Personal Handicaps

Can the Sailwave software manage and calculate personal handicaps?

The short answer is yes

It is very flexible from simple calculations to complex calculations which can be specified by an Excel Template. There are several topics on this forum and for the more complex calculations look at the NHC in External mode as this can be fully customised to do virtually anything with personal handicaps

Let us know what you are trying to do.

Jon

Yes it can, and I’m using it for just that purpose with our club racing under PY … see http://shotwicksailing.org/racingresults/2014/spring_series_2014.htm for an example. It uses the same method as used on the RYA PYS website to determine the actual PY that the boats sail to during the race, and then uses them to adjust the handicaps for the next race.

The modified SWNHC3.xls file I use can be download from https://www.dropbox.com/s/0u98hymy4yo9hy1/SWNHC3%20-%20Modified%20Copy%20for%20PY%20personal%20handicaps%20using%20PYS%20website%20calculation%20method.xls; hopefully it is self-explanatory.

Just replace the existing SWNHC3.xls with it and use the RYA NHC rating system with the Club mode Ext/Debug to score the series. You will need to have the latest version of Sailwave Helper installed, otherwise it will try to convert the revised PY’s to TCF when they are reloaded in to the Sailwave file. One other point to note is un-tick the Auto set competitor ratings option on the rating system tab before rescoring.

Hope you find it useful.

Jonathan

···

From: sailwave@yahoogroups.com [mailto:sailwave@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of naughtinrussell@yahoo.com.au
Sent: 29 April 2014 08:11
To: sailwave@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [sailwave] Personal Handicaps

Can the Sailwave software manage and calculate personal handicaps?

I have (I believe) reproduced Jonathan’s method and it seems to fulfil our needs at Scaling Dam. Historically we have been using a home spun process within an Access database. Cumbersome but it does work but I will not be doing this job forever (I expect) and so am looking for a proprietory process to achieve the PH results and Jonathans method seems to fit the bill.

My big issue is about data input. A season long series is not such a problem - there is lots of time between races to enter the competitor details. However we also run PY / PH series on a single day and then data entry takes up a lot of available time. This is a pity because most - if not all - of the competitor data is available before the series starts.

So my question is this - is it possible to pre-load the competitor data - ie all members of the club who have previously sailed any type of dinghy at the club together with their prersonal handicaps - and then hide those who don’t in fact enter the series - or is there a batch method of entering competitors together with their aliases and PH’s.

I have previously pre-loaded all competitors details for a simple PY series using a competitors.csv file input method (about 200 potential entries) and then hidden un-sailed competitors in the results. However I don’t seem to be able to import the alias details to do the same for a PY & PH dual rating event and have no idea whether the “hide unsailed competitors” option is compatible with the RYA NHC3 calculation method.

Am I pushing the boundary too far? I suppose I’m simply looking for an elegant non-time consuming method of activating the competitors for the dual handicap event.

Ian

Hi Ian,

First thanks to Jonathan for publishing his experience and solution.

As to entering competitor data.

Most events I score I either import the competitors from a csv file or use a previous series and mark them all as excluded - then un-exclude them as they enter and just add a few new ones by hand.

There is also the option to import competitors from a different Sailwave file where you can select a file and the competitors to import.

The exclude of competitors should work with the NHC3 calculation method - I did write all the code for it to work but as they say “The proof of the pudding is in the eating” so let me know if you see any issues.

Creation of Aliases should be quite quick with the new (relatively) Competitor aliasing feature.

A more advanced solution - The recent versions of Sailwave have a messaging (Windows copydata message) built in and it effectively allows an external program to feed data to Sailwave and extract data from Sailwave. Richard Creer who is on this user group ( although very quiet ) has been developing an interface between his Web online entry system and Sailwave using this messaging system. Such that as soon as someone enters on his online system they are entered into Sailwave. So with some custom software you could do almost anything that you like.

Jon

Hi Ian,

I had the same issue in past. I’m now using one of the solutions Jon listed which is to use a previous series and mark all the competitors as excluded. I then clear the exclude flag when they participate; you have to clear the exclude flag for both the PY fleet and PH alias separately, as Sailwave does not currently do this automatically.

