally for one class regattas. Two starts is generally for small boats first and large boats second seperted by the 'Start Interval'.
• Start interval: The time between starts and the time to the first start.
• Mail to address: The email address to which the results will be sent.
• Results format: The format of the results attached to the email.
• Edit Skippers: A dropdown that allows you to delete skippers who name may be mispelt or are no longer memerbs of the club.
• About & Contacts: App rev level plus an address for app support.
• Sanctioned Fleets: The fleets supported by the club - see below.

Sanction Fleets

The app contains the entirety of the Portsmouth Yardstick as containde in this document from US Sailing . There are approximately 1700 different classes of boat in there together with the handicap information and that database is housed in the app. To add a new sanctioned fleet simply start typing the first few letters of the fleet name in the text box and then choose the wanted fleet from the dropdown. Before pressing the 'Add" button be sure to define which start that class belongs to in your club. For example a Sunfish, Laser type boat is typically assigned start 1, whereas a FLying Scot, Ensign would be start 2.

Preparing for a race

The race screen with two boats added is shown on the right. You can have as many boats as you like in a race the screen will scroll vertically to allow access to all of them. Here is a review of the elements of the screen:

Race Screen

Elements of the race screen

• Capt, Asst: Add the names of the race captain and assistant. First or first and last may be used. This is reported on the results
• Wind: Enter the average wind speed for the race. The speed and the units are both dropdowns.
• Main control button: The button's text details what action will be taken if its pressed. The text and the color will both change as the race progresses. Currently it is green and showing "Start Race".
• Status display: Next to the main control button is the Statys Display. This details where in the race the app is.
• Timer: This is displays the time into the race and is updated every second.
• Add Boat: Pops up the "Add Boat" dialog that you can see on the right.
• Clear: Clears all boats from the race. Requires conformation to prevent accidental erasure.

Add Boat Dialog

Running a race

When using the app it is recommended that one person is seated with the app and the other is positioned in the finish line and calls out sail numbers is the usual way. The running of a race is best experienced watching a video. Things to note in the video:

• Flow of the race: Watch how the text on the control button changes and gives you ways to interrupt the progress of the race if necessary
• Boats retiring: If a boat need to retire or is for some reason disqualified watch how using that red button on each boat enables you to do that.
• Finish button: Just tap the finish button as boats cross the finish line. If you make a mistake there is always the 'Undo' button..
• General Recall: Although rare a general recall is handled smoothly by the app. Its different depending on whether you have a one start race or a two start race. The video overviews both scenerios.

 

Video of a typical race

Getting the results