I know nothing of this racing you speak of. So. What does it mean when I read about 505 regattas in Annapolis and I see a boat earned "2 bullets and placed third." Explain bullets please..Kermit, please sit on your hands. Thanks.
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- Thread starter DAVA390
- Start date
Not really. You just have to get used to the fact that the boat with the lowest score wins.
First place - 1 point
Second place - 2 points
Third place - 3 points
and so on.
It's in the Racing Rules of Sailing and quite clear. It's fairly simple to administer - which is a good thing - and for racers to follow on the water. In addition, in writing NOR or SI's just referencing this section of the RRS eliminates the need to re-write or re-create a scoring system.
There could be better scoring systems but for RC's being clear and simple trumps creative.
First place - 1 point
Second place - 2 points
Third place - 3 points
and so on.
It's in the Racing Rules of Sailing and quite clear. It's fairly simple to administer - which is a good thing - and for racers to follow on the water. In addition, in writing NOR or SI's just referencing this section of the RRS eliminates the need to re-write or re-create a scoring system.
There could be better scoring systems but for RC's being clear and simple trumps creative.
There are two scoring systems, the high-point system and the low-point system. The low-point system is the one you describe. The high-point system awards higher points the more boats finishing below you. For example, if you finish first in a field of 7 (N=7) boats including yours, your score would be 7. In the next race only two boats plus you show up (N=3) and you whip only one of 'em, you get 2 points. So, after two races your score is 9, which means you could be tied with a guy who got 6 in race one and 3 in race two. [At this point low-point scores would also be tied at (1,2; 2,1 each = 3)]. Next race, for some odd reason, 15 boats show up and you finish twelveth, so your score for that race is N-12 = 3; and your total for three races is now 12. However, the guy who won that one race, his first race of the series, has a score of 15. So, his one 1st place is beating the two other boats with one 1st place each in three races.
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Did I read it here- or in a magazine???... A boat dropped out of a race, I believe due to the low winds. Other boats continued to "race", but the race was called off due to low/no winds. SO, the guy who dropped out got a point- seemingly for knowing when to quit- but the boats still racing when it was called off got NO points. Go figure.
Weird. Normally if the RC abandons a race (which they can do at ANY time, even after) its like it never happened. No points (high or low) are awarded. Wither you finished, were leading, were last, retired, or Did Not Come, no matter. Id be interested in hearing details about a race that was scored differently. It IS possible someone found a loophole in some poorly written SIs that they exploited.
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Indeed. But flags are problematic for RCs when it comes to abandonment, as most boats are no longer anywhere near the start area and the RC boat. In areas that run W/L races its someone less an issue, but it still is on in practice. Our PRO always is on the horn and VHF for that reason. On mid-distance races flags are set but nobody at all sees them.Maybe if a skipper can read the racing signal flags, his boat gets a point.
Interesting. I admit to racing in maybe only 200 to 250 races; not really that many, could be more. But, I honestly cannot remember an abandonment of a race in progress. It seems they are very rare, and due to light or nil wind conditions where, frankly, I imagine the R/C boat does not wish to remain on station "indefinitely." Perhaps no time limit was announced in the SIs. I have raced where the wind was so light that no yachts made the finish by the time the race was called as specified by the SIs; but that is not abandonment. The other extreme, the race is abandoned b/c it's too rough for the R/C boat, also would seem rare. So, I wonder, what brings on an abandonment after a race has started?
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I've been in maybe a dozen. Buoy and short coastal races will be abandoned due to lightening and adverse weather. In areas without a reliable sea-breeze, the RC will often pull the plug on a race if it is clear that breeze has totally shut down. Why make people suffer bobbing on the water just to TLE in two hours? Back to the bar! ;^) Also in buoy W/L racing, large shifts (40+ degrees) in the wind will also cause an RC to abandon a race if they feel that the shifts have become unfair.
Professional RCs will do this more than volunteer staffs. In the end, its all about fairness and safety. We've been leading races that the RC abandoned; and the first thing I'll always do is go shake their hands and say 'smart call'.
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I can see where the RC would want to abandon a W/L race with a large wind shift. The others you mentioned I don't know. If skippers get tired of bobbing then they can fire up the iron genny and go in early; I've done it. However, die hards will sit out there all night if there's no call time. If it's clear they cannot make the finish when there is a call time; most will wait 'til that point and then motor in. I don't like racing in T-storms but people do it. Some years ago in FL a T-storm blew up not long after the start of the St. Petersburg to Isla Mujeres race. Of course, that's not a buoy race and no RC is likely to signal abandoment for that kind of race. I saw one boat go through 3 or 4 headsail changes in a span of probably less than a mile as the storm blew through.