• Language: English

A new approach to interval timing...

28 Apr 2018
By: Steve Jensen

The Problem

500m Interval timing - everybody wants it, but few regattas do it.  Why is that?  After all, we have tablets, hotspots, and RM Timer software for instant timing, right?

The answer is: it takes too much labor.  A regatta wanting to do interval timing for a multi-day regatta just about needs a separate volunteer coordinator just for timing.  Add to that the logistics of getting timing teams to and from the intermediate timing stations, providing amenities and shelter for them (if there is even a fixed place for them to operate), and additional platforms or launches if they have to do timing on the water. And let’s not forget training.  Or the cost of those extra tablets and hotspots and stuff to keep them charged up.

That is a lot of additional overhead for an optional feature.  Too much for most regattas, even the bigger ones.  There are relatively few venues with 500m timing shacks on terra firma, AC power, and reliable wi-fi, and even in those venues interval timing is often not done.

We have a GPS solution, but it is expensive, and still requires extra logistics to mount the transceivers, get them back, charge them up, and send them out again. 


A Solution!

In 2016 we did 500m interval timing for the Rowing Canada Aviron National Rowing Championships, using tablets running RM Timer, with USB internet sticks.  This regatta happened in September, and was hosted at Burnaby Lake, BC for the first of 4 years.  The weather was generally cold and wet.  The Local Organizing Committee had to deal with setting up tents on the 500m platforms, providing battery backups for the computers, and getting the timing teams to and from their positions.  The volunteer coordinator had to really scramble to arrange all the timing volunteers (3 teams, 2 people per team, 3 shifts a day, for 3 days).  The volunteers did a great job, in less than ideal weather conditions; but one wonders how many of them would have been eager to sign up for the job the following year.

And in 2017, the NRC’s would be in November.   With the potential for the weather being even colder and wetter, Simon Litherland, who was the LOC member responsible for timing and results, decided to explore other ways of accomplishing the 500m split timing.

The basic idea was to mount cameras on the 500m platforms, and record times by monitoring them from a central spot at the finish line.  This was not a new concept - many people have talked about doing it this way.  Talking about it in broad conceptual terms, though, and actually executing it are very different things.

The main challenges were:

  • Finding cameras that had the resolution and frame rate to display the boats clearly.
  • Creating a wi-fi network with sufficient bandwidth and speed to carry that data from 4-5 cameras over 2000m with acceptable latency.

Other considerations included protection from the elements (ie, keeping rain/snow etc. off the lenses), using weather resistant equipment, having enough power to run without maintenance for an entire regatta day, portability, ease of deployment, and overall cost.

Simon has written a fairly thorough ‘cookbook’ for the system he put together for the NRC, so I won’t go into the technical details again.  In general, the system consisted of a Swann DVR with wired IP cameras, connecting to Ubiquiti Wifi transmitters supported by batteries.  At the finish line, the DVR output went to a large TV, where a small team of observers and computer operators noted the crossing order at each 500m station and recorded times in RM Timer (our Windows tablet timing software).  Here is the basic design:


How it Worked

In general, it worked really well.  I must admit I was a bit skeptical that they would be able to get the crossing order right at each station, as there was no replay or frame capture to go back to in case of a question.  However, the spotters were experienced referees, and the video quality was good enough that they had no difficulty with this. 

The computer operator had 3 instances of RM Timer running on a laptop with a 2nd (extended desktop) monitor to easily see all three instances at once.  As the boats passed each station, the computer operator recorded a ‘stopwatch’ time in the software for each boat, then applied the bow/lane number to the time from the spotter’s crossing order.  The times then went to the RM Live Timing service for live results.  It went like clockwork.


Lessons Learned

The system worked well, as I said.  But this was the first test, therefore a learning experience for all.  There were a number of things we realized, or thought of during the regatta, that could improve it.

For starters, the cameras were not PTZ; therefore, it took 2 people to align them – Simon on the platforms pointing the cameras and Ian Gordon in the finish tent looking at the monitor and telling Simon, via cell phone, when they were lined up right.  Although this was not a big deal, there is a lot to be said for having the ability to move the cameras and zoom in/out on demand, remotely.

 Next, the timers, though not sitting in igloos on the 500m platforms, were still outdoors.  And it was cold.  And it rained the last 2 days of the regatta.  The tents were really canopies with some sides attached (but open on the course side), so they offered no warmth and didn’t even keep out all the rain.  Hand warmers, many layers of clothing, and electric heat pads were the order of the day every day.  Not the conditions that would have volunteers standing in line to come back next year.

The realization here was that the timers could do their job indoors, or in a weatherproof (ie, warm and dry) tent.  They didn’t need to see the course – they were getting their information from a TV screen. 

Another thing I mentioned earlier is that there was no replay.  That is not to say the system didn’t have the capability, it just required more gear.  Another computer on a private subnet with the DVR (and someone to operate it), and the Swann software, should do the trick.  The software has the ability to export video or even snapshots from replay, which would allow a quick review in case there is a question about crossing order. Even having someone take a short video of the monitor with a cell phone camera would allow greater comfort that it was going to work.


Conclusion

First of all, many thanks to Simon Litherland for his hard work and ingenuity in designing, building, and running this system at the NRC’s.  He was the first to arrive and the last to leave every day, out on the course before first light, setting up the transceivers and power systems, and again after racing taking them back in for the night.  And in between, setting up the system in the finish tent and working with the timing teams all day to make the split times happen.

