PHRF HANDICAP HOTLAPS

[Jane Fossett]

REVISED SEPTEMBER 12 2008

We are trying to compare the performance of different sailboats in second life in order to come up with a PHRF-style handicapping system we can use for combined fleet races (such as Big-Boat Races, Passages, and Fizz-Tako races).

If you have a boat and want to collect some hotlaps data for the handicap, here are some guidelines:

1. Post your hotlaps, comments, or Q's in this thread ("PHRFHandicap Hotlaps"). As before, I'll post summary spreadsheets with all the data and the relative boat rankings in the sticky "Handicap Hotlaps Results" thread at the top of the Racing section.

2. Use SYC NEW OLYMPIC COURSE or the FIYC HOTLAPS COURSE as your Hotlaps Race Course.

3. The windsetter should be set for constant wind, based on the the "Standard" SLSF Race WindSettings. In other words, wearing your SYC or FIYC tag, move close to the windsetter and say:
/44 predef hotlaps
At SYC that means: dir: 260, spd: 10, dir+-: 0, spd+-: 0, rate: 1

4. When you post your hotlaps results, please enter your hotlap time, as well as the boat you sailed, etc, etc.... just like regular hotlaps.
Don't worry about the "Start time." The handicap comparison should be based on the actual course time, in other words, the Finish time minus the Start Time. Most skippers post this as their "Net time."

5. Since we are trying to compare the performance of different Trudeau boats on the same course, skippers should post what they consider to be their "good" finish times, not just their "absolute best" times. A "good finish time" would be the time it takes them to complete the course without making mistakes and without excessive lag. If a skipper does several laps and comes up with fairly consistent "good finish times," they should post each of the scores, not just the best one.

6. Since we are trying to compare performance, it would be most helpful if skippers could post their results sailing multiple boats. Since many racers own a variety of boats, this should not be a problem. Four boats we particularly need data on are:
1. The Trucordia yawl (the arbitrary 'benchmark' boat)
2. The Dutch Barge
3. The Flying Fizz 2.xx
4. All of SWB's boats
5. The latest Zinnemann-40 Catamaran.

NOTE (AUGUST 11 2008):
September 12 2008 we closed data collection on the Hotlaps 2008 and Olympic M1 Courses!
The New Data Collection Courses are the SYC New Olympic Course and the FYC Hotlaps Course. Charts are appended below!

[Jane Fossett]

BOAT: Trudeau Tahiti Ketch
Course: NYC Hotlaps 2008
Crew: Solo
Wind: predef hotlaps, no deviance (spd 11)

[8:04] Start Line (052108): Race Results:
[8:04] Start Line (052108): 1: Jane Fossett - +00:10:59
[8:04] Start Line (052108): Lap Times:
[8:04] Start Line (052108): Jane Fossett-- lap 0: +00:00:11
[8:04] Start Line (052108): Jane Fossett-- lap 1: +00:10:59

NET: 10:48

[Liv Leigh]

BOAT: SWB Innovation 1.0
Course: NYC Hotlaps 2008
Crew: Solo
Wind: predef hotlaps, no deviance (spd 11)

Start Line (052108): 1: Liv Leigh - +00:03:42
Start Line (052108): Lap Times:
Start Line (052108): Liv Leigh-- lap 0: +00:00:08
Start Line (052108): Liv Leigh-- lap 1: +00:03:42

Net time: 3:33

Start Line (052108): 1: Liv Leigh - +00:03:58
Start Line (052108): Lap Times:
Start Line (052108): Liv Leigh-- lap 0: +00:00:35
Start Line (052108): Liv Leigh-- lap 1: +00:03:58

Net time: 3:23

[Jane Fossett]

I went back and added the past two month's hotlaps to the new spreadsheet, and included Liv's Redwing and Innovation numbers too.
At the moment we have 45 usable data points, so we're already about a quarter of the way there!
What we desperately need are Trucordia Yawl runs on Hotlaps 2008. The Yawl was the arbitrary 'reference boat' for the last two handicap databases, so all the calculations fall into place once we have some consisted Yawl times.
I'll do a few runs in my yawl, but it will take several people to make sure the net yawl time reference we use is valid and consistent!!!

