The way that I handled it
is along the lines of what you suggested. I created a Master Listing of all
competitors, and when one of those cases that had FS and NFS ratings I entered
the boat twice. Once for the Spinnaker fleet, once for JaM fleet. I then break
the fleets into divisions for competition as required. Then you simply
import the right entry into your series file.
You can also change the handicap
partway through a series, if required, even for a single race.
So far at least, we have not permitted switch hitting in our program. If you bat right handed in your first up, you bat right for the whole series. (The Cardinals are trouncing the Braves today!) But when you start a new series, you can switch up.
It sounds like Sailwave expects us to set up different competitors to handle this. Now I have two competitors:
"Cheers, John Doe, Pearson 31-2"
"Cheers, John Doe, Pearson 31-2 JaM"
I have trouble enough getting registrars and scorers to understand what we're really doing, much less making them distinguish between two boats owned by the same guy, both named "Cheers". With this scheme, my registrar now has to know that when our good friend John shows up, he must be sure to choose the right "competitor" from the master file, it is not enough to choose the right "boat" or the right person for that matter. This is why I want to be able to set it up in Sailwave so they don't have to think too much about it. I sure don't want them trying to permit switching on a race by race basis. Not that it is impossible, but...
The race chair at Tradewinds has a bigger problem: he'll want to define a PHRF, JaM, and "cruiser rating" for each of his members at least. Plus I have this dream of creating a lake wide program (Carlyle Lake PHRF instead of Carlyle Yacht Club PHRF). We'll have to get this sorted so we're not asking for the same level of mastery everywhere all at once. If I can get Sailwave set up for all the other race chairs then I think race management will go off better for everyone.
Is this (choose rating depending on fleet or division instead of wind strength) a difficult thing architecturally for Sailwave? I know absolutely nothing about its internals. Maybe I can scare up a software engineer if it doesn't turn into a three month project.