Overview

This information is specific to the PHRF-LO analysis and importing of race data. Some specific club/organization wording may differ.

A Race (for analysis purposes) is a competition of PHRF-LO class handicapped boats that are:

• optimally crewed
• follow a set course

Typical courses are:

• triangular for NFS Rated
• windward/leeward for FS Rated Races.  

A Division/Fleet (for analysis purposes) is a group of racers (per above) that are:

• of similar speed potential (optimally ASPs that are within 30 sec/nm)
• starting together on a fixed course
• using the same Rating either FS or NFS or One Design
  
• competing in a series of races.

A series of races (for analysis purposes) is a minimum of 3 races covering a period of a few days, several weeks or a full season.

Races to exclude or mark for exclusion:

• long distance
• single handed
• Races with less than 3 boats (meeting the above conditions)

Boats may be included in the analysis when:

• They have raced 3 races in a division/fleet for a series of races
• They are a PHRF-LO rated class boat, with or without a certificate (see: Min Data, Usable data)
• They are a One Design boat from a One design fleet/division that has been approved for inclusion to a regular PHRF-LO fleet/division.

Results Must Include

Certain information is absolutely necessary in order for your club/organization’s race results to be processed, but in order to quicken the process please send your results in one of the "preferred formats":

ALL RESULTS​ MUST ​INCLUDE

1. ​Your name, phone number and club.

In case there are problems with your race results, a contact is necessary. We realize that many handicappers do not handle the race results and thus must act as middleman. We would prefer to go direct to the source for any problems we may have.

2. ​Division/Fleet description  ​­i.e.: Spinnaker or NFS/White Sails or One Design

This is needed to ensure that the results are analyzed within the correct group.

ONE DESIGN DIVISION/FLEET: Please let us know if you have any one design class races that start within 12 minutes of a regular division/fleet and have similar ratings. These divisions/fleets can be analyzed together!

3. ​Exact Yacht Name and Class - ​­please do not abbreviate! 
   1. In all cases a search for the name of the boat in our database can be done to retrieve the class, but not the reverse.
   2. Unregistered boat name changes, multiple boat names and unregistered boats can result in that boat or the whole division being removed from the results if the exact class cannot be determined. Our database includes 6000 boats, which can make it impossible to decipher which boat is which.
      
      
4. ​Elapsed Time​–The elapsed time is required for the race analysis program.

Some scoring programs such as Quickscore (see special note), do not show elapsed time on any race printout but the times are available through other sources (see acceptable formats).

Fleets

DIVISIONS/FLEETS MUST BE SEPARATED

Spinnaker, No Flying Sails and One Design ​­please indicate these divisions/fleets or boats!!

Our analysis is intended to analyze individual divisions/fleets where all the boats in that group are being sailed with "optimal crew" for either FS or NFS racing.

Single handed racers are not considered "optimal crew" for analysis purposes and will be removed as unusable data.

We realize, that for some clubs, the mixing of divisions/fleets is needed in order to have any racing program.

Therefore, divisions/fleets that include, mixing of FS and NFS or include single handed racers, should indicate that in the results being submitted or include an explanation when submitting them.

One Design divisions/fleets can be combined with regular divisions/fleets ​ONLY IF​:

• they race the same course
• a start time within 12 minutes of a similar (ASP) division/fleet
• are essentially racing against the regular division/fleet.

Please notify the admin office if your OD division/fleet conforms to the above.

It is at our discretion that combined divisions/fleets are included so this may not be possible for all results.

Min. Data

MINIMUM RACE DATA
The following is applicable per division/fleet for usable data over the series of races.

1. Must have a minimum of 3 boats competing.
2. Each boat must have raced a minimum of 3 races in the series.

SPECIAL NOTE: If these minimums are not possible the race and/or boat will be removed. In many cases, when boats and/or races are removed due to lack of minimum data it creates a domino effect whereby, a boat is removed, then a race must be removed, then another boat removed, then another race removed, etc. etc. until in extreme cases the whole division/fleet must be removed.

Usable data: the PHRF-LO admin office will use what is submitted to us. If a boat does not have a valid certificate and is racing more than 2 races, the club will be billed for that certificate. Ref: Handicappers Manual Part I, Section 9.5  

Things to Consider

THINGS TO CONSIDER

Wind Conditions are Important

In order to ensure the best possible data, ​winds between 5 and 20 knot are best​.

Wind conditions should be recorded or races with poor conditions should be excluded or marked for exclusion as these will make for poor or inaccurate results. If (after analysis and close review) it is suspected that the wind condition may be having an effect on the results (and no wind condition has been noted) races may be removed from the analysis on suspect only.

Special Regattas or Races

Courses: Any races that do not ideally consist of a triangular racecourse (consisting of equal lengths reaching, beating and running) or windward/leeward (of equal legs) should be excluded or marked for exclusion.

Single Handed: Any races or racers that are racing single handed, should be removed or marked for removal as they are not considered "usable data" for analysis purposes.

Long distance: Long distance races should be mark as such and will be collected for project purposes, but at this time no analysis will be done.

PREFERRED FORMATS

PREFERRED FORMATS - submitting your results to PHRF-LO"

Quickscore:

Dan Hollands has built a utility into the program that allows us to export the information in the format set out below (See: Spreadsheet). This can be used with most of the recent versions of Quickscore. This utility is not in all versions so please send all your QS data files (you may want to compress them into a Zip file if necessary) and we will process them to obtain the necessary information.

Sailwave

Tim Francis (a Handicapper for Sail Georgina) has developed an on­line utility that will extract the data into the exact format that is readily importable into the PHRF­LO Race Analysis program. Please go to:

http://phrf­lo.appspot.com/sailwave.html

NOTE: ​If you are unsure or unable to use this process, please send the Sailwave blw data files to the PHRF­LO administration office and the information will be extracted for you.

Spreadsheet:

You can download a sample excel spreadsheet or follow the rules below:

This format is readily imported into the DMS program. The format for importing is as follows:

The first 2 Rows will consist of the Date of the Race and Wind Speed eg:

	Race 1	Race 2	Race 3	Race 4
Row 1­ Date of Race	Aug 12,2005	Aug 19, 2005	Aug 26, 2005	Sept 2, 2005
Row 2­ Wind Speed	15 kts	20 kts	2­5 knts	12-­15 knts

 

The next rows/columns will consist of information on each boat

 

	Column 1	Column 2	Column 3	Column 4	Column 5
	Boat Name	Class of Yacht	ASP	Owner/skipper	Sail number
Row 3	Boat One	J 24 ODR	162	J. Smith	1234
Row 4	Boat Two	C&C 33	180	B. Simpson	5678
Row 5	Boat Three	Mirage 24	150	S. Bailey	1597

 

The adjacent rows/columns will contain the elapsed time of each boat in each race eg:

 

		Column 6 ­	Column	Column	Column 9 ­
		Race 1	7­Race 2	8­Race 3	Race 4
Row 3	Boat One	012356	0032	010155	004513
Row 4	Boat Two	012220	005500	010013	004837
Row 5	Boat Three	013031	010020	010529	005346

 

Final Note

A FINAL NOTE

In an effort to reduce the amount of preparation time required to process some of your results, I am now asking that they be submitted in one of the above “preferred formats". This will ensure that your results are processed quickly and accurately and in time for the AGM. Your cooperation is greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Diana Riley PHRF­LO Executive Assistant