The website has a scrolling ‘news feed’ of items (see below) listed in date order, most recent first. You might prefer to access information from the general list of topics shown under “Categories” which appear to the right or beneath the ‘news feed’ depending on what device you are using. There is also a “search bar” facility, plus you can subscribe by email. If you’d like a demonstration sail, please click the Trial Sail item on the main menu bar above.
A lot of you clearly know about our downloadable collection of beginner radio sailors’ transmitter manuals. There have been around 2000 downloads now – we have FlySky, Futaba, Spektrum and Radiomaster in there. By the way, the Radiomaster manual on this list is by far the most popular. Given that we estimate there are only 19,000 radio sailors in the world (says AI !!), we think that 2000 download number is pretty interesting.
During the build up to the IOM Worlds, some mind boggling GBR talent put its mind to work to see if advanced features could be found on transmitters that would give the competitors a little competitive edge. The idea became to make three different radio sailing transmitter websites (Radiomaster, Futaba, Spektrum) and charge readers a nominal amount to subscribe to generate some income for the IOM Worlds.
A good idea… but we just ran out of runway and had a thousand other pieces of prep to complete. So we never got around to the monetised subscription idea. We’ve still got the manuals websites though.
For the basic radio sailors’ transmitter manuals, the easiest way to find them is to find the list of “Categories” on this website and select “Transmitter Manuals”. Alternatively use the website’s “Search” bar.
As to the three ‘advanced radio sailing transmitter’ websites, they are now online and available for free. To find them, just click on “RADIOS” on the menu bar of this website and you should find the three of them available there.
(A4 sized iPad Pro receiving score sheets fromThe Finish Line. Note this means you automatically have backup images of all your heat score sheets as they come in. Safely stored in your WhatsApp group.)
You cannot get half way through the Worlds, then lose all your data.
It maybe will surprise the uninitiated path you maybe spend more time “backing up” than you do entering scores. It’s a big deal.
We held three levels of race data:-
1/ On USB sticks (double ended USB-C and USB2, so you can plug into just about anything), we had our Current Data. Keep this folder neatly filed inside subfolders as you go.
2/ On the hard disk of our HMS primary lap top, we held our first level of data backup.
3/ The hard disk would automatically back up (if MS Cloud was working!) into OneDrive. All scorers and Officers were authorised to access the cloud folders.
We had two times that we did backup processing.
1/ At the end of every heat (so about 3x an hour) we would backup the three device layers above, being very strict about naming conventions. (more on that later)
2/ At the end of every race, as A heat had been entered, we would send a set of backups out via email to all the scorers and Officers in case of a proper disaster.
Naming Conventions :-
As we had different scorers on data entry duty each session , it was important that we all used the same naming convention and backup routine. We used a great concept from Andrew Crocker who was the Scorer at Gladstone.
the current heart was always named “current heat” and not by its heat number.
as we saved the backup, it would be named “heat 3b” , for heat b race 3 for example –the same in all layers of storage.
for extra security against gremlins, we wanted to build in a fresh close/reopen of excel as we proceeded.
Were found the quickest most foolproof way for heat backups was
1/ While in “current heat” , hit the little purple diskette icon (“save”) at the top of the excel spreadsheet
2/ Select “save as” and change the name from. “current heat” to “backup heat Nx” eg 3a, as you go. Save in the USB, and then on the hard disk.
3/ At this point your live spreadsheet is called “backup R3d” for example. Not what you want, so CLOSE excel completely and then go and find “current Heat” and re-open it. You are now ready to score again with a hopefully fresh excel.
If it is the end of a race (end of heat A), do all that, then email via outlook your “backup heat Nx” file to a list of the scorers and Officers. Your disaster copy – that should be your “Get Out of Jail” card if everything blew up.
Every year, radio sailing will have a large World Championship running somewhere. We found that not much definition of “how to do it” gets passed on from one generation to the next.
