Introducing Race Assistant - a new SailEvent add-on

A new add-on to SailEvent is now available - Race Assistant from Stokes Bay Sailing Club. Designed to help run club races from start to finish, Race Assistant takes participant sign-ons from SailEvent, and then helps the race officer schedule their start sequence, record lap times, and work out handicap results. Stokes Bay claim it is ‘as easy to use as an ATM’, and they make the point by deliberately providing no user guide!

“Club race officers are typically volunteers who do the job once or twice a year”, said Andy, the lead developer. “When they turn up to run a race they don’t have the time or inclination to read an instruction manual, nor do they remember any little complications from last time, so it has to be easy.” 

After racing finishes, Race Assistant generates a file that can be uploaded straight to Sailwave for your series results -  and if you’ve ever struggled to submit results to the RYA for PY analysis, it can help with that too.

Race Assistant runs on a Windows laptop or desktop, so is ideally suited  to situations where the race officer has shelter from the elements. 

Race Assistant is available on a free trial basis for a limited period. An illustrated guide to its key features is available here. For further details please contact:

administrator@stokesbay-sc.co.uk

SailEvent unaffected by PHP vulnerability

You won’t have missed the news that two security vulnerabilities have been discovered within the PHP development platform. Indeed you may have found that some PHP-based websites are offline.

This is to assure you that Sailing Club Software online services, including SailEvent, DO NOT USE PHP. Therefore they are completely unaffected by this unfortunate incident.

Do get in touch if you need more information.

Announcing Event Archiving

Now is the time to declutter!

As the northern hemisphere sailing season begins to wind down, many will be looking to declutter their records of past events but still keep them on file.

That’s where event archiving comes in. Think of it as deleting an event but with the option of resurrecting it later.

What’s more archiving removes personally identifiable information including helm and crew contact details and emergency contacts. That makes it easy to comply with privacy legislation such as the GDPR.

Archived events don’t normally appear in the list on the events page but you can see them via the selector switch . 

When you can see them, you can restore them with just one click.

Enjoy your new uncluttered desktop!

AI Decision Support for Protest Committees

The SailEvent Hearings app is an established and effective tool for managing protests and requests for redress. 

The app:

• Accepts online hearing request forms
• Publishes hearing schedules 
• Notifies the parties
• Documents decisions
• Makes sure that everything is posted correctly on the Official Notice Board. 

But can it do more? Can it help with the decision making process itself? 

That’s where Artificial Intelligence comes in. It’s way too early to trust AI with all decision making but initial results are striking. Take these recent incidents:

CASE 1

Facts found

1234 and 789 were both on port tack approaching the gybe mark. 1234 had an inside overlap on 789 at the zone. 1234 was 2 boat lengths from the mark still on port tack when 789 gybed inside her and 1234 capsized but no injury or physical damage. No turns were taken

Committee’s decision 

789 DSQ but redress for 1234 denied.

AI decision

789 is disqualified (DSQ) for breaking Rule 18.2(a)(1). 1234 is exonerated under Rule 43.1(b) for any potential breach of Rule 10.

CASE 2

Facts found

Prior to the start 274 and 262 were in the pre-start process. Both were on starboard tack with 262 to windward of 274. 262 tacked to port, followed by 274. 262 tacked back to starboard and 3 seconds later 274 started tacking to avoid 262. 262 had to alter course to windward to avoid contact with 274. No contact occurred, no boat took a penalty.

Committee’s decision 

274 is DSQ

AI decision

Protest upheld. 274 broke Rule 10 and Rule 13. 274 is disqualified (DSQ).

CASE 3 

Facts found

GBR1357 was on a beat to the final mark, a black inflatable. On reaching the expected location of the mark it was not to be seen. After looking for some time, and not wishing to miss the next race, GBR1357 retired. A boat well behind GBR1357 on the course found the mark drifting on the tide near the finish line, rounded it and was given a finish. The race officer was aware that the mark was out of position but took no action.

Committee’s decision 

GBR1357 RDGa

AI decision

Redress is given. GBR1357 is scored points equal to the average of her points in all other races in the series (RRS 64.2), and the race is not abandoned.

