In the past I’ve used Time Limit Expired (TLE) for a few regattas and it’s a good way for boats to get some credit for racing even if they didn’t finish within the finish window. I noticed that World Sailing included in their 2021-2024 sailing instructions template, a TLE statement. https://www.sailing.org/tools/documents/2021AppendixLG28112020-[26802].pdf
16.3 The Finishing Window is the time for boats to finish after the first boat sails the course and finishes. Boats failing to finish within the Finishing Window, and not subsequently retiring, penalized or given redress, will be scored Time Limit Expired (TLE) without a hearing. A boat scored TLE shall be scored points for the finishing place [one][two] more than the points scored by the last boat that finished within the Finishing Window. This changes RRS 35, A5.1, A5.2 and A10.
A TLE score is based on the number of boats that finished , the finish definition includes starting. A UFD boat that meets the requirements of finishing increases the TLE race score, but a boat that was UFD and OCS doesn’t.
The above sailing instruction will force the race committee to maintain two versions for letter scores like BFD, UFD, RDG, RET and DNE. eg. You can have a UFD score for a boat that meets the definition of finish and start and a version that doesn’t meet the definition of start or finish. Sailwave can handle this by having two UFD scoring codes. It can be something like: UFDf & UFDnf for the two options. This would be just for input and the published results would still show UFD when using the scoring code format option. This solution adds a lot more work for the signal and finish boat.
To me a better solution would be to change “finished” in the above instruction to: “crossed the finishing line from the course side” and have Sailwave create a new scoring code method like this: Points for place of (the number of boats that received a finish position + N places) It’s not perfect, but easier to manage by the race committee.
This was discussed in the past, but the finish definition has changed in the new rules and I think that I have now a better solution .
Cheers,
Peter