Bad Scoring Ideas-Geeks Strike Again

A certain Mr. Richard Shulman complained in Scuttlebutt that a computerized formula was used to determine a number which they called “Corrected Average Speed” for the overall scoring of the Onion Patch Series, which he said was unfairly biased to one class (obviously not his class which he probably won in a convincing manner), and he upset and angry with the race committee.

Apparently the race organizers took each boats’ corrected time, divided it into the length of the course sailed, called it the Corrected Average Speed, and awarded an overall trophy to the boat with the highest number derived by this method, This was done to compensate for the fact that different classes sailed different length courses and corrected times thus couldn’t be compared to determine an overall winner. But the course sailed by some classes, due to a wind shift, consisted primarily of reaching legs, and it doesn’t take too much imagination to see that their corrected average speeds would be higher than boats which sailed typical upwind/downwind courses.

I’m not surprise that Mr Shulman was offended; rightly so I’d say.

Gees, I can't believe this sort of idea is still alive, haven't we learned anything? Isn't this is one of the main reasons for the demise of IMS in the US: complicated and obscure scoring?

This kind of scoring system is usually proposed and facilitated by a computer literate member of the yacht club; a guy who likes sailing, but loves to play with the numbers even more, and has a flair for computing. These ideas make perfect sense to these guys, and they can give convincing arguments in favor of them. Don’t fall for it! I say (and I'm one of them) put the computer jocks back in the closet and make it simple for the racers. Do that and people will like it. Make it fancy (complex) and people will never accept it.

The organizers meant well, I am sure, but even if the flaws could have been avoided with an even more complex formula, the racers weren’t going to like it. They want simple scoring systems, and any scoring system which the competitors can't figure themselves on the race course is doomed to be unpopular. Any result that smacks of unfairness will be scorned. Competitors who did well in on the race course and then see the trophy go elsewhere are naturally going to be suspicious of the scoring method. It better be simple and fair or they are going to feel ripped off, and they won’t be convinced by a long Excel Spreadsheet formula. Hard feelings that result from this kind of screw up, and that is what it is, don’t go away soon. Those competitors will grumble about it for years and often they will swear off that regatta for good.

Let’s learn this lesson once and for all and stop going down that road.

Fred Roswold, SV Wings, Singapore