When it's too close to call, sharpen that PHRF pencil

by Kirk Jockell
26 April 2008

Several years ago I was crewing on a boat during a regatta in Charleston, South Carolina. The first day was exciting and the racing was close. During one of the races, I can remember everybody on the boat hitting their watches as the boat we were chasing got the horn. The other boat gave us 12 seconds a mile and each of us had our fingers crossed in hopes of a correction. Once we were called over and the watches stopped, the distance of the course was calculated and the various times collected; it was going to be close.

After a full day of racing, we were at the evening's festivities and the sailors, skippers and crew, were in one of two places; the beer truck or the official notice board awaiting the day's results. The event was being supplied with Black Label and Schlitz, so I was at the beer truck.

Once the scores got posted, I meandered over to join the crowd to check our positions. We had three races that day and two of the races had pretty much gone as expected; a bullet and a deuce. However, the race in question, the close one, was neither. It was called a tie and the two boats shared the first and second positions each getting 1.5 points for the effort.

As I looked at the results, I shook my head and thought, "A tie! What in the hell is up with that?" I looked at my skipper and he seemed to be OK with it, so I didn't give it another thought, until last year, and then again just recently.

Now, before I continue, let me be perfectly clear on one point. This is not a slam against those that volunteer their time to oversee the administration and operation of Race Committee duties, to include scoring. My argument is against a convention of thinking and complacency that allows the idea of a tie in PHRF racing without closer examination. Many have been conditioned to feel such a result is alright. I take exception to that line of thinking.

So, let's examine the issue. Is it impossible? Is it impossible that two boats of different PHRF ratings could tie in a race? Why of course not, but it should be very very very (did I say very) rare.

So, when would a tie be appropriate? Well, the best example would be calling the finish during a One Design event. If two J/24s are screaming towards the finish during a fleet race, and based on the observation of those watching the finish, a clear winner can not be established, it sounds like a tie to me. Even during a PHRF race, if after the math is done a tie is declared, then a tie it is. But the math has got to be looked at in questionable cases.

I honestly believe that at the end of the day, in the era of technology we enjoy, we may place a bit too much faith and confidence in the software programs we use to score our events. If a program says we have a tie between boats, then Hell, it must be right; the program said so. Well, what I'm saying is, while the race management programs of today make our lives easier, and they certainly do that, there are times when a pencil and piece of paper may be better. The fact is, these race management systems use rounding routines which are handy, most of the time, and problematic on others. In those cases where a program spits out a tie, I think we owe it to those that race, to dig a bit deeper and declare a winner, if possible.

I will provide real examples later, but think about it, sailboat racing is like baseball, it is not designed to have ties. Even after all the racing is done, if a couple teams end up sharing the same number of points, we look for a way to embrace a winner by giving the bullet to the boat that did the best on the last race. That philosophy (declaring a winner), should be applied to all the races in a regatta.

Ok, now let's get down to the beer and wine of the issue. When you get right down to it, it is all about the seconds. By its very design, PHRF is designed to correct finishing times with seconds. When a race management program declares a tie, it is usually after taking the corrected times and rounding them, so they may be displayed in a pretty HH:MM:SS format. In most instances, this is just fine. But in others, it may be time to use that calculator on your cell phone. Let's look at an example or three.

Example One:
This is a real example taken from last year. The race is a short one, only 1.28 miles. Boat "Alpha" has a handicap of 204 and Boat "Bravo" comes in at 216 (Remember boys and girls, these are seconds per mile). Here is how the things ended up according to the race management software.

Boat (Rating)	Elapsed Time	Corrected Time	Finish
"Alpha" Boat (216)	00:56:23	00:51:47	1.5
"Bravo" Boat (204)	00:56:08	00:51:47	1.5

However, this is not entirely accurate. This is an example, where the scorer might want to sharpen his pencil a bit and get back to the roots of this system, the seconds.

Alpha boat's elapsed time of 56:23 converts to 3383 seconds minus her handicap time of 276.48 (216 X 1.28) giving her a corrected time (in seconds) of 3106.52

Bravo boat's elapsed time of 56:08 converts to 33683 seconds minus her handicap time of 261.12 (204 X 1.28) gives her a corrected time (in seconds) of 3106.88

Alpha finished .36 seconds in front of Bravo. This is certainly a measurable amount of time. Clearly, Alpha boat Wins!

Example Two:
Here is another real example which occurred quite recently. The course for this example is 2.30 miles. Boat "Charlie" weighs in with a healthy rating of 72, while boat "Delta" tips the PHRF scales at a respectable 99. The race management software concluded the following.

Boat (Rating)	Elapsed Time	Corrected Time	Finish
Charlie Boat (72)	00:21:30	00:18:44	2.5
Delta Boat (99)	00:22:32	00:18:44	2.5

However, when you stir the grits a bit (and I like grits, no instant), you discover.

Charlie boat's elapsed time of 21:30 converts to 1290 seconds, minus her handicap time of 165.6 (72 x 2.30) gives her a corrected time of 1124.4 seconds.

Delta boat's elapsed time of 22:32 converts to 1354 seconds, minus her handicap time of 227.7 (99 x 2.30) gives her a corrected time of 1124.30 seconds.

In this case, Delta boat squeezes out Charlie by .10 seconds. Close? Absolutely! A tie? Nope. Delta boat should not have to share her second place finish, nor should she have to take on the burden of taking on a portion of Charlie's third spot. Delta's finish should stand alone.

Example Three:
Timing is everything. I wasn't expecting to include another example, but since it occurred during this past week's AISC Wednesday Night race, it can't be ignored. Except this time, the positions are shared appropriately. Boats Mystery Ship and Iniki both finished the night dead even. I won't go through the trouble of breaking down all the numbers for you, but if you do the math, you will see both boats finished the race in 3332.8 seconds. Which goes to show, even software programs can get lucky; every now and then.

When I brought this issue up in a more private forum last year, I got to hear one person's argument in support of the time rounding for scoring purposes. This person's point of view essentially boiled down to, with all the imperfect conditions and circumstances a race committee is faced with in finishing a fleet of boats, it doesn't make sense to split hairs. I simply disagree. On those close calls, we should crunch the numbers to shake out a winner, if possible. How far should we carry the math? That is a good question, but I would say, at a bare minimum, one decimal place, but probably two, to be safe. Anything beyond that, I would agree is splitting hairs.

In conclusion, I would like to say, I personally have never had to share a position with another skipper. My races are generally not that close. The folks I compete with hand me my ass on a regular basis. "Thank You Sir! May I have another?"

That said, the bottom line is this, folks show up to regattas for three things (in no particular order), race, drink beer, and to hopefully win. We owe it to the fleet to declare winners when possible. In a system that is already replete with imperfections, we should not include, yet another ambiguity to the mix. Race committees, and skippers alike, do their very best each and every week. With all the variables and inconsistencies, we should have a handle on the one thing we can control, the math.

Kirk Out!