Course management
Authors: Raimund Otto, Burkhard Maess, Lukas Merle, all licensed race officers in the CYCM
03. Feb. 2025
Abbreviations
CYCM - Cospudener Yacht Club Markkleeberg
DSV - German Sailing Association
SVS - Sailing Association of Saxony
SVL - Sailing Club Leipzig
WL - Race Committee
WS - World Sailing
RMM - Race Management Manual
This website was created because we were missing overviews and information for the digital support of a race management. We would like to contribute to an open exchange of suggestions and know-how. Therefore, in addition to links to interesting tools, we also provide the instruments we have developed ourselves. We welcome feedback and suggestions regarding the website, the tools and our work as race organizers. Please send them by email to wl@cycm.de.
If you would like to be informed about changes to the website and the tools mentioned, please subscribe to the mailing list.
Präsentation and Slides (18. Jan 2024)
Essential topics of the website were compiled for a presentation as part of the SVS training for WL on 18.01.2025. The slides may be used in the context of further training. However, we ask you to keep the original layout with the authors. Thank you!
The following overview and paragraphs extent the previous presentation by an e-learning platform, Zello and "lean" analog tons with a digital logbook.
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Working step |
Our solution |
Alternative Solution |
World Sailing WS / DSV |
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Before the notice of race (NOR): Consultation with class associations on course schemes and target sailing time |
CYCM-Excel-Worksheet
App Beat Length Calculator |
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class-dependent speed table Tables of World Sailing taken from Race Management Manual (RMM) |
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Planning the location and largest extent of the course scheme in your area |
App BuoyZone (chargeable) |
Length and width of your area taken from maps |
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During the regatta: (angles, distances, position, GPS guidance) |
App BuoyZone (!)
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Simplified, printed table CYCM for up-and-down or triangle SailFreeGPS (iOS, Android) GPS Essentials (Android) |
WS tables from RMM
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After the regatta: |
open - (Excel-Table) Buoy Zone + Tracker or |
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Data entry sheet for course lengths and actual time calculation, organization data: open |
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Start and Finish entrance |
open for leisure regatta, e.g. Regatta Hero |
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Forms Dictation Video |
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Regatta organization (registration, evaluation, results) |
manage2sail |
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manage2sail |
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Training / Learning platform / Online courses |
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Boat class-specific speed charts
For boat class specific speed charts and necessary course lengths depending on course scheme, wind strength and target time see here:
Speed Charts - Website of the British RYA
As David Campell-James focuses on Olympic classes for adults and these change, here is a collection of different charts from him:
The RYA website also has a tool for yardstick-based derivation of speeds compared to the Laser for boat classes not listed in the collections above. For a more versatile tool, please refer to our own CYCM Excel workbook. There is also more choice in the Beat Length Calculator app. However, the speed tables cannot be viewed there.
CYCM Excel workbook for comparison of required beat lengths
The workbook, developed by Raimund Otto and Burkhard Maess, is designed to compare up to five boat classes in terms of the required course length in relation to the target sailing times for different course schemes and wind speeds. This is a tool for the race committee prior to the announcement of a more complex regatta. The speed charts are based on the data from David Campell-James and are transparent. You can also enter speed charts for up to 5 of your own boat classes.
The folder has been supplemented by a yardstick-based derivation of boat speeds (speed charts), whereby the comparison boat class can be freely selected, both a Portsmouth and German yardstick can be entered and the result can still be corrected manually.
Note: the Excel workbook is still in beta status, i.e. there may be errors in the formulas. We are therefore grateful for any feedback by e-mail to wl@cycm.de for rapid corrections!
We would further like to integrate an evaluation of actual sailing times into the folder so that the wind-and-boat-dependent speed charts can be validated at your own regattas and a appropriate correction factor can be determined. If you have any suggestions for structuring the data and evaluation, please send an email to wl@cycm.de!
Forms for documenting beat lengths and sailing times in regattas, see for example:
An Excel workbook by Uli Finckh already exists for determining the course with GPS coordinates, including a calculation of the average speed based on sailed times per leg.
Setcourses for calculating courses and course marker coordinates (website)
The website setcourses by John Anderson, based in Jervis Bay, Australia, was probably set up back in 2010. It's free of charge and even back then, it was the answer to the question that drove us: there must be another way than searching in tables. Conmputers can calculate this precisely and accurately. And it must be possible to calculate the coordinates of course marks and display them graphically on a map. And the website does exactly this that, you only need to know about it. We found it in mid-January 2025! You can make good use of it if you don't (yet) want to pay for Buoy Zone as part of your preparations. Otherwise, the Buoy Zone app does the job in a modern and contemporary way.
Buoy Zone (App)
The app, developed in New Zealand by Ocean Labs Limited, is available to race committee members for a fee but is affordable. Its aim is to speed up the organization of the course and the setting of a perfect course and to simplify it for the race committee and functional boats. - And it delivers! The game changer for organization on the water.
CYCM printed course charts
The printed course charts by Lukas Merle (CYCM) simplify the charts of the WS, Race Management Manual, appendix. These charts are available for triangular and up-and-down courses. They serve as a tool for the buoy layers.
Course setting card (print template)
The course setting card allows you to graphically read the course angle to the course markers depending on the wind direction. You can put it together yourself using the print template.