How do I give a boat a scoring penalty?
Boats are given scoring penalties for one of four reasons:
either they were over the line at the start and the race officer has
imposed a 20% penalty under Rule 30.2 (Z Flag Penalty); or they
admit to breaking a rule in Part 2 of the Racing Rules of Sailing and
have accepted a scoring penalty under Rule 44.3 (Yellow-Flag Penalty);
or they accept an Exoneration Penalty
after an arbitration hearing; or they were given a Discretionary
Penalty under RRS L16.6.
HAL's Race Results implements these rules by allowing the race
officer to pick a finishing status. There are five status codes that apply to boats that actually finished the
race and achieved a place: OK for a normal finisher, ZFP for a Z
Flag Penalty, SCP for a scoring penalty accepted with a yellow flag, XPA for a boat accepting an Exoneration Penalty
and DPI for a Discretionary Penalty.
The thing to remember is that a boat always gets the finishing place she actually
achieved. What changes in the event of her having a penalty is the number
of points she gets for that place. So it is important not to try to
give a penalty by altering her finishing place (or finishing time in the case of
a handicap race) but to set her finishing status to ZFP, SCP or
XPA.
In the case of a Z Flag Penalty, Rule 30.2 states how the number of points the boat
shall receive is calculated. HAL's Race Results defaults to give the correct
number of points to any boat whose finishing status is set to ZFP.
In the case of a Yellow Flag Penalty, Rule 44.3(c) states that a boat taking such
a penalty shall be given a score for a place worse than her actual finishing place
by the number of places stated in the sailing instructions. If the number
of places is not stated in the sailing instructions she shall be given points for
a place worse by 20% of the number of boats entered. HAL's Race Results implements
the default penalty of 20% automatically. If the sailing instructions impose
a different penalty the race officer has to input it in terms of the percentage
of the number of boats entered.
In the case of an Exoneration Penalty HAL implements a default
penalty of 20%, which can be altered if necessary.
It is perfectly possible for a boat to accumulate more than one penalty. She
might have a Z Flag Penalty of 20% and a Yellow Flag Penalty of 20%, resulting in
a 40% penalty. Or she might have two Yellow Flag Penalties, resulting in 40%.
The actual penalty to be imposed can be entered as a percentage after a status of
either ZFP or SCP is chosen.