As for the maiden voyage of the system at Burnaby Lake, it has to be considered a success.  It worked as designed and intended, throughout the regatta, without significant issues.  Applying the experience of the first run will only make it better.  And by sharing this information we hope to encourage other regattas to augment their timing efforts to include 500m interval times.   This provides valuable information to rowers and coaches, and promotes visibility of regattas by giving spectators a better view of races in progress.
Comments (0)

Login to post a comment.

 
Post

Fun on the 50th

23 Oct 2014
By: Steve Jensen

I recently read that D'Arcy MacMahon, one of the founders of the Head of the Charles, made it a requirement that the regatta 'must be fun'.  What better time to remind folks of this than at the 50th anniversary regatta?

So...how to have fun while racing?  We pondered this over an exceptionally nice Malbec one August evening, and inspiration struck - how about a mixed quad with RegattaCentral, in costume?  While still in the spirit, so to speak, we ran the idea past Traci Stocker.  She was up for it!  And so was Steve Lopez.  They put in the entry (appropriately enough), and then we pondered some more - what could we do that was reminiscent of 1965?  

We thought of TV shows that were popular in the 60's, like Laugh-In and Star Trek but they were later, and didn't have much to do with boats.  Then from somewhere came a name ...Gilligan!  That was it!  The show debuted in 1964, the year the regatta was conceived, and it was about a boat and its unlikely crew. 

Just like us.  It was Perfect.

I was the obvious choice for Gilligan - skinny and dopey-looking.  Lori staked out Mary Ann, and Traci was a perfect Ginger.  We all thought Steve Lopez would be the Professor, since he looks like that all the time and wouldn't even have to change clothes, but he showed up as the Skipper.  

The race itself was even more fun than I expected - all the way up and down the course people on the shore were shouting 'Gilligan!', and we knew we had hit on something that resonated with so many others who had come to have a good time on the Charles.

Lori and Traci had a popularity contest going, keeping count of the shouted votes as we rowed by ("Ginger, I always liked you best" or "Mary Ann, you were my favorite").  Some people sang the theme song, and others made jokes about our '3 hour tour' of the Charles.  Which wasn't that far off the mark - we were not quite dead last, almost getting caught by the first boats of the next event as we crossed the finish line.  Well, at least we crossed it, and didn't hit any bridges on the way.

As bow person, I felt pretty good about my course, but at the speed we were going I had plenty of time to sort it out.  We weren't out to win (fortunately), but to make people, including ourselves, laugh.  

I think we succeeded.
Comments (0)

Login to post a comment.

 
Post

TVTH Poses Interesting Challenge

10 Feb 2014
By: Steve Jensen

The Thames Valley Trial Head (February 2nd, 2014) is a 1900m time trial on the Eton Dorney course in Buckinghamshire.  The race is organized into 3 flights.  When I first heard about this race, I thought "No problem, Regatta Master can arrange races into groups", thinking of course that each flight would be finals for different events.

But no, in this regatta, all the events are raced in each flight.  The entrant can request a specific flight for a given event, and can even enter 2 or all 3 flights in the same event.

The first challenge was identifying the flight into which an entry would be seeded during the registration import process.  There wasn't a place for this information so we had to add a field for "Flight", which had to appear on the manual seeding screen, and included it in the registration import from the  British Rowing Online Entry system.

Next, we had to create a progression system that created 3 heats (called 'Flights') and a final, no matter how many entries there were in a given event.

After importing and doing the initial draw (which created 3 flights and a final for each event, but randomly distributed the entries across the flights), the entries had to be manually moved around between the flights according to their designated flight from the registration system.  This is a straightforward process in the manual seeding screen, but had to be done for each event.

Once the draw was done, the finals were marked 'non-publish', so during racing only the flights results would appear on the Reporting Service.  Then after all racing was done, all the boats from the flights were advanced, with their times, into the finals, where the combined placing was calculated. 

Once all the results from the flights were combined into the finals, the flights were marked non-publish and the finals were unmarked, then the whole regatta republished.  The net effect was the appearance of a time trial with finals only in all events.
Comments (0)

Login to post a comment.

 
Post

The river is not just for rowing ...

9 Jan 2014
By: Steve Jensen

fishOK, I am new to blogging, and this is my first entry.  So one would think it would be about rowing, or Regatta Master but ...

...it is the new year, and the spring Chinook season will soon be here. 

After years of dodging fishing boats, cursing their wakes, getting tangled in fishing lines, running afoul of their anchor cables, and hearing the inevitable "Stroke, Stroke!" from the people in the boat, I have to confess that I have not been really happy to see them when I'm rowing.

Then one day I was invited to go fishing by my friend and long-time fellow rower Skip Klarquist.  The first time was in 2011, on the Willamette river near the falls, and I landed a 14-lb fish, one of two on the day for our boat. 

I was hooked.

The next year, we were on the Trask River with Skip's son (and Regatta Master web programmer) Peter, just outside of Tillamook, and this obliging fellow grabbed my bait and jumped into the boat.

Not.

He grabbed the bait, yes, but then it was an amazingly energetic fight to land him.  Small wonder, as he weighed about 25-lbs.  Even shared 3 ways he provided several delicious meals for our 3 households.

I'm a lot more philosophical about sharing the river with fishermen now...
Comments (0)

Login to post a comment.

 
Post

Archives