Everything you need to know about

Penalty Scores

but didn't know who to ask

The RC Help Articles are especially written for people new to the Race Committee. This article deals with Penalty Scores.

There are seven instances where you must assign penalties in windsurfing competition:

DNC Did Not Compete

OCS On Course Side

DNS Did Not Start

DNF Did Not Finish

RET Retired

DSQ DisQualified

DND Do Not Discard

You may also see these values used in the Penalty field:

RDG Redress Given
YMP Yacht Materially Prejudiced
AVG Average

You have two basic options when it comes to assigning values to Penalty Scores: NRACERS + 1 for Course Racing, Course/Slalom and Long Distance and LAST (POSSIBLE FINISHING PLACE IN HEAT) for Slalom Racing. Some Race Directors however, like to use NRACERS without the extra penalty point which is a tie-breaking value. So, you have some freedom here and all of the three options are fair. The important thing is you assign Penalty Score values consistently across the board for all Fleets, Classes and Divisions (except of course in the case of multi-heat starts when your competitors vie with each other by Heat within their Fleet/Class by Division. Then your Penalty Score values will VARY depending on the size of the Division).

There's one more note you may need to make next to a score but it's not really a Penalty designation and it's exempt from the requirement to keep all Penalty Score equal in value within the discipline: AVG = Average, assigned by a Protest Committee as a result of a Protest Hearing determination.

There's a good reason Penalty Scores should be equal in value within the discipline! It may sound logical to assign NRACERS + 1 for DNC or DNS and NRACERS + 2 for all other Penalty Scores; or NRACERS + 2 for PMS, NRACERS + 3 for DNF and NRACERS + 4 for DSQ. You may reason that the extra point for PMS (Pre-Mature Start) might discourage racers from being over early; that the extra two points for DNF might encourage racers to finish, and the extra three points for DSQ might discourage reckless sailing resulting in Right of Way violations. Well, as logical as it might sound, it's really not logical at all and the end result could be disastrous!

If you assign DNC and DNS the basic NRACERS + 1 value, and give all other Penalties a higher value, you're saying that racers who did not compete are better off than those who went to the trouble to compete and were over early, or for some reason sailed but couldn't finish, or who missed a buoy or violated another racers Right of Way! If you conduct an event in marginal wind and sea conditions, you'll want to make sure you don't coerce racers to compete if in fact they believe the conditions are beyond their ability or skill level. That doesn't make any sense at all. Finally, there's just no rational reason to "punish" racers with Penalty Score values any greater than last place or last place + 1. It doesn't make an event any more fair, fun or a better learning experience to do so!

Also, if your Event has only one heat or race and you're using Low Point/Reverse or High Point Scoring, then the penalty becomes variable in nature and unpredictable. Let's say, for example, you conduct a Long Distance race and you recognize racers by their Division within their Fleet and Class. Let's say there are 12 racers in one Division and 5 finish the race, 4 didn't compete and 3 were over early and didn't restart. Look at the finishing places: 0.7, 2, 3, 4, 5, 13 (NRACERS + 1), 13, 13, 13, 14 (NRACERS + 2), 14, 14. Now look at the ranking: 0.7, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 10, 10, 10, and the points: 12, 11, 10, 9, 8, 7, 7, 7, 7, 3, 3, 3. The extra one point penalty in finishing place multiplied itself to a four point difference in Points, enough to seriously affect a racer's regatta or season recap or overall Multi-Discipline ranking! Where's the equity in that?

If you have only two groups of Penalty Score values, it doesn't make any difference whether you add one extra point or four extra points to NRACERS + 1, the ranking and points are always the same! If in the example above, the PMS racers had all been DSQ'd, then the NRACERS + 4 would still result in the same ranking and points! The greater the number of DNC racers, the more draconian the point differential between Penalty Score values become.

Summarizing, why not keep it simple and easy. Make your Penalty Score values equal to NRACERS + 1 for Course Racing, Course/Slalom and Long Distance and LAST for Slalom Racing and make sure all your Penalty Scores are equal in value within the Discipline (except when using the Fleet/Class by Division Competition/Scoring Format combined with multi-heat starts).

Remember that an Event conducted properly is more fun for everyone! Best wishes for a successful racing season.

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