The purpose of this section is to provide an outline of how to use STS. Details of how the user interface components fit together is given here since most of rest of this user guide takes the form of a reference manual.
As with anything, practice makes perfect. Before attempting to use STS for scoring actual races, create some sample regattas, races and entries. Enter finish times, score the races, and print the results. In the early days of STS expect bugs. Join the user mailing list.
STS does not have "Save" or "Save As..." options in the File menu. This is because STS uses a relational database for persistent data storage. When entering data in a dialog with OK/Cancel buttons, the data is saved as soon as the OK button is clicked. Otherwise data is saved to the database immediately. STS offers import/export capabilities in lieu of the save options (see below).
This step is optional and can be done at any time. Entering courses provides the advantage of course length auto-population in the Starts table when the course name is entered.
The regatta creation wizard contains several screens which collect general regatta and scoring parameters, race and fleet information.
Enter a unique name for the regatta
The Description field is optional. You can enter anything you like into this field.
The Default Handicapping field should be set to the predominant handicapping system to use for your regatta. This is simply the default system. In later steps, each fleet may be assigned a different system, allowing a mix of handicapped and/or one-design fleets (if required).
Choose a scoring system
STS automatically places entries in fleets based class, handicap and the ability to fly a spinnaker. The Fleet Assignment field allows you to choose between the currently implemented assignment systems which support fully automatic assignment (with no manual override), and automatic assignment with manual override.
Select an output style. An output style is a set of templates used to produce the collection sheets, race and series results.
Note that the scoring parameters differ based on the scoring system chosen for the regatta. The following parameters apply to Low Point and Bonus Point scoring systems.
Enter the number of throw-outs
For a long series, un-check 'Score DNC'. When unchecked, DNC entries are not scored and DNF, DSQ, etc, get assigned a value one more than the number of boats that came to the starting area.
This step attempts to simplify race creation for a regatta or series by allowing the overall structure of the races to be entered. When the wizard finishes, each individual race is created automatically using this information. To create a single race - or a set of races to be held on the same day - enter the same date in the two date fields (date of first and last race). If this step is confusing or you think it doesn't fit your needs, enter the information to create one at least one race. Races for the regatta can be added, deleted or modified later.
Enter the details of each fleet. Be sure to enter the class for one-design fleets -- the fleet assignment systems first look to match an entry's class with those of the one-design fleets. The start time offset for the fleet is a value (in minutes) that is added to each race's scheduled start time to obtain the fleet's scheduled start time for each race.
Use the "Add Entry" dialog to add entries in the current regatta. Boat Name and Sail Number are mandatory. Boat Type/Class is only required for one-design entries. A value for handicap is only required for handicapped entries. Note that the handicap entered here is the default handicap. To use a different value for a particular race (e.g., non-spinnaker offset, etc), the handicap may be changed in the Result table for the race in question.
Add a row to the Skipper/Crew table for the skipper (Role = "Skipper"). If more than one person shares the role of skipper, add one entry per skipper. Crewmember rows require values for the Role and Name columns - all other columns are optional. Fill in the yacht club initials in order to ensure that it appears in the race and series results.
Entries can be added at any time. It will often be necessary, especially in a long series, to add the entries at random points in time during the course of a regatta.
For each race, generate and print the collection sheet. The collection sheet is intended to be used as the hard-copy for recording actual start times, courses, and boat disposition/finish-times while out on the water.
After the race, transfer the data on the collection sheet into STS. Begin by ensuring that the current race is "active." To do this, select the race from the Races" menu.
The Actual Start, Course Name, and Course Length columns in the Start table are directly editable. A value for the Actual Start is only required if the actual start time different than the scheduled start time. Course distances are usually only required for handicapped fleets.
Finish times and dispositions should be entered directly into the Results table. You will notice that all boats are assigned a disposition of DNC by default. This value will automatically change from DNC to OK when the finish time is entered.
Assign redress or penalties to a boat for the current race by right-clicking on the boat's row in the Results table and selecting the Redress/Penalties... menu item. The pop-up dialog contains an editable table in which the redress or penalty type can be selected from a drop down list in the first column and any necessary parameter entered in the second column. This table allows multiple penalties to be assigned as specified in Appendix A of the racing rules. When using this dialog, the disposition for the boat will be changed automatically to RDG, SCP, or ZFP as appropriate.
Other directly editable columns in the Results table are Skipper, Handicap, and Fleet. If the race committee allows a boat to sail in a different fleet for one race, change the fleet in the Results table. The fleet in the boat's entry form should only be changed if a predominant number of races will be sailed in the new fleet. FYI, although STS allows boats to sail in different fleets from time to time, series qualification and scoring is based on the races sailed in a single fleet. For example, if a boat sails in a different fleet for one race in a regatta, the boat's score for that race will be thrown out (or if the number of throw-outs is zero, the boat will not qualify).
STS may look like a spreadsheet, but the scores are not updated in real-time. To score the current race, click the 'Score Current Race' icon in the tool bar (or select the 'Score Current Race' item in the 'Score' menu).
Click the the 'Race Results...' icon or select the corresponding item from the 'Score' menu. This will launch your web browser and display the results.
Print and/or upload the race results. As of this writing, STS does not have a native printing capability (i.e., there isn't a "Print..." option in the File menu.). The only option for printing the results is from the web browser once the results are displayed. Printing web pages in this way is problematic since there is no way for STS to control the page layout directly -- i.e., insert page breaks, etc. A future version of STS will support printing directly to solve these problems.
At the end of a regatta or series, also click the 'Score Series...' icon or menu item. Click the 'Series Results...' icon or menu item for series results. The 'Series Summary...' page shows scores for all qualifying boats in the series including throw-outs, etc.
Print and/or upload the series results.
The import/export feature allows data to be transfered between different installations of STS, exported for processing in spreadsheet applications, or to backup data. [2]
STS currently supports two types of data import/export - to CSV files which can be opened and saved by most spreadsheet applications and to a proprietary binary format called an STZ file. The STZ format contains nearly all information for a regatta in a single file. Alternatively, there are 4 CSV formats -- one for course data and three more for various regatta related data.
Use the STZ format to initially transfer all details of a regatta to another computer. After the first transfer, use CSV export/import of the entry and race data to synchronize the two systems.
Using the import/export feature a bulk operation to add entries into a new regatta can be performed. Here are the steps:
Export entries in CSV format from one or more existing regattas.
Edit the CSV file(s) in a spread sheet or text editor application, leaving just the rows corresponding to the entries to be created in the new regatta.
Import the resulting file into the new regatta to create the entries.