I start by making a copy of the blw file from the previous series so that I don’t accidently overwrite the original; it’s easily done by mistake as I found to my cost. When I open the copy in Sailwave, I delete all the races with results which means that the first race left will have the current personal handicaps already assigned; I should probably have mentioned in my previous e-mail that if you’re using NHC3 for doing the PH calculations you need to create an extra unused race in the series for the PH’s calculated from the final race’s results. You then just need to set up the correct number of races and edit the various setting for the series e.g. event title, website upload address, etc. This method will also mean that the series scoring will be the same as the original blw file which also saves some time.

Jonathan

···

From: sailwave@yahoogroups.com [mailto:sailwave@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of jon@sailwave.com
Sent: 08 May 2014 09:15
To: sailwave@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [sailwave] Re: Personal Handicaps

Hi Ian,

First thanks to Jonathan for publishing his experience and solution.

As to entering competitor data.

Most events I score I either import the competitors from a csv file or use a previous series and mark them all as excluded - then un-exclude them as they enter and just add a few new ones by hand.

There is also the option to import competitors from a different Sailwave file where you can select a file and the competitors to import.

The exclude of competitors should work with the NHC3 calculation method - I did write all the code for it to work but as they say “The proof of the pudding is in the eating” so let me know if you see any issues.

Creation of Aliases should be quite quick with the new (relatively) Competitor aliasing feature.

A more advanced solution - The recent versions of Sailwave have a messaging (Windows copydata message) built in and it effectively allows an external program to feed data to Sailwave and extract data from Sailwave. Richard Creer who is on this user group ( although very quiet ) has been developing an interface between his Web online entry system and Sailwave using this messaging system. Such that as soon as someone enters on his online system they are entered into Sailwave. So with some custom software you could do almost anything that you like.

Jon

Hi all
Many thanks for your helpful suggestions. I will try them and let you know of my experiences.
Ian

Jon

A long time since I was in contact - mainly because we are using the NHC process for our Personal Handicapping - I believe successfully - at least there are no complaints so far and the results look reasonable.

However today added race 21 to the series and as the scoring process started I got the message “Buffer Overflow at Addline - Save to File”. It appeared just after the
Helper icon appeared and before the XL icon. I accepted the message by clicking OK. The Scoring appeared to progress as normal and the results look fine. Is there an explanation? Will the results be affected?

Cheers

Ian

···

On Thursday, May 8, 2014 8:15 PM, “ianholden22@yahoo.comianholden22@yahoo.com wrote:

Hi all
Many thanks for your helpful suggestions. I will try them and let you know of my experiences.
Ian

Hi Ian

Yes I think it would affect the results

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y88mafknfo91atf/SWHelper.EXE?dl=0

This is a link to the latest SWHelper.exe

If you replace your one with this one and see if it fixes it. This one has a larger buffer

Let me know how it goes

Jon

···

On Thursday, 4 September 2014, Ian Holden ianholden22@yahoo.com [sailwave] sailwave@yahoogroups.com wrote:

Jon

A long time since I was in contact - mainly because we are using the NHC process for our Personal Handicapping - I believe successfully - at least there are no complaints so far and the results look reasonable.

However today added race 21 to the series and as the scoring process started I got the message “Buffer Overflow at Addline - Save to File”. It appeared just after the
Helper icon appeared and before the XL icon. I accepted the message by clicking OK. The Scoring appeared to progress as normal and the results look fine. Is there an explanation? Will the results be affected?

Cheers

Ian

On Thursday, May 8, 2014 8:15 PM, “ianholden22@yahoo.comianholden22@yahoo.com wrote:

Hi all
Many thanks for your helpful suggestions. I will try them and let you know of my experiences.
Ian


Jon Eskdale
Sailwave

03333 443377

07976 709777

Hi Jon

Thanks for the prompt reply - still getting the same buffer overflow message I fear. Would it help to make the SW file available to you? The series has a large number of excluded sailors and a significant proportion of the 75 included competitors have only 1 or two results - a sparse dataset!

Regards

Ian

Hi Ian

Yes I think it would affect the results

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y88mafknfo91atf/SWHelper.EXE?dl=0

This is a link to the latest SWHelper.exe

If you replace your one with this one and see if it fixes it. This one has a larger buffer

Let me know how it goes

Jon

···

On Thursday, September 4, 2014 11:02 PM, “Jon Eskdale jon@sailwave.com [sailwave]” sailwave@yahoogroups.com wrote:

On Thursday, 4 September 2014, Ian Holden ianholden22@yahoo.com [sailwave] sailwave@yahoogroups.com wrote:

Jon

A long time since I was in contact - mainly because we are using the NHC process for our Personal Handicapping - I believe successfully - at least there are no complaints so far and the results look reasonable.

