Current Rankings
Edited 03/09/2012: SLSA Rankings are now Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings
In 2010, the possible structure of a new Sailing Rankings System modeled after the ISAF World Sailing Rankings was discussed on the sailing community forum, and after some additional research and adjusting, the SLSA Sailing Rankings are ready to launch!
The initial idea for the Sailing Rankings came from answers to a community survey I ran at the end of last year. According to the survey, many of you felt that the large Cup events divide the calendar into somewhat arbitrary periods of frenzied activity, followed by weeks, if not months, of “racing fatigue” and exhaustion. At the same time, many of you requested a more permanent, stable sequence of challenges, and also greater flexibility in the choice of boats in competitive events.
Enter the Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings: a long-term performance rating of skippers that goes hand in hand with larger events such as the Cups. The Cup events are essential; they produce a different kind of competitiveness over a (supposedly) short period of time. The Sailing Rankings on the other hand provide an ongoing competition that tracks the skills of individual sailboat racers over the long term.
The Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings seek to address the following requests, in no particular order:
• to create a permanent challenge or series of challenges for sailors
• to reduce the amount of administrative overhead needed for such challenges
• to reduce the somewhat random aspect of large Cup events
• to promote the sport of sailing in Second Life
• to increase attendance at regular race events
• to increase the number of regular races being held
• to increase awareness of all aspects of the Racing Rules of Sailing, from the responsibilities of competitors to the responsibilities of race organizers, umpires, judges, and volunteers
Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings Introduction
The Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings rate skippers based on their performance over the last twelve months. Skippers score Ranking Points by competing in events that have been selected for inclusion in the Rankings system (graded events). The top finishers at graded events score Rankings points, with the highest points awarded to the event winner and then decreasing down relative to position.
The points scored at graded events count towards a skipper’s Ranking Points Total which decides his or her overall ranking position. The competitor with the highest Rankings Points Total from a maximum of 12 graded events over the last 12 months is listed first in the Rankings and so on. The 12-month period is calculated on a rolling basis (from today’s date to the same date one year ago).
The Sailing Rankings will be published regularly using both web pages and in-world displays, with top-ranked sailors for the most popular boat classes in use by the community.
…and that’s all there is to it 
Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings – Principles
Note: The Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings are modeled after the ISAF World Sailing Rankings as published by ISAF on their website. The SLSA Rankings will evolve over time, and the principles and criteria laid out in these pages are subject to change. That said, the following principles apply
General Principles of the Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings System
- 1. Regular sailboat races may be selected for inclusion in the
Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings
- . RDs applying for grading status of their regular boat race should send a brief description of the race or regatta in order for it to be considered. A form will be made available for that purpose.
2. Sailboat races that participate in the Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings are called graded events. These races should be designated as such in the Aggregated Calendar and in-world notices. In addition to this, a separate calendar containing graded events only has been set up for convenience.
3. It is the responsibility of the race director (RD) to ensure that the graded event complies with the grading criteria.
4. The grading criteria describe the minimal data set required for an event to be included into the Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings. It is the responsibility of the RD to determine whether the results from any graded event meet the rankings criteria or not. If the RD determines that a given event does not meet the grading criteria (for example due to lack of competitors, or too many boats did not finish, no race held, race abandoned due to grid problems etc.), then the event should not be submitted for inclusion into the Rankings. Only races that meet the grading criteria should be submitted for inclusion.
5. If the RD wants to submit the race results of a graded event for inclusion in the Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings, he/she should append the suffix “(graded)” to the name of the forum post containing the race results of that event.
6. All results should include the date, time, location and name of the graded event; the number of races held; and a readout of the race results for each race held. Crew members are not taken in account (Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings are skipper rankings). See the grading criteria for more.
7. Where several boat classes sail together, competitors will be ranked by extracting their finishing positions from the results and ranking them ordered by class, i.e. Class A 1,2,3 … , Class B 1,2,3 … etc.
8. Where several class fleets sail together, the grading criteria shall be applied to each class separately. For example, if there are fewer competitors than required by the grading criteria for one particular class, only that class would be removed from the Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings.
