Tag Archives: DF95

IOM Worlds – Championship and Regatta Management – WhatsApp Has Arrived….!!

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From 2024, Datchet Radio Sailing started experimenting with WhatsApp Groups as part of Open Meeting, Regatta and Championship Management.

Lots of Clubs will be doing the same, and if WhatsApp goes belly up, you can always switch to Signal or Telegraph. Use of WhatsApp Groups for Competitors, Race Teams, Umpire Groups will already be a regular feature at lots of Clubs Worldwide.

In 2025, at the DF95 Nationals, we also experimented with broadcasting AFLEET live results straight into a Competitor WhatsApp Group. … Amazingly popular that was! … If you are an AFLEET user simply select SHARE on the SCORE screen, pick WhatsApp and off you go. Simple.

Late in 2025, WhatsApp started offering post-beta versions of WhatsApp to support iPads. It transformed the way we scored the IOM Worlds.

The Championship courses at Datchet were three in number. The south and north courses at their furthest extremities (eg finish lines) were probably near 400 metres apart. The Clubhouse stands at the mid point. We had a third course, right in front of the Clubhouse. My normal preference hitherto was to score at the finish line and do all the work in our fabulous Race Control Van. However, at Championship result volumes – plus Umpire Paperwork, SYRPH, Standard Redress and all that – well, working in the confined space of the Race Control Van was never going to be practical. We decided instead to locate work at the Scoring Office in the Clubhouse Boardroom. What a good decision that was.

However, the time to hand carry heat score sheets back, sometimes 250 metres, (and up two flights of stairs, three times an hour!) to the Scoring Office was a challenge.

Our PRO had told us that trials of sending photos of score sheets by email had to be abandoned – email sometimes hits inexplicable delays.

The breakthrough was WhatsApp for iPads – and the use of (my family’s) ancient iPad Pro. That’s basically an A4 sized iPad. ….Amazing transformation in workflow for us.

For safety, security and backup, we would always immediately photograph the heat score sheet as it is handed over by the Board Manager. At the IOM Worlds, when we were handed the sheet the Line Scorer would photograph it straight into the WhatsApp Group and press ‘send’. Honestly, it was instantly popping up full size on the A4 iPad in the Scorers Office – and review, audit checking and data entry could start.

Generally, we were finished data entry by the time the physical score sheet arrived in the hands of our “Runner” ready to go neatly in the physical chronological file. Umpire sheets and protest forms came in the same way. The clarity of the score sheet on the iPad Pro was fantastic.

Amazing, … plus you get to keep the score sheet photo as backup.

Further Implications?

If you also publish results by WhatsApp or the soon-coming “Afleet Connect” , your Scoring Office doesn’t actually need to be on the Regatta site. Remote Scoring Support is now a possibility.

Why would you do that?

  • Scoring Capability and Skilled Volunteers might be a rare thing locally
  • Maybe a large proportion of your volunteer members live a long way away (like Datchet)
  • You might want one weekend to score two regattas at once, sharing skills
  • You might simply want access to a remote “Scoring Coach” to support the onsite team

At the IOM Worlds, we had a “global” team for Scoring. In addition to Datchet club members, we were supported by a World Class expert living in New Zealand. With WhatsApp voice support we used to dial him in at 0830 and he stayed on the line on WhatsApp conference mode all day. As it turned out, for workload sharing that was vital.

If you use AFleet at your Club, it is dead easy to send the small Afleet “Export” file into the Scorer WhatsApp Group any the end of each heat. Aside from automatically backing up your Afleet regatta versions per heat, the key advantage is that any remote Afleet tablets being used for the Regatta (eg Scoring Coach) will always be saying the same as the Afleet tablet at the finish line. We just ran this system at the UK DF65 Nationals for the remote Scoring Coach. Totally brilliant.. You should try it.

We cannot speak highly enough of WhatsApp in this environment. You need a good mobile signal (which we have out on the courses) , or good wifi in your building. You can read more that we have already written on WhatsApp for Radio Sailing at this link below:-

https://drsailing.org/2025/10/01/running-an-open-meeting-or-championship-thinking-of-whatsapp-for-the-event/

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Glassfibre Proteus – Sheeting ….!!

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While our “big boys” were racing the IOM Rankings in West Lancs on Sunday, the rest of us were lucky enough to get a good look at the latest (voluptuous!) glassfibre prototype of the Proteus.

Gosh, that boat is going to be light at the ends. Fantastic. Plus a proprietary Red Ant, faster thinner stiffer lighter Fin-Set. The main focus of discussion though on Sunday was the sheeting system. This version is the semi-under-deck system that we have on our F6 Marbleheads. Very neat it was too (clever under-deck sealed tubes). We had wide ranging discussion as to whether it should be totally under the deck and emerge at PTFE deck ferrules…. or indeed at the other extreme, have it all on deck so you can fix it in a hurry. Perhaps all three will be options, we shall see. It didn’t seem appropriate to photograph the somewhat secret section amidships, but suffice it to say that there is a 3D printed section within there with everything integrated and adding rigidity – making it a kind of ‘hybrid’ in a way. Very clever. Some development happening at the shroud anchorages too… and not visible in the photo there is one of those clever magnetic jib tracks, special sheet eye positions… just lots of trickle down technology from F6, and loads of unique IP in there. Without correctors, the boat is extremely light yet amazingly stiff. Really stiff.

As you probably know, it is being built by K7 Yachts. I believe there are several European orders placed already, but if interested you can put your name down quickly. Just hurry.

I did.

(You can contact K7 Yachts, by using the Club email address on the contacts page of this website.)

Datchet Club’s 50th Anniversary….!!

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It was our host Club’s 50th Anniversary celebrations this weekend!! Good to feel part of it with them. They combined a few onshore celebrations with the 2026 Club Championships out on the water. Racing was greeted by a misty 5mph breeze, but looked pretty intense !!

Onshore there was meant to be a charity walk around the Reservoir (about 3 miles) but amazingly permission was withdrawn by the landlord – pity! Still we had the ladies run a Hospice shop – great jigsaws on sale!

The upstairs had been properly decorated and was looking great for the Championship prize giving not to mention the Bake Off Competition!

As it happens, five key members of Datchet Radio Sailing were competing away from home, leaving us somewhat depleted. The cool misty day would not have helped either – it wasn’t all that alluring!!

To make up for it, Graham brought a couple of stunning boats from his personal collection – with Howard and Richard there to give a hand, plus Phil consulting on the phone!. By the way, Richard 30 years a member and Howard even more than that !

The first was this amazing radio gaff rig cutter – quite a size actually. Superb craftsmanship as you’d expect – one of four built to the 15 metre rule for a group at Frensham. Technically very interesting to sail as there were three radio channels – main and jib sheets being on separate channels of the left joystick. (RJ thinking about some areas where the radio can help out – the joystick for jib sheet goes in different directions on starboard and port!)

Was this the first time a gaff rig had been seen at Datchet ?? Maybe!

The second boat was a converted Vane Ten Rater built to the old rule. That’s the one that stole my heart today – a gorgeous complete rebuild and running on radio now. Stunning and a whopping size. Stupidly I didn’t get photos of that as I had my IOM on the water on “rescue” duty in case we lost the gaff cutter … which happened a few times on saturday!! A small matter if the mainsheet not staying on the winch drum as intended!!