Weymouth Speed Week Gotchas
2018 saw quite a few technical issues, many of which have been remedied through enhancements and fixes to the SSERPANT software and within this project.
A few of the issues cannot be remedied through software alone so this document has been created for mitigation purposes.
Registration
During registration there are several possible reasons that GT-31’s are not being read by the laptop.
Problem 1:
- The first problem is simply that the software is using the wrong COM port.
- Use the “settings” menu to refresh the list of COM ports and select the correct one - e.g. COM4.
Problem 2 - 2018:
- USB connector only seems to charge the GPS and does not respond to the PC when in Navilink mode.
- Update the device information in the Sserpant DB (using a SQL update) and / or the entrants JSON.
Problem 3 - 2021:
- The Polific driver may get upgraded by a Windows update and become “too new” to work properly!
- The fix is to remove the device via Device Manager then repair, un-install and re-install the Prolific driver.
GT-31s
Scenario 1 - What to do if an entrant’s GT-31 needs to be replaced mid-competition:
- Option 1: Register a second GT-31 via “event registration” on the SSERPANT laptop.
- n.b. This will assign a new tally number and should register an additional GT-31 ID against the entrant.
- Option 2: Manually configure a new GT-31 to have the same ID as the original; e.g. GEORG8MICHA.
- n.b. This allows the tally number to be retained by the entrant and may reduce the risk of any confusion.
Scenario 2 - What to do when a competitor uses the wrong GT-31 during a session.
- Option 1: Temporarily change the ID of the GT-31, “save to card” and try to re-read the card using the “end of day” process.
- n.b. This can only be done if “end of day” process is still underway.
- Option 2: Temporarily change the ID of the GT-31, “save to card” and manually copy the file onto the GPSResults laptop.
- n.b. This can only be done if the GPSResults analysis has not been completed.
- Option 3: If the course runs have already been processed by GPSResults then it might be pragmatic to modify the output CSV.
- n.b. This may be the only practical option available if the GPSResults analysis has been completed.
IMPORTANT:
- Using the wrong GT-31 could lead to spurious results and rankings. How this is handled will therefore require careful consideration!
- Will need to check if the original SBN/SBP files were copied to the SSERPANT laptop (during “end of day”) and GPSResults laptop.
- Will have to delete the original SBN/SBP files that were copied to the SSERPANT laptop (during “end of day”) and GPSResults laptop.
- Modification of the GPSResults output may be pragmatic but the original SBN/SBP files should still be removed from other laptops.
GPSResults
Checklist for course timings:
- Specify time zone as +1 hour in GPSResults, prior to entering the course time limits.
- Add 1 minute to the “stop time” because the time filter uses the end times, not the start times.
Checklist for shore courses:
- Ensure the correct “track length” option is used; must be “500m start line” and not the default “500m”.
- Ensure the shore course is wide enough for any runs far from the beach to be counted.
Checklist for harbour courses:
- If the start buoys drifted during the session then a good workaround is to use a “500m start line” course.
Reports
The Excel macros will be completely replaced in 2022 so most of the legacy issues will disappear.
However, still keep an eye out for the following during the week:
- Session times should be specified within the new daily reporting as well as within GPSResults; belt and braces!
- If any runs output by GPSResults are rejected by the reporting then the time limits need to be double-checked.
- Queries about missing runs should (hopefully) not be a common occurrence if the GPSResults checklist is followed.
- e.g. Harbour courses should set as a “500m start line”, should the buoys have drifted slightly during the session.
- Queries about surprisingly “slow runs” should not be a common occurrence if the GPSResults checklist is followed.
- e.g. Thursday of 2021 initially used the default “track length” option of “500m” instead of the “500m start line”.
- People may accidentally sign up for the wrong fleet. For example:
- People who were previously on the podium of the amateur fleet or the winner of the gold fleet.
- Sponsored riders should not be in the amateur fleet.
- Experienced amateurs should not be be down as a “first timer”.
- Riders will be excluded from the daily UKWA results if they didn’t tick the “UKWA member” box during registration.
- The UKWA flag can be manually updated on their entry details, followed by a simple re-run of the reports.