9. The results from a graded event will not be entered into the Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings System if the event has less than three competitors.
10. The Rankings Officer is tasked with collecting the graded results from the Results forum prior to the calculation of the most recent Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings. The Rankings Officer shall only consider events marked with “(graded)” by the RD for inclusion into the Sailing Rankings. It is the Rankings Officer’s responsibility to check that all marked events meet the grading criteria before inclusion into the Sailing Rankings. If the race results are not published in a format compliant with the grading criteria, the event may not be entered into the Sailing Rankings.
11. Larger events such as Cups shall not be graded automatically. If a Cup is to be graded in the Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings, it should be announced at least 2 months before the event. Only events that are “open to all” may be included in the Sailing Rankings.
12. The Current Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings (as published) should include a list of all graded events that were submitted for grading in the period since the publishing date of the last Sailing Rankings. The Rankings should indicate
a) Which races were submitted for inclusion
b) Which races were included in the rankings
c) If a race was submitted but not included by the Rankings Officer, a reason should be given.
- Happy Sailing and Fair Winds !
Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings – Calculation
Note: The Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings are modeled after the ISAF World Sailing Rankings as published by ISAF on their website. For a number of reasons, the calculation of the SLSA Rankings cannot apply the exact same calculation method, due to RL/SL differences in the frequency and amount of race events; the size of the racing fleets; and the lack of gender separation in SL, among other things (but it’s pretty much the same thing). In addition to the ISAF Rankings, the calculation method is modeled after several RL National Championships calculation methods and based on the results from additional research. Some variables may be adjusted over time, but the main principles are very likely to remain unchanged.
The race results from participating sailboat races (graded events) shall be published by the race organizer (the RD). (See Principles and Grading Criteria for more). The Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings will apply a standard scoring method to all submitted events. The RD may also choose their own scoring method. Once the race results have been submitted by the RD and provided they comply with the grading criteria, they will be entered into the Rankings database. The Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings for each class shall be published regularly.
The Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings rate skippers based on their performance (using Ranking Points) over the last twelve months. Skippers score ranking points by competing in graded events. The top finishers at graded events score rankings points, with the highest points awarded to the event winner and then decreasing down relative to position.
The points scored at graded events count towards a skipper’s Ranking Points Total which decides his or her ranking position. The competitor with the highest Rankings Points Total from a maximum of 12 graded events over the last 12 months is listed first in the Rankings and so on. The 12-month period is calculated on a rolling basis (from today’s date to the same date one year ago).
The Ranking Points are calculated using the following method:
P = R x F x Q x HYWF
where
P = Ranking Points
R = Regatta Points
F = Event Grading Multiplier
Q = Quality Factor
QW = Quarterly Weighting Factor
The Regatta Points (R): the winning competitor in each regatta scores 100 points, the second scores less points and so on. Each competitor’s regatta points are multiplied by Q, QW and F to give the ranking points P. Note: a competitor who did not finish any of the heats in a graded event with a finishing rank won’t gain any Regatta points. If less than 3 competitors are eligible to gain Regatta points in a graded event, the event will be discarded from the Rankings calculation.
The Regatta Points are determined as follows:
R = 100 * (n-rank+1)/n
where n = amount of competitors attending the regatta.
The Event Grading Multiplier (F) will be set to 1 for the time being. The multiplier can be used to differentiate between different types of graded events, such as regular weekly races and major Cups.
Quarterly Weightings (QW) add a bonus percentage weighting to Rankings Points from more recent graded events compared to Rankings Points from 6-12 months ago. The Quarterly Weightings are determined as follows:
Results in the last 3 months (rounded to 90 days): QW = 1.5
Results in the last 3 to 6 months (rounded to 91-180 days): QW= 1.0
Results in the last 6 to 12 months (rounded to 181-360 days): QW= 0.5
Results more than 12 months old (rounded to 361 days): QW= 0 (discarded)
The Quality Factor (Q) is calculated according to the number of top ranked competitors attending the regatta. It can only be calculated when the results have been received. Q is determined by the formula
Q = 1 + n/20
where n is the number of competitors who feature in the top 10 of the last published ranking list prior to the event. The limits of Q are set between 1.0 and 1.5. The Quality Factor applies only when at least 5 competitors have raced 12 graded events (last published ranking list prior to the event).
