A quick look at Appendix A scoring.
1. Project PhilosophySailScores is a web-based sailing scoring program designed to make every step of score entry and publication faster and easier than traditional methods. It’s ideal for club races with multiple series or overlapping events — for example, a single race might count toward both a Low Wind Series, a Club Championship, and the August Series without duplicate entry.
Originally built for Lake Harriet Yacht Club, SailScores supports multiple clubs worldwide.
Yes. SailScores is donated to the sailing community, and all features are currently free. Some resource-intensive optional features, such as document storage and speech recognition, may be part of a future “Supporter” subscription.
We're working on adding to SailScores to cover more scenarios, but there are some things it isn't good at today:
Any device with a modern web browser — phone, tablet, laptop, or desktop. Core functions are optimized for small screens.
Yes. SailScores is web-based; results are saved directly to the server, which calculates series scores and publishes them. We'll build an application with offline capabilities, but not in the near future.
Reach out if you need another method supported.
SailScores uses a web browser and is phone friendly for scorers, while many classic scoring programs run on a PC and don't publish scores easily. Other popular web-based scoring programs are usually focused on events and charge a fee per boat or per event.
SailScores is particularly popular with clubs that have long running series with many races. The ease of score entry has also made it popular with groups running many races on a single day, such as radio control sailing clubs.
Some clubs choose to use SailScores for club races but set up major regattas in a paid service with competitor registration features.
SailScores was built for Lake Harriet Yacht Club which uses many of its features, such as support for many races in a single series, weather notes, regattas, and notes on the club page. About half of the other clubs actively using the site have chosen to be listed on the front page.
The steps for initial set up are:
Yes. Multiple scorekeepers with separate accounts can share responsibility for managing the scores for a single club.
Not at all. Accounts are for the scorekeepers that need to edit information on the site. Competitor information is public for all to see. They won't get any benefit from setting up an account.
Needs Work: lots of work.
While SailScores is oriented towards club series spanning several weeks or months, it also supports regattas: multi-day events which their own competitor lists, scoring rules, and their own competitor list. To set up a new regatta with multiple fleets, follow these steps as a logged in scorekeeper:
Yes. Go ahead and create a club following the steps above. Reach out if you would like the club reset back to the starting point.
No. SailScores runs in your browser on Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, and more.
Yes. SailScores includes settings for codes defined in the Racing Rules of Sailing, such as DNS, DNF, DSQ, or OCS. If your club uses custom codes, such as for volunteer duty, those are easily added to your club's scoring system(s).
TODO: Improve guidance and link to quick entry workflow.
Enter finish order promptly after each race. Because SailScores calculates and publishes automatically, results are visible to competitors within seconds.
Regattas can have multiple Fleets, a subset of the club's boats. Adding existing or new competitors to a fleet is a quick activity for scorekeepers.
Yes. Fleets can be scored separately or combined for overall standings.
Currently, SailScores supports one-design fleets with ranked finish order. Handicap scoring is not yet available.
TODO: Add screenshots and clarify keyboard shortcuts.
Use the built-in score code list or add custom codes to your scoring systems. Codes will be available as you add results to a race.
Mark a race in a series as provisional to display the series scores with a note indicating that they are provisional. When resolved, update that race status to “Raced”. SailScores automatically recalculates series results when a race is saved.
Ties for most scoring methods follow World Sailing RRS Appendix A rules. Some base scoring systems, such as PWA standard, have different tie-breaking rules.
A regatta is a single event, often over one or a few days. A regatta has a dedicated scoring page that can display notices. A series is focused on the scores for a collection of races over a season or period. A regatta can include multiple fleets, but a series scores all included boats against each other.
When setting up or entering results for a regatta, make sure to use the New Race and New Fleet buttons from the regatta scoring page. This will keep them linked to the regatta.
Yes. A race can belong to multiple series without duplicate entry. When entering the race, select all the series which include it.
Each scoring system has discard rules, describing the number of discards after x races are sailed. A club can have many different scoring systems set up. Typically, clubs will have a regatta scoring system and a club sailing scoring system with different discard rules and different custom score codes.
Yes. You can link directly to results pages or embed them via iframe. Public SailScores URLs are stable and can be used to link directly to the scores you want to share.
Yes. Export to CSV for spreadsheets or HTML for formatted pages to post.
Yes. Export HTML results and print those for the cleanest prints with minimal headers and extra text.
TODO: Add common error messages and offline guidance.
Check your internet connection. If the problem persists, contact support with event details.
TODO: Document automated exports and retention policy.
Yes. Export results regularly to CSV or PDF.
TODO: Clarify data retention and account closure process.
Your club’s data remains accessible for download before closing the account.
Use the feedback form or email the development team.
Yes. SailScores welcomes code contributions, translations, and documentation help.
In the next several months we are adding documents to cover specific tasks in SailScores. But the program was designed for ease-of-use. Most activities should be
Email support and documentation are available; live chat may be offered for Supporter accounts.
Reach out with details, including series name and a link to the relevant page.
Still need help? Reach out with details, including series name and a link to the relevant page.