Pursuit Start Time Calculation

I want to calculate the start times for a pursuit based on the three normal handicap races already held and scored in Sailwave.
I gather there are various ways of doing this outside sailwave but I'm looking at the BCE figures as a possible guide - I'm not sure if I'm understanding them but does that mean if someone has a BCE of 00:07:50 then if they'd started 7 minutes 50 seconds before the leader they'd have finished at the same time?
If not, what does it mean?

As no one else has replied to you yet, I'll have a go at explaining how I do this.
First, your understanding of BCE is correct, however, unless the same competitor wins all 3 of the handicap races you want to use, I don't think that BCE will do the job for you.
What I do is use the RYA Basic Results and number Adjustment Worksheet (http://www.rya.org.uk/SiteCollectionDocuments/technical/Web%20Documents/2007%20Portsmouth%20Yardstick%20Scheme/2007%20Results%20Worksheet%20v1.xls) which for each race can calculate the achieved performance (PY) of each competitor.
Unfortunately this means re-inputting the results data, however I have been able to use Jon Eskdale's SWPH program to automatically extract the sailwave data and place it in a modified verion of the RYA spreadsheet which saves a lot of time.
Once I have the achieved performances for each competitor for the races being used, I just average them and feed into the Pursuit race calculations.

Not sure if the above is a clear explanation or if it's helpful, but if you have any questions, I'll try to answer them.

Stewart

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--- In sailwave@yahoogroups.com, "bty670290" <patmjones@...> wrote:

I want to calculate the start times for a pursuit based on the three normal handicap races already held and scored in Sailwave.
I gather there are various ways of doing this outside sailwave but I'm looking at the BCE figures as a possible guide - I'm not sure if I'm understanding them but does that mean if someone has a BCE of 00:07:50 then if they'd started 7 minutes 50 seconds before the leader they'd have finished at the same time?
If not, what does it mean?