A lot of time and money has been spent in the
development of a fully automated GPS transponder system that will not require visual
recognition of sail numbers, Unfortunately the complexities of the technology and the
requirement to have 100+ units able to operate all day in our harsh environment keeps such
a system just out of reach.
At Weymouth Speed Week this year we will
operate our trusted visually sighted system that can operate from the shore or from boats
in the event that a harbour course is required due to the wind direction. A number of
detailed enhancements have been made to this system to help improve the number of runs
captured, however the biggest cause of lost runs is due to poor sail numbers.
In an efffort to improve this we will be
'banning' several numbers because they can cause operator error. e.g. having 118 and 811
on the course together with similar transparent sails isn't a good idea!
Two basic rules have been introduced.
1) All numbers comprising 0, 1 or 8 which
appear to be different when mirrored are inadmissable.
2) Once a number is registered, generally its
mirror becomes inadmissable, especially where numbers such as 8 and 3, and 6 and 9 are
involved e.g 138 and 831.
There will be some 'regulars' who we will have
to ask to change their sail numbers. This will be for the benefit of all competitors.
Note that we give priority to internationally
registered sail numbers, then nationally registered ones and then WSW registered ones. So
if you haven't competed before select a 'free' number from the list.
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This picture shows the correct sized sail numbers, set
correctly with the starboard side high. Numbers should not be set too high on the sail nor
towards the leech too much due to the sail twist making it extremely hard to read. Neither
should numbers be placed on an opaque background - they become impossible to read when
passing between the observer and a low bright sun.
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Kite boards will be provided
with a bib at the event and their number will be 6** where the ** is the bib number. Kite
boards should enter 600 as their sail number on the entry form.
Amended 01/08/09
