How should we score an OOD code?

[MattAdministrator]

We currently use RRS A10 (a) – redress – to score a boat that performs race committee duty. This rule provides that the score is the average of all a boat’s finishes in the series. There is room for further interpretation of what is meant by “all.” All can mean, alternatively:

1. All races in the series, no exclusions, or
2. All counted races (i.e., excluding dropped races), or
3. All non-DNC races (exclude DNC races), or
4. All races before the race date in question, or
5. All specified races (with a defined list of the races).

In addition, the boat performing R/C duty can be counted as a competitor, a starter, a finisher, or not counted at all among the entries for the race.

The Sailwave scoring program can accommodate any of these refinements.
The Standing Race Committee should consider this topic and propose a recommendation for the Fleet approval. The approved protocol then should be written into the next edition of the SI’s.

[PeteParticipant]

In my view, Option 2 is most consistent with the idea of supporting (and reducing the hardship of) RC duty *and* supporting the dropped races practice. To comment on Option 4, I would count the full series, not only races to date; let’s treat early season RC duty even-handedly with late-season duty.

As to counting the RC as competitor, starter, finisher, or not at all, my only view is that it should *not* be counted as a finisher; leave the rest of the boats on the water to count their places only among themselves.

[MattAdministratorAdministrator]

The scores posted on the website this year have been using option 2 (for the first time, as far as I can tell). In previous years, the scoring appears to have used option 1 and/or option 4.

In previous years, the RC was usually counted as a competitor, so it always was included in the tally to determine the DNC code score. However, whether the OOD code is counted as a competitor is not an issue unless that boat never races a race (in that series). The way we have it this year, once it races in one race within a series, it becomes a competitor for that series. The issue is that the DNC score is one point more than the number of competitors. This year, I have been counting it as a competitor only once it shows up for at least one race (in that series).

Whether the OOD code counts as a boat in the starting area, as a starter, or as a finisher affects any scoring code that counts the number of each category. Previous years have used various values for these codes and I am unaware of anything in our race documents that specifies what is required.

[WebmasterAdministrator]

The OOD code is used in the SailWave race scoring program to score a boat that performs race committee duty. There are a number of ways of computing the points assigned to the OOD code, as mentioned previously. I recently have looked at 4 of these methods (click on blue hyperlink to open season results scored as described):

1. OOD scores the average of all races that are counted (i.e., not counting discarded races in the average)
2. Average of all races in series (i.e., no races are left out of the average calculation)
3. Average of all races competed (i.e., DNC races not included in the average)
4. 1st place for R/C duty

The 1st of these methods was used in 2018. The 3rd method was used in 2017 and the 2nd in 2016 and in some prior years. I think just scoring the boat a DNC has been used in the past, as well. J24 Fleet 43 uses the 4th method for its Wednesday Evening Series.

The only method that has a significant effect on the 2018 season results is method 4 – giving the R/C duty boat a 1st place. The other methods do affect the total points, but do not change the 2018 season rankings significantly, as best as I can tell. Method 1 does reward the R/C boat more than the other methods except for that of awarding a 1st place, which seems a bit over-generous. Method 4 also effectively penalizes any boat who does not do race committee duty, maybe because the weather did not permit a race to be held.

So, I believe the OOD score that we used in 2018 (i.e., the average of the counted races) is the right one to use. It provides good incentive to be race committee, but does not unduly skew the results. Awarding a 1st place as is done in J24 Fleet 43 seems too much of a scoring benefit that can easily skew the results. Whatever method is agreed upon, it should be documented in the SI or NOR, as appropriate.

[Author]

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