Grahame Shannon's Blog

Yacht Races without a Committee Boat!Play Video

Does your yacht club struggle to get qualified volunteers to supply a committee boat and act as race officers? The job can be complex and sometimes thankless. At the Tiddly Cove Yacht Club, Most of our members are racers themselves. They want to participate not manage.

When setting out the design of the app, we broke it into several parts.

Creating and Managing MarksDefining a race. User/Boat DataCounting down the start, including multiple starts for different divisionsRecording start and finish timesTracking over early (On Course Side) starts and applying a penalty.Calculating elapsed timesCalculating corrected time by the PHRF ruleCreating and Managing marks

Befor you can define a race you need marks. The app allows you to use the locations of physical objects such as buoys, piers or natural features. Each mark has a name and a Lat/Long position. Start and Finish lines each require two marks, left (port) and right (Starboard). Course marks are single points. The Mark Manger page allows adding, deleting and editing marks. New marks can be created from your phones current loaction, from a position on a map, or by typing the coordinates. Marks belonging to a club are stored online, and can only be edited by a club administrator. Private users can store marks on their phones.

Defining a Club Race

The following information is required to fully define a race:

Race NameDescriptionWeb link (optional)A starting line, consisting of two marksA finish line, which can be the same as the startlineIntermediate marks (optional)A date and time for the first warning. This is in the time zone where the start line is located.Number of starts (the app allows up to 10)Divisions within each start (up to 10)Over Early Penalty Multiplier. The penalty is (seconds early)x(multiplier)Time between starts, minimum being five minutesBoat Data

Boats and users are in the same record. The data needed is:

User emailPasswordSkipperBoat NameSail NumberBoat Model/ClassLOAPHRF ratingYacht Club MembershipBoat Cell Number

Tracking participating boat locations

The app uses the GNSS location data that all modern smartphones make available, at a special navigational accuracy. Testing has shown accuracy in the 3 meter range out on the water. It is recommended that the phone be muunted on a bracket at the wheel pedestal or the aft end of the cockpit. The app records the time when the start line and finish lines are crossed. This data is recorded online to the clubs database. There is no limit to the number of boats in a race. Each boat must join the race with the app, at least two minutes before the first warning. This is the equivalent of the VHF checkin we are used to.

Starting Countdown

When a Boat joins a timed raced, the countdown starts immediately. An admin can also start the count on his own phone, where he has additional functions such as Postpone 10 minutes (can be used multiple times) and Abandon Race. An admin can also see the positions of all the boats in the race on his own screen. The count down is as follows:

Timer starts showing time to first starting HH:MM:ss format.The rounding direction flag showsAt five minutes your Division flag shows and a hon soundsAt four minutes the Warning flag shows and a beep soundsAt one minute the warming flag disapears and a beep soundsAt ten seconds a verbal countdown startsAt the start a horn soundsIndividual start times are recorded when each boat crosses the start lineOver Early

If a boat is over early an error sound will play. A penalty will be applied to the elapsed time according to the race settings. Ther is no need for arecall.

Elapsed Time

Crossing the finish line, a TADA sound plays. When a boat crosses the finish line, which is only checked for if it has already crossed the start, the time is recorded, based on the official start time. If the actual start is before the official time the over early penalty is applied.

Corrected Time

This is calculated based on the Boat’s recorded PHRF rating. If another rating system is used the race admin can export the results to a scoring program.

The Results

Each user can only see his own results. Club Admins can get the full race results for posting to a web site.

Compliance

As in any rules based system there is some room for abuse. Since the app records the position of the phone, there is a small window for cheating by moving the phone aft at the start and forward at the finish line. On a forty-foot boat travelling at 5 knots that is about four seconds. If the phone is kept in place the repeatability is withing one second.

What this means to a Yacht Club

Races, even large ones can be run with minimal staff. In fact, the committee boat could place the marks, update their GPS positions with the phone, then sail in the race. Since all signals and “flags” are handeled by the app, most of the admin work is done before and after the race.

An example: The Bowen Island Race

The annual Bowen Island race has as many as 120 boats all in a single start, although there are many divisions. The start line is very long, and accurately accounting for boats over early is nearly impossible. Then boats trickle to the finish beginning three hours later. The committee has to wait for each boat and record the time. When several boats arrive at the finish along side each other, some guesswork is involved in arriving at finish times. I know this from experience. Active Race can record multiple boats even in a dead heat. Uf i ran this race with Active Race I would run the start line between identifiable points on the island and the opposing mainland shore, completely obviating the need for race marks.

Costs

Since the Active Race app requires only hardware virtually everybody has, the cost of operation is minimal. Our intention is to charge an annual subscription, which includes support, to each club based on the size of its active membership, and each user a very small annual fee. We are open to discussion on this point.

Get it here!

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start writing!

Bay of Devils by Grahame Shannon

Rating: 5/5; Highly recommended

Grahame Shannon’s Bay of Devils presents an action-packed mystery/thriller that invites readers on a journey up the Inside Passage, a boating route from Vancouver B.C. to Juneau, Alaska, in search of long-lost treasure. Who wouldn’t want to tag along with the protagonist, Sean Gray, archeologist, PI, sailor, jack-of-all-trades, and all-around good guy on a high-seas adventure? 

Sean lives on the Tangled Moon, “a 41-foot Olin Stephen sloop,” and we realize we are in the capable hands of a seasoned mariner in both Sean Gray and Grahame Shannon. The hawsers, sterns, stern cleats, and mooring lines create a lingo not only boating enthusiasts will recognize but will be apparent to even a landlubber. Shannon expertly weaves yachting into the setting and adventure. 