Impressed? We are, so we’ve implemented an option in the Hearings app to put Facts Found to an AI assistant to see what it says. If you like the answer, then use it, if not then you are still in control. 

This is an experiment to test the water. How good are AI decisions? How will protest committees react? 

There is potential here for decision making to be smarter and more consistent leading to calmer and fairer hearings. And that is good for sailors and volunteers alike.

When the opportunity arises, please give this aspect of AI a try and let us know your views. 

SailEvent at the 505 Worlds

The 2026 505 World Championships took place last week at Hayling Island Sailing Club. Sailing conditions were perfect, race management was top class, competition among the 90 entries from 10 countries was fierce and GER9251 won. Herzlichen Glückwunsch!

Why am I telling you this? Because this was SailEvent’s first world championship. We’ve done Europeans before but not a Worlds. 

SailEvent handled all the behind-the-scenes stuff from taking entries via a custom entry form to scheduling, documenting and publishing the single protest on the final day. All the while maintaining the ONB, keeping competitors informed and providing race management information. 

And the best thing about it from our point of view? Nobody mentioned the software! SailEvent did its job unobtrusively and effectively in the background as any good service should.

HISC Sailing Supervisor Theo Galyer said, "Having worked alongside SailEvent to help shape its functionality, it’s a genuine pleasure to use. Its simplicity, speed and efficiency make a real difference when operating under pressure."

You can read all about the event here

A New SailEvent App for PROs

It’s championship time in the Northern Hemisphere. And where there’s a championship there’s usually a Principle Race Officer making sure the event goes well. 

Enter the SailEvent PRO App.

Positioned between the main SailEvent club app and the race team app, PRO provides a set of functions for management in the run up to and during an event: 

• Immediate access to the entry list and notice board.
• Pin items to the notice board.
• Publish Notices to Competitors.
• Review and modify sailing sessions.
• See what’s happening today in terms of who’s signed afloat and who’s ashore. (But only if you use eTally; if you rely on old-school rubber bands, sorry, can’t help you.)
• Set protest time limits.

The link to the app is in >Settings >Apps, help is in >Help and we’d really appreciate your feedback on this one. Do we have the mix of functionality right – anything missing, anything not needed, tweaks required? 

Looking forward to hearing from you. 

L over One is flying...

A well organised Official Notice Board makes life easier for both you and sailors. This article is about positioning documents on your SailEvent virtual ONB with particular attention to changes to sailing instructions. 

Let’s start with a quick recap on the board’s Information section. It can contain some or all of –

• Documents, such as the Notice of Race and Sailing Instructions, that are often, though not necessarily, drafted by the organisers.;
• Links to other web pages – perhaps a weather station, a Welcome video, an invite to join a WhatsApp chat. The opportunities are boundless.
• A set of hearings-related forms – protest form, request for redress, time limits, etc.

They are all listed sequentially on the board; each opened with just one tap or click. 

Getting that sequence right is key. Each item in the list has a Display Order – a single character 0-9 or A-Z. Items are listed in display order sequence (numbers before letters). If more than one item has the same display order, they are listed in alphabetical order within their display order. Blank display orders (the default) come last.

So what does this mean for your ONB?

You probably want the most important documents to appear first, that’s usually the Notice of Race and the Sailing Instructions, so give them display orders, say, 1 and 2 respectively. Or A and B, the choice is yours.

Next up, amendments to the SIs. We recommend that you publish them as documents in their own right, not as Notices to Competitors but see below.

Give them all display order 3 (or C) and then, and this is important, name them consistently with their number as part of their name. For example Amendment to SIs No. 1, Amendment to SIs No. 2 and so on, or Change to the Sailing Instructions 01, Change to the Sailing Instructions 02, etc. 

What we are aiming for is something like this

However, when you publish a change to the SIs, you need to inform the competitors. A good way to do that is to take the option of automatically issuing a Notice to Competitors. The notice appears on the ONB and competitors are informed by text or email. But you still need the hoot and the flags!

Hearings forms all have display order H  so they naturally appear in about the middle with plenty of room before and after, above and below, for your own stuff. 

It’s easy to adjust display orders and item names so experiment and juggle things around to get the best look. In your SailEvent club app, it’s >Notice Boards from the menu then the docs and links tab.