Recording Timings

Recording start and finish times is the core of race management. Sailboat Racing supports both standard finish-line timing and lapping race timing.

Recording the Start Time

Each start line has its own start time:

Go to the race detail page
In the start line section, click the Record Start Time clock button
The start time is used to calculate elapsed times for all entries on that start line

You can change or clear a recorded start time if needed.

Starting Sequence (optional)

Instead of capturing the start time by hand, you can run a countdown that captures it for you. This is optional: the manual clock button still works exactly as before, and you never have to use the sequence.

Each start line shows a Start sequence control with three options:

5 min starts a five minute sequence immediately
3 min starts a three minute sequence immediately
Schedule lets you pick the wall clock time of the gun, then counts down to it

Once armed, a countdown card appears for that start line:

It turns blue while waiting for a scheduled sequence to begin, orange while running, and red in the final minute before the gun
It sounds the signals as a race officer expects them: for a five minute sequence at five, four, one and zero minutes, and for a three minute sequence at three, two, one and zero minutes. Five short pips lead into each signal, followed by a longer signal beep at the mark
The time pulses for the ten seconds before each signal so you have a visual cue alongside the sound
Restart re-arms the same duration from now; Cancel stops the sequence without recording anything

At the gun the start time is captured automatically into the same field the clock button writes to, so the rest of the race works identically however the time was recorded. You can still change or clear it afterwards.

The sequence runs in your browser as a live aid for the race officer. It is not shared between devices and does not survive leaving the page, so arm it on the device you are timing from. Sound needs one tap to start (the browser only allows audio after you interact with the page), which happens the first time you arm a sequence.

Recording Finish Times

For each entry:

Find the entry in the race entry list
Click to record their finish time
Enter the finish time

Capturing with the Keyboard (Finish Queue)

When boats finish in quick succession, clicking each card is slow. Capture mode lets you stamp times from the keyboard instead.

Click Capture: OFF in the entries toolbar to turn it ON
As boats approach the line, tap a sail number to add that boat to the finish queue. Tapping a boat that is already queued bumps it to the front (useful when boats overtake near the line). Each queued boat is a chip with an ✕ to remove it
Press the spacebar to record the current time for the highlighted boat at the head of the queue. The queue then advances to the next boat automatically

The boat that the next spacebar press will time is always highlighted, both as the head chip and with a ring around its card. After each capture the boat leaves the queue and the highlight advances to the next boat (and, in a standard race, the timed boat drops into the Finished group), so you can keep a steady rhythm without an interrupting popup.

The spacebar is ignored while you are typing in a text field (such as the filter or a time input), so it only fires when you mean it. Turn Capture mode OFF to return to normal clicking.

On a phone or tablet

There is no keyboard on touch devices, so while Capture mode is ON a sticky action bar appears at the bottom of the screen:

The large button shows the boat at the head of the queue, for example Finish 1234 (or Lap 1234 in a lapping race). Tap it to record the current time for that boat, exactly as the spacebar does. A then 5678 · 3456 line shows which boats are coming up next
Skip removes the head boat from the queue without recording a time, for a boat that retired at the line or was queued by mistake
When the queue is empty the button is disabled and prompts you to tap a sail number to add boats

You build the queue the same way as on desktop (tap sail numbers), and you can always time a boat out of order by tapping its card's own capture button instead, which also removes it from the queue.

How a press behaves depends on the race format:

Standard race: the spacebar records the head boat's finish time. The boat leaves the queue and drops into a dimmed Finished group at the bottom of the list, keeping the still-racing boats clear at the top
Lapping race: the spacebar logs the head boat's next lap. The boat leaves the queue and keeps racing; tap it again the next time it crosses to record its following lap

Stamping a boat with its card button (rather than the spacebar) also removes it from the queue, so the two never drift apart.

Filtering the Entry List

A search box above the entries filters the list as you type. You can search by sail number, helm or crew name, boat class, or division — for example, type "Masters" to show only boats entered in the Masters division. The matching count is shown next to the Entries heading.

By default the list is grouped by boat class and then ordered by sail number. Sail numbers sort naturally, so "2" comes before "21" and "100" (not in plain alphabetical order). Boats you have just timed move to the top.

Time Display Modes

You can toggle between three display modes:

Mode	Shows
Clock Time	The actual time of day (e.g. 14:32:15)
Elapsed Time	Time since the start (e.g. 0:45:15)
Elapsed Seconds	Time since the start shown as total seconds (e.g. 2715)

All modes record the same data - it's just a display preference for the race officer. This can be useful when results are inputted after the fact, or when the clock time is not known.

Changing or Clearing Finish Times

If you made a mistake you can click details on the entry: - Change - click on the recorded time and enter the correct value - Clear - remove the finish time entirely (e.g. if you recorded it against the wrong entry)

If you need to review history of changes, you can go to the edit view to see all recorded times and edits.

What Happens After Recording

Once a race has start times and finish times recorded:

Elapsed times are calculated automatically
If the series uses corrected time scoring, handicap-corrected times are computed
Race results and positions are generated
Series standings are updated