Hopford Associates Ltd

The calculation of yacht racing results can be a complex business given the variety of race formats and handicapping systems used in the sport. Although this is an ideal problem to put on a computer system, sailboat racing is largely an amateur business and few clubs have much money to spare. Early developments have come largely through programmers prepared to put their own time into their sailing hobby. Historically a number of worthy programs addressing particular sectors of the sport have been offered as free shareware but Hopford Associates took a very professional step forward to a fully documented, easy to use system at a very reasonable price. It can cope with every type of race and every popular handicapping system. Furthermore the HAL system can be fed from a finishing time recording machine, eliminating data input and presenting results to paper or direct to an internet website in glorious technicolour. Based in Dorchester and closely associated with the combined Yacht Clubs of Weymouth Bay, Hopford Associates has successfully dragged the sailing world into the modern world.

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Mike F.