HAL's Race Results Bulletin 7 of 2009

I used to think November was a slow month for HAL's Race Results, with the northern hemisphere summer well and truly over, but things have changed. A growing number of you are based in the southern hemisphere and even those in the north sail at least until Christmas. Nevertheless November is the time I take stock and plan the next year.

I have just released the last version of the program for 2009. Some of you have already been testing it, but for those of you that have not it is version 9.22. You can download it here. The main new feature is that you can input elapsed times (stopwatch times) as an alternative to finish times on the clock. In addition, before entering results race officers are asked to give their name and the wind conditions, which are copied into the particulars of their races.

I am now turning to next year's developments. The first ones will be:

• Series net points and rank will be shown on individual race results, in addition to the boat's position in that particular race. (This was a feature of HAL Mk.1 that did not make it into Mk.2.)
• Pictures of the flags to be raised and lowered will be included in the start sequence output.

Longer-term plans include:

• Team racing
• Series run in flights, as pioneered by the Topper class
• Features to help with the administration of protests and jury decisions.

There has been no change to HAL Mk.1, which is still available and which I will continue to support for at least another year.

Happy sailing,
Peter Hopford
HAL's Race Results