ZW5 is built on the 40 years of Leo Eggink’s regatta experience. The predecessors of ZW5 that were written by Leo have been around since the 1980’s and therefore the current version contains a lot of knowledge and possibilities. Much of the very clever code that Leo wrote over the years is still active in the latest releases.
RRS 2021-2024
The program is based on the latest ISAF Racing Rules of Sailing and supports Appendix A and B, as described.
Also TLE is supported.
As of 2025 ZW will also support RRS 2025-2028.
Free of charge
As was the case with the previous versions, ZW remains supported without profit motive and is therefore free of charge. The only thing I ask in return is that on the published results you leave a reference to this site intact.
If you find the program of use for your club’s activities, then kindly make a small donation to help me keep ZW going.
Mission statement
My mission is that any group of competitors from few to many, small or large, that want to race can make use of this program and publish their results. Privately or on-line.
Contact
My name is Gerhard Bouma, in IT since 1985 and volunteer with the Royal Yacht Club Sneek (KWS) in the Netherlands for over 10 years.
I’ve developed ZW5 privately for my and your pleasure, I’m easily approachable and always open for your feedback and wishes. Your feedback helps me improve the program continuously. Please contact me through my Facebook page or by e-mail zwscoring[at]zw-scoring.nl if you experience any issues.
Uncomplicated
ZW is different from other scoring programs by being very complete with a clean, to the point, user interface. You won’t get lost in all the options that you’ll never use, on the surface there’s only present what you need, but very advanced options are available.
Also there’s no unnecessary clutter and gimmicks on your scoring output, which makes it easy for competitors to read.
Off-line
ZW is, and will remain, off-line, so you can score anytime, anywhere and upload results later, if you even want to. Nobody owns, or can access, your data but you. The privacy of your competitors is guaranteed.
On-line
ZW has a small on-line presence through e-Captain. One can upload results to ones e-Captain site via extra functionality in ZW. Please contact e-Captain for more information. Example sites can be found in the sub-items on the e-Captain menu item.
Speedy entry of results
Much attention has been given to the speedy entry of finishing sequences. You won’t be slowed down by a bad internet connection or complicated user interface.
Finish lists need not be separated per fleet. ZW will match the fleet for each entered boat. In most cases the entry of just the sail number will be sufficient. Only if a sail number is not unique in the regatta, the program will ask you to choose which competitor to finish.
Penalty handling
After a decision of a jury, you will be able to quickly present revised results.
No limits
There are no limits for the number of races, competitors, classes or fleets other than what your computer can handle. Also long series over several weekends with changing competitors and organizers are supported. The program can calculate with discards. The number of discards is completely user defined with a current limit of 60 discards.
Sneekweek
Europe’s largest inland regatta, the Sneekweek, uses ZW with over 40 classes/fleets and 800 competitors. See for example the results of 2019 or 2022. The KWS uses an XML export that ZW can provide (after making a donation) to import the results to their website.
Import/Export
Competitors can be entered manually, or can be imported by excel file (e-Captain and Manage2Sail exports are supported), .csv or .txt files. Competitor listings by fleet or by sail number, finish lists and results can be printed. In addition lists of duplicate sail numbers can be printed. ZW can prepare HTML pages and PDF files with results for immediate publication onto the Internet.
Because of the several import and export functions of ZW it’s easy to interface with your website. It’s possible to export your results to XML for importing in your site, or for direct uploading to your e-Captain site.
Languages
ZW5 currently actively supports the following languages: Dutch, Italian, English, Frisian and Polish.
Support for other languages is possible, if you want to join the translation effort please let me know.
The following scoring systems are supported:
- Low-Point System
- Low-Point System with .75 or .9 score for place 1
- Austrian scoring (starters)
- Austrian scoring (registrated for series)
- Bonus-Point System (formerly known as Olympic)
Results can be calculated with the following handicap formulas:
- ORC (Club & International)
- SW-factor
- Texel Rating
- ISAF SCHRS
- Portsmouth
- PHRF
- IRC
- TVF
I trust you’ll enjoy using ZW
Gerhard Bouma