The thing about Scoring a large one week event, is that it’s NOT at all the same challenge as scoring a weekend event,…. “but only bigger”….
Honestly – entering the scores is a tiny part of what needs to get done.
The number of people who will volunteer to help, may be what you need…. may be a different number. “Unbelievably” at the IOM Worlds we had a roster of 5 plus one subject matter expert on the phone all day from New Zealand. I most often score a weekend event, with one person – me.
So why a larger team?
1/ Venue layout. Not the same as normal racing at Datchet – these Datchet Worlds courses were widely spaced out. There were issues as to the where the Race Control Van could go. We had to think through our primary objective of always having a Scorer at the line, and how/where we got the Scoring processes done. It’s not going to be one person. We figured and tried a minimum of three. Not enough. Entering Scores is not the biggest part of the job.
2/ The BIG Thing….. If it’s a large scale, one week, championship you need enough people to cover the fact that most volunteers have to work weekdays for a living. You need at least the minimum number of people every day. You also have build enough scorer capacity to cope with a team member falling sick, or cannot get through traffic etc. TIP : Build a roster and publish it. Try on any day to roster your minimum number plus one.
3/ if you are missing a key team member contribution, you must have the ability to keep going.
We needed at least three scorers on duty on any day. We had five volunteers to cover this, plus a subject matter expert on the phone. I took everybody. Good job we did. There were plenty of hours where we were all flat-out working. The workload arrives in waves. We took no lunch breaks either. Eating/drinking was on the hoof. Don’t mention “Standard Redress” processing either.
If 5 people stand up for the job, naturally different skills can be brought to bear. If the daily number on duty varies from 3 to 5, you cannot really have a set role per person. Any team member must be able to do any role. So what you do, is not assign roles to each volunteer. What you do is document your key processes, then “Staff the processes”.
It’s important that key processes (eg backups) happens the same way each time no matter who is the duty scorer assigned to do it that day. Document the processes. More on that in later article.
Special contributions:-
It’s surprising/delightful what people can give.
1/ It turns out that most frequently used “asset” the scorers produced was our chronological filing library. Our ‘Runner’ role in addition to ONB and document transport, was defined to also complete our librarian function on our behalf. Honestly it was SO useful – Race Team, Umpires (checking their own decisions!), Board Managers would come in on-spec and inspectthatfile. We started with score sheets and results in one folder and umpire paperwork in another file. It needs to be on paper no matter how many laptops you have. Our librarian quickly realised that separate filing was wrong – file all that together in ONE time-ordered folder. This folder became so large that it eventually filled TWO lever arch files. We also had to keep “parking lot” issues on large flip charts on display for all to see. Vital as it turns out – for ticking off completed tasks.
It’s a big deal.
We had one team member who admitted he was technology averse – and he built and maintained all of that for us. Brilliant.
2/ Our most valued innovations often came from RH. He was fantastic. A process genius. Professionally ? He is a Schoolmaster….
I now see that the key skill of a Schoolmaster is to organise work so that even a group of recalcitrant teenagers will manage to complete it. RH gave us the most profoundly simple methods and they helped the team to a ridiculous extent. The way we laid out our work area, the way we named our backups, we way we built our crib sheets (and where we placed them), how we processed paper arriving in the room…. and really critically, RH (very fit) built a process tick sheet for a duty scorer being out at the line, as the Scoring Office representative…. It was with always him inside a waterproof cover and ticked off as racing progressed. As a Six Sigma process guy, I was stunned. Amazing.
So – for your Championship at your Club, if you need to build a team:-
1/ Define and Document your processes first. Then find people and staff your processes on a daily chart.
2/ Find what skills you have between the team, and use them to their best effect. People can give a lot. If they feel they can challenge the most obvious, then that’s the best you can get.
3/ Rotate the team members as much as you can. Give them all a “go” at all the processes. Not always possible, or easy, but give it a try.
Datchet Radio Sailing - Making It All Much Easier !! 