Toppers in our club often do one lap less in a race than other craft.
Now, i just amrk them one lap less in their elapsed time, and take the
results. However, the purists amongst us insist that I should take he
time from the alst mark, and add this to their imes. I don't see this,
because all the other boats will have to do this leg in their last lap
as well. Does anyone have any views on what is the right way here, and
if I'm wrong (not unusual), how can i make sailwave work to this?
This is always a contentious issue. The boats should all sail the same
course , which I you seem to state they are but the Toppers sail one
less lap. But if the course is say 2 laps for the Toppers and 3 laps
for the other classes but there is for an example a beat to the finish
line the number of legs sailed is disproportinate.
Assuming a simple triangle course + beat to finish:
Topper’s 2 laps + beat = 7 legs
Others 3 laps + beat = 10 legs
This ratio of sailing time is 7/10 where as for a straight triangle it
would 6/9
So bottom line is for average lap racing boats have to sail the exactly
the same lap configuration, this is why it is usual to have a gate
through which all boats must pass on each lap, with a usual position
being a short distance up wind of the leeward mark.
There is a paper available from the RYA which goes into far more
detail, I think it is available for download from their website.