However today added race 21 to the series and as the scoring process started I got the message “Buffer Overflow at Addline - Save to File”. It appeared just after the
Helper icon appeared and before the XL icon. I accepted the message by clicking OK. The Scoring appeared to progress as normal and the results look fine. Is there an explanation? Will the results be affected?

Cheers

Ian

On Thursday, May 8, 2014 8:15 PM, “ianholden22@yahoo.comianholden22@yahoo.com wrote:

Hi all
Many thanks for your helpful suggestions. I will try them and let you know of my experiences.
Ian


Jon Eskdale
Sailwave

03333 443377

07976 709777

PS I have deleted the excluded competitors and no longer get the Buffer Overflow message.

Ian

Hi Ian

Yes I think it would affect the results

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y88mafknfo91atf/SWHelper.EXE?dl=0

This is a link to the latest SWHelper.exe

If you replace your one with this one and see if it fixes it. This one has a larger buffer

Let me know how it goes

Jon

···

On Thursday, September 4, 2014 11:02 PM, “Jon Eskdale jon@sailwave.com [sailwave]” sailwave@yahoogroups.com wrote:

On Thursday, 4 September 2014, Ian Holden ianholden22@yahoo.com [sailwave] sailwave@yahoogroups.com wrote:

Jon

A long time since I was in contact - mainly because we are using the NHC process for our Personal Handicapping - I believe successfully - at least there are no complaints so far and the results look reasonable.

However today added race 21 to the series and as the scoring process started I got the message “Buffer Overflow at Addline - Save to File”. It appeared just after the
Helper icon appeared and before the XL icon. I accepted the message by clicking OK. The Scoring appeared to progress as normal and the results look fine. Is there an explanation? Will the results be affected?

Cheers

Ian

On Thursday, May 8, 2014 8:15 PM, “ianholden22@yahoo.comianholden22@yahoo.com wrote:

Hi all
Many thanks for your helpful suggestions. I will try them and let you know of my experiences.
Ian


Jon Eskdale
Sailwave

03333 443377

07976 709777

Hi Ian

There should be some numbers after the error message which tells me the size of the message it is attempting to send. I can’t remember if its in the standard message or only the message which is output to debugview. If you download and run Debugview from Microsoft and have this running when you score you will get some messages displayed. The latest version should handle approx 300 competitors with average details.

If you have a copy of the file with the excluded competitors in it would be useful to know what the message size was when the error occurred

Thanks Jon

···

Jon Eskdale
07976 709777

Skype “eskdale”

On 6 September 2014 11:09, Ian Holden ianholden22@yahoo.com [sailwave] sailwave@yahoogroups.com wrote:

PS I have deleted the excluded competitors and no longer get the Buffer Overflow message.

Ian

On Thursday, September 4, 2014 11:02 PM, “Jon Eskdale jon@sailwave.com [sailwave]”
sailwave@yahoogroups.com wrote:

Hi Ian

Yes I think it would affect the results

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y88mafknfo91atf/SWHelper.EXE?dl=0

This is a link to the latest SWHelper.exe

If you replace your one with this one and see if it fixes it. This one has a larger buffer

Let me know how it goes

Jon

On Thursday, 4 September 2014, Ian Holden ianholden22@yahoo.com [sailwave] sailwave@yahoogroups.com wrote:

Jon

A long time since I was in contact - mainly because we are using the NHC process for our Personal Handicapping - I believe successfully - at least there are no complaints so far and the results look reasonable.

However today added race 21 to the series and as the scoring process started I got the message “Buffer Overflow at Addline - Save to File”. It appeared just after the
Helper icon appeared and before the XL icon. I accepted the message by clicking OK. The Scoring appeared to progress as normal and the results look fine. Is there an explanation? Will the results be affected?

Cheers

Ian

On Thursday, May 8, 2014 8:15 PM, “ianholden22@yahoo.comianholden22@yahoo.com wrote:

Hi all
Many thanks for your helpful suggestions. I will try them and let you know of my experiences.
Ian


Jon Eskdale
Sailwave

03333 443377

07976 709777