The raceScore app simplifies calculations used to compute either High-Point or Cox-Sprague average scores.  Using average scores allows boats that don’t compete in every race to be evenly scored.

To get started, open a blank Google Spreadsheet, get the raceScore Add-On (from the Google Marketplace), enter raw finishes from each race, set Sharing options*, and press the raceScore button.  In about 10 seconds a new “Results” sheet will be added (or updated if the Results sheet already exists) to your spreadsheet. 

*Sharing - In order for the raceScore service to be able to update your Google Sheet, Share the Sheet with "racescore@appspot.gserviceaccount.com" as an Editor

raceScore is fully compliant with the High Point Average Scoring System as described here: https://www.ussailing.org/competition/rules-officiating/racing-rules/scoring-a-long-series

Entering Finishes

Starting with an empty spreadsheet, enter the date of the race in Column A and race number in column B.  Then enter each boat’s identifying number, in finishing order, starting in Column C.  In the example below, in the 1st race on June 4th,  boat (or sail) number 626 won, followed by 724 and 602… 566 finished in 6th.  

Jun-4	1	626	724	602	547	789	566

In the 2nd race of the day, 602 didn’t finish so is scored DNF.  

Jun-4	2	626	547	566	724	789	602-DNF

Scoring adjustments of DNF, OCS, and DSQ, unless thrown out, result in zero being averaged into the overall score.  Other scoring adjustments (e.g. DNS) are ignored for scoring purposes - boats that don't race aren't penalized.

See the "2 Day Series" Google Sheet for an example of raw finishes (in Sheet1) and the raceScore Results (in the Results sheet) generated from those finishes.  

Notes: 
When the date column is left blank the previously entered date is carried over.  And, for any given date, if the race number column is left blank it is sequentially increased from the last race number entered.   So, for example, the implied last line in the example is: 
Jun-11	2	644	602	789	547	626

Lines that don’t match this specific formatting (a date in Column A followed by numbers in the remaining columns) are simply passed over, so don’t hesitate to insert blank lines or add comments to document the content or to improve the spreadsheet’s appearance. 

If the Results contain repeating lines or otherwise doesn’t appear as expected, rerun raceScore and wait 10 seconds after the script finishes before opening the Results sheet.  There’s a clean up script that runs after the Results are returned.  If the Results sheet is opened before the clean up finishes, erroneous results will appear and the Results need to be regenerated.  

Overriding Defaults 

Unless specified otherwise, default values are used for the scoring calculations and generating the Results sheet.   

For example, the title printed at the top of the Results sheet is, by default, the Spreadsheet name.  However, this name can be overridden using the "series" parameter.  

Other defaults programed into raceScore: 
* boats need to sail in 50% of the races to qualify - to override, use the "qualification" parameter.
* upon qualifying each boat’s lowest finish score will be discarded from their series average - to override use the "throwouts" parameter. 
* the High Point Average scoring method is used by default.  The other option tells raceScore to use scores from the Cox-Sprague table to calculate race results.

Defaults can be overridden by specifying any or all of these parameters on the raw finishes sheet (Sheet1) as follows:
* series: <series name>
* qualification %: <xx> 
* throwouts: <y>
* scoring method: Cox-Sprague
Where:
* <series name> is the text that will be displayed at the top of the results
* <xx> is a number set to the percentage of races a boat must sail to qualify for the series
* <y> is the number of throwouts that can be awarded: 
    * 0 - none, 
    * 1 - discard a boat's lowest score upon qualifying (default),
    * > 1 - the number of races needed to sail, after qualifying, to receive an additional throw out 

Finish positions can be adjusted.  Use common acronyms: DNF, DNS, OCS, DSQ, DNC.  Just follow the boat number by a "-" and the scoring adjustment.  Then re-run the script to generate new results reflecting the adjustment.

Other finish adjustments, e.g. -DNS or -DNC, are ignored in scoring.  Boats that weren’t in the starting area, for example, don’t count for qualifying and it is not used in determining the number of participants in a race.  

While any valid date can be entered, simply typing a month abbreviation (e.g. Jul, Aug, Sep, etc.) and day (e.g. Aug-4) will suffice (year defaults to the current year).