The Rankings Total
The 12 highest values of the Rankings Points (P) of any competitor over the last 12 months are added to determine the competitor’s current Ranking Score Total.
Some further comments and explanations:
- The 12 highest values of P over the last twelve months count towards the total: this allow skippers to enter relatively few competitions and still remain competitive. Of course, better participation offers better chances to achieve high totals but skippers don’t have to be present at every graded event. A skipper may be among the top-ranked sailors by achieving regular good results once a month… no stress.
- Regatta points (R): The winner gets always 100 points. However the 2nd, 3rd skippers etc. achieve regatta points according to their rank compared to the amount of skippers in the regatta. That is to say, you earn more points by finishing 4th in a 10-boat fleet regatta (70 points) than by finishing 2nd in a 3-boat fleet regatta (66.5 points). This may also help increase overall participation in regular races.
- The Quality Factor (Q): each event is ascribed a Quality factor, ‘Q‘. This is calculated according to the number of top competitors attending the regatta. It can only be calculated when the results have been received. Q is determined by the formula Q = 1 + n/20, where n is the number of competitors who feature in the top 10 of the most recent ranking list prior to the event. (This is intended to foster competitiveness between top-ranked sailors but also to motivate beginners to race with more experienced sailors (a good way to learn and improve your skills). A competitor will earn more ranking points by finishing 2nd in a fleet where 3 top sailors are attending the regatta (Q = 1.15) than by finishing 2nd in a fleet where no top sailors are present (Q = 1).
- Quarterly Weighting Factor (QW): Each competitor counts his or her best 12 results over the previous twelve months (in the same boat class). The one year period is calculated on a rolling basis (from today’s date to the same date one year ago). Results less than 3 months old are multiplied by factor 1.5; results that are more than 12 months old are discarded (QW = 0). The favored ranking of more recent results rewards the learning curve of new participants and helps to keep the rankings up-to-date by removing competitors that are currently not active.
Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings – Grading Criteria
Criteria for graded events
Note: The grading criteria are quite simple; they essentially reflect what the sailing community has always done to publish their regular race results. In fact, nothing is new here safe for an articulation of the minimal set of data points that is required so that race results can be fairly included in the overall Sailing Rankings.
Grading Criteria
In order for an event to be included in the Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings, the following criteria should be met:
• The graded event should be designated in the SL Sailing Calendar and in in-world notices.
• The race results should be published on the Race Results forum within one week after the event.
• The results should always contain the following information:
• The date, time, location and name of the event
• The boat class(es) of the event
• The number of races or heats held
• The race results for each race or heat
• An event with less than 3 competitors per class and heat will be discarded.
• If the grading criteria aren’t met, the corresponding event may not be included in the Sailing Rankings.
Recommendations
The following data may be added to the race results but isn’t required for the purposes of being included in the Sailing Rankings:
• Race/Weather conditions (wwc settings).
• Course charts used in the event.
• The scoring method, if used.
The following recommendations apply to the conduct of graded events:
• Graded events should be sailed according to the ISAF Racing Rules of Sailing (RRS) or as required by a Notice of Race (NOR) and Sailing Instructions (SI).
• Results should be posted to the Race Results forum within 24 hours of the last race if possible.
How to add graded events to the Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings
Graded events could be selected in collaboration between race organizers and the Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings workgroup (to date: Bea Woodget). All community members, race organizers and YCs are invited to contribute and suggest regular boat races to be included in the Fleet Racing – Sailors Rankings. The selected events should provide a fair distribution of graded events per boat class and time slot.
The selection of graded events should be a revisited in regular intervals; nothing is set in stone – as the sailing comunity’s racing programs are bound to change over time. The basic idea is to select some of the already existing events in SL Calendar, and to adjust as needed.