Darya Hubert, the lawyer to Elizabeth Hadley, sets this story in motion. When her lawyer doesn’t sufficiently impress Sean, Ms. Hadley, Lizzie, the attractive elderly widow, calls on him. She explains her story and shares a fifty-year-old letter that has recently come into her possession. It refers to a box that could hold Alaska riches from the Yukon gold rush. She asks Sean to lead an expedition aboard her yacht, Lady L, to retrieve the package.  

Sean may be reluctant at first, but the story’s intrigue captures his imagination, and he soon finds himself logging hours of research before he even accepts the job. We follow Sean as he works the waterfront bars to troll for information and becomes a target in the process, and that’s only the first couple of chapters. 

Sean accepts the case and finds himself with a unique and quirky cast of characters to help crew the yacht. Sean must also contend with a rooky yacht captain, a crusty old engineer/mechanic/deckhand, a muscular deckhand/bodyguard, and a parrot who spews profanity at the sight of Sean. And last but not least, Cindy, his love interest, who joins the crew as sous chef so he can keep her safe, a plan with good intentions. Except no one is who they appear to be, and just as high winds and rough waters make it difficult to stand on any seafaring vessel, Grahame Shannon keeps us off balance as the story takes its delicious twists and tantalizing turns. 

We cruise from Vancouver up Inside Passage to the bays of Farragut, and Thomas, also referred to as Bay of Devils, in Alaska. Shannon blurs the boundaries of mystery/thriller and historical with elements of non-fiction to build a world typical of the late 1960s, but with the added flair of the nautical. 

There is nothing typical about this world filled with moneyed widows, and playboy businessmen turned thug. Sean Gray must navigate the tumultuous waters of all these worlds as well as the immigrant experience of his love-interest Miss Cynthia Lu, a tough broad extraordinaire of Chinese descent and Sean’s match, for sure.

Shannon’s ability to keep his tricks up his sleeve will delight readers as the plot slowly unfolds. It is a classic whodunit that will thrill and amaze readers and fans of the mystery thriller. Our Sean Gray may not be James Bond, but Shannon creates a flawed protagonist who is sympathetic and easy to fall in love with or admire, take your pick.

Bay of Devils is a page-turner from beginning to end and does not disappoint, ever. The action never stops and will likely keep readers glued to the page well into the night.   

*****

“Shannon weaves a tail of deceit and intrigue on a yacht from Vancouver, BC to Alaska, where no one is who they seem to be and danger is always present. Another seafaring adventure extraordinaire from the master storyteller and nautical adventurer himself – and one you won’t be able to put down! Highly recommended.” – Chanticleer Reviews

The post Review from Chanticleer appeared first on Grahame Shannon.

https://www.scribbles.online/blog/author-interview-and-review-grahame-shannon-bay-of-devils

The post Scribbles Author Interview appeared first on Grahame Shannon.

BAY OF DEVILS by GRAHAME SHANNON – 5 Stars

With a great story and an excellent plot, Bay of Devils by Grahame Shannon is a rip-roaring nautical venture you won’t want to miss!  Epic adventure wrapped around a treasure hunt and a missing letter.

With a tantalizing forward, where Grahame Shannon announces that some aspects of the story are in fact true, we are left to determine which parts are fact and which are fiction.  Already, an air of mystery and excitement is created!  From the outset I was hooked.  Shannon’s first-rate way of telling a story grabbed my interest.  With a humorous touch throughout this was simply a great read.  There were many laugh-out-loud moments but my belly-laugh came with the vows of an impromptu wedding at sea.  I won’t spoil it for you by telling it here, but the vows are simply a stroke of genius that had my shoulders shaking for several minutes.  I appreciated all the photos that added a certain authenticity to the story. 

We are introduced to Sean Gray in 1968, aboard his yacht ‘Tangled Moon’ in Coal Harbor.  He is instantly likeable to the reader, but also to all the females he smiles upon!  A rascal maybe?  Well a goodhearted one anyway.  By not affording to take down the old sign from the premises he rents, which states ‘Anson Investigators’, he is somehow hired to find a missing chest that is mentioned in a letter that took fifty years to be delivered, to a woman called Elizabeth Hadley.  Up for an adventure, and definitely for some pay, Sean accepts the job.  The crew that go with him are all great characters, but stealing the lime-light for sure is Ajax the cocky parrot!  When petty thief Fingers Finnegan turns up dead on Sean’s boat the seriousness of the situation hits home.  The forth-coming enterprise would be a far cry from a walk-in-the-park… but then again, there would be romance, adventure and lots of good food!

Grahame Shannon tongue-in-cheek manner of storytelling delivers us a first-rate maritime escapade, one that I couldn’t stop reading until I reached the last page.  With excellent pace, remarkable descriptive narration and really great characters Bay of Devils by Grahame Shannon comes highly recommended by Artisan Book Reviews.

The post Artisan 5 Star Review appeared first on Grahame Shannon.

The post Bay of Devils Video 1 appeared first on Grahame Shannon.

https://www.audible.com/pd/Tiger-and-the-Robot-Audiobook/B08J5DDTCT?asin=B08J5DDTCT

The post Audible and Apple have it! appeared first on Grahame Shannon.

Tiger and the Robot on Reedsy Discovery

The post Vote for the Tiger–Please! appeared first on Grahame Shannon.

Available for pre-order now – exciting new #HistoricalFiction Bay of Devils by Grahame Shannon @touchsquid A mystery letter from a doomed ship sparks an expedition to Alaska. #Thriller #readingcommunity #HistoricalRomance #newrelease #newbook #ComingSoon https://t.co/otFRanr0bu pic.twitter.com/ihUoP7IoaI

— Scribbles