General preparation

This system is designed to provide information from one area of the race course to another. In an ideal situation, each area would have some form of computer connected to the Internet so that they can connect to regattadata.com.

The following areas are provided for:

Control commission / out dock

The out dock is able to indicate that a crew has passed through, or has boated, and this information will be visible to the start line. Control commission will also be able to check athlete and coxswain weights for accuracy.

Start line

If you are able to have a computer at the start line, the RDS can provide you with information about which crews have passed through Control Commission, and what time that occurred. This might make it asked to work out whether you have all of the crews for a race, and whether any late crews might be about to arrive.

Information on coxswains and the weights they should be carrying will be displayed here.

It is also possible to time the beginning of a race from the Start line. This is best managed on a system that has its internal clock synchronized to some external service (as cell phones are). If the start and finish lines are both synchronized to the same service, the ties calculated b the RDS from start and finish data should be quite good. If one of these computers, however, is not synchronized, then the final times might not be accurate.

Finish line

This is the heart of the timing system. A computer here is used to record the actual times of each crew finishing. I'd also recommend that you print out the finish sheets for each race, as these form the basis of the paper record of or regatta. It can be tricky to record everything that happens, especially in a close race, so it's a good idea to have two or three people at the finish line to watch, record and use the computer as races finish.