Entering Finish Times.

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Background:

TopYacht offers five different methods of finish time entry.

Keep in mind that while the R.O. can restart a race as many times as necessary to ‘get it right’; there is only one opportunity to get the finish right. To that end, everything that can be done to prevent errors should be put in place.

Additionally, producing accurate results as soon as practical for public and press consumption is the ultimate aim. We would suggest that producing results that are in the public domain prior to competitors returning to shore is Utopia.

Inputting finish times to any software package is a critical operation for this to happen. TopYacht has five different methods, each explained here. The choice as to which one is used is dictated by the resources available.

These five methods are classified into two groups, being

  • After-the-event data entry, where times are manually loaded as they become available from the finish line, and
  • Real-Time data capture as the boats finish.

After-the-Event Data Entry:

Option 1: Use Step 9

This option is the original system developed for early releases of TopYacht and is still functional today. It allows manual entry of finish times on a boat by boat basis for boats in a single race in a single series.

It is accessed via Step 9 following the completion of Step 6 (or 6a).

Option 2: Use Step 9a, The Computer Stop-watch in Manual Mode

The Keystrokes are essentially the same as Step 9 (Option 1), but the screen is more informative.

Sail Nos that are match are highlighted in Yellow.

Duplicate sail numbers / finish time stamps are highlighted in red

Option 3:

This option loads finish times from a comma-separated-variable file (csv). The csv is an output option of spread-sheet software or other stop-watch package. It has the advantage of permitting the production of one file which contains finish times of boats from one or more series. The same file is loaded into the appropriate race for each series, and TopYacht will ignore time-stamps for boats not entered into that particular race.

A TopYacht Enhanced License is required to permit this functionality.

Real-Time Data Entry:

The Computer Stop Watch

The beauty of this function is that it:

  • Saves a lot of typing
  • Reduces the chances of typing / translation errors
  • Data entry is complete when the last boat passes through the finishing line
  • Gives instant feedback of the validity of an entrant; i.e

The background colour of the row changes to yellow if the entered sail number matches a sail number in the entrants (right hand) list. The most likely causes of a no-match are an un-notified sail change, or the boat has not entered.

Different setups are required for races where there is only a single series involved and where multiple series are involved.

Web Times:

Web Times allows the capture of finish times on a mobile phone, tablet or laptop, and sends them to the TopYacht server.  It differs from TopYacht because there is no processing of results available on the user’s device. The expectation is that the processing of results takes place at a different location to the finish line and (most probably) by different personnel.

 

Appendix 2

This covers the Importing of Finish Times from a .csv File

Appendix 5

This covers the creation of a Finish Times from a .csv File from the Computer Stopwatch

 

 

Click HERE to download the document in full.