[Jane Fossett]

Boat: Trucordia Yawl
Skipper: Jane Fossett
Crew: Solo
Course: NYC Hotlaps 2008
Wind: Predef Hotlaps- dir: 340, spd: 11.000000, dir+-: 0, spd+-: 0.000000, rate: 1.000000
[12:10] Start Line (052108): Race Results:
[12:10] Start Line (052108): 1: Jane Fossett - +00:09:40
[12:10] Start Line (052108): Lap Times:
[12:10] Start Line (052108): Jane Fossett-- lap 0: +00:00:54
[12:10] Start Line (052108): Jane Fossett-- lap 1: +00:09:40
net= 8:46

[Liv Leigh]

I went back and added the past two month's hotlaps to the new spreadsheet, and included Liv's Redwing and Innovation numbers too.

You will have to remove my redwing numbers. Those were made with a test version. The final version of the Redwing has been made slower, thanks to those hotlaps

[Jane Fossett]

I went back and added the past two month's hotlaps to the new spreadsheet, and included Liv's Redwing and Innovation numbers too.

You will have to remove my redwing numbers. Those were made with a test version. The final version of the Redwing has been made slower, thanks to those hotlaps

Woops! That's the problem doing PHRF Hotlaps in test boats... or maybe it's an advantage!
Liv's right, however. The policy has been to allow any boat to post handicap hotlaps data, but to only later report on boats that have been officially released ( and I know there are exceptions... but hey, its an imperfect world).

[Liv Leigh]

Can you post some data that gives us an idea which boat's results are particularly needed? Like you did with the intermediate data for the first series?

[Alain Gloster]

A couple of hotlaps
Tahiti Ketch
10:44
10:43

Skulsje
7:33
7:44
7:29
7:38

[Jane Fossett]

Can you post some data that gives us an idea which boat's results are particularly needed? Like you did with the intermediate data for the first series?

Yes! The current spreadsheet shows all the scores entered to date. Boat classes with no data are 'hidden' until someone posts a net lap time in that category.
The boat we most need data on at the moment is the Trucordia Yawl, since it's the reference boat.
More data in any category is important however. For example, it looks like we have a lot of Dutch Barge data now, but the variance is large (S.D.=22) compared to other boats. The distribution should tighten and the lap times more precisely defined as we add more scores.

[Alain Gloster]

Z-40
5:40
5:27

Note..the HUD and boat acted like the wind was North of East, every other boat acts like it's south of east

[Jane Fossett]

Skippers:
Jane Fossett - Trucordia Yawl
Gemma Vuckovic - Tetra35
Course: NYC Hotlaps 2008
Wind: Predef Hotlaps- dir:340, spd:11, dir+-:0, spd+-:0, rate:1


[6:13] Start Line (052108): 1: Gemma Vuckovic - +00:08:30 (8:30)
[6:13] Start Line (052108): 2: Jane Fossett - +00:09:02 (8:51)
[6:13] Start Line (052108): Lap Times:
[6:13] Start Line (052108): Gemma Vuckovic-- lap 0: +00:00:00
[6:13] Start Line (052108): Jane Fossett-- lap 0: +00:00:11
[6:13] Start Line (052108): Gemma Vuckovic-- lap 1: +00:08:30
[6:13] Start Line (052108): Jane Fossett-- lap 1: +00:09:02

Nice laps!!

[Jane Fossett]

Z-40
5:40
5:27

Note..the HUD and boat acted like the wind was North of East, every other boat acts like it's south of east

Old versions of the Z-40 miscalcuated race wind. When I briefly looked at the latest update, the problem seemed fixed.
I wont add your scores until you are satisfied your laps have the correct racewind (dir 340, spd 11, no variance).

I'll look at the boat again as well.

[Jane Fossett]

Z-40
5:40
5:27
Note..the HUD and boat acted like the wind was North of East, every other boat acts like it's south of east

Old versions of the Z-40 miscalcuated race wind. When I briefly looked at the latest update, the problem seemed fixed.
I wont add your scores until you are satisfied your laps have the correct racewind (dir 340, spd 11, no variance).
I'll look at the boat again as well.

I looked at the newest release of the boat, v1.5.0, and spoke with Hans.
Alain is correct.
The boat miscalculates race wind. I think this time it's a full 180degrees off.
Let's take the boat off the Handicap list until it get fixed.

[Alain Gloster]

Tried Hans suggestion and set the wind dir to 20 and it looked much better
times were 6:12 and 6:04 for reference purposes - whenever 1.6 is released I'll run a new set of Laps.