A scoring code records what happened to a boat in a race when it did not finish in the normal way: it did not start, did not finish, retired, was penalised, or was scored by the race committee for another reason. Most are the standard scoring abbreviations from Appendix A of the World Sailing Racing Rules of Sailing. Dockside adds a few of its own for club admin, such as the duty and sign-on codes.
Codes are uppercase with no full stops. How many points a code scores is not fixed: it is set by the event's own scoring rules, so the same code can score differently for a series, a regatta, or an open meeting. See How each code is scored below.
This is the list of codes. To record one against a sailor, see Apply a scoring code.
Did not start
| Code | Name | Meaning |
|---|
| DNC | Did Not Come to the starting area | The boat did not come to the starting area. |
| DNS | Did Not Start | The boat came to the starting area but did not start. |
Did not finish
| Code | Name | Meaning |
|---|
| DNF | Did Not Finish | The boat started but did not finish. |
| RET | Retired | The boat started, then retired from the race. |
| RAF | Retired After Finishing | The boat finished but then retired. |
| TLE | Time Limit Expired | The boat did not finish within the race time limit. |
Disqualifications
| Code | Name | Meaning |
|---|
| OCS | On Course Side | The boat was on the course side of the starting line at the start and did not start correctly. |
| BFD | Black Flag Disqualification | The boat was on the course side during a black flag start and was disqualified without a hearing. |
| UFD | U Flag Disqualification | The boat was on the course side during a U flag start and was disqualified without a hearing. |
| DSQ | Disqualified | The boat was disqualified after a hearing. |
| DNE | Disqualification Not Excludable | A disqualification that cannot be removed by a discard (RRS A2.1). |
| DGM | Disqualification for Gross Misconduct | The boat was disqualified for a gross breach of a rule or good sportsmanship (RRS 69). |
Penalties
| Code | Name | Meaning |
|---|
| SCP | Scoring Penalty | A scoring penalty taken under RRS 44.3, added to the boat's finishing place. |
| ZFP | Z Flag Penalty | A 20% penalty for being on the course side during a Z flag start (RRS 30.2). |
| DPI | Discretionary Penalty Imposed | A penalty set by the protest committee. |
Redress
| Code | Name | Meaning |
|---|
| RDGa | Redress, average of all races | Redress scored as the average of the sailor's other races in the series. |
| RDGb | Redress, average of races before | Redress scored as the average of the sailor's races before this one. |
Duty
| Code | Name | Meaning |
|---|
| RO | Race Officer | The sailor was the race officer for the race and is scored for their duty. |
| OOD | Officer of the Day | The sailor was officer of the day and is scored for their duty. |
Other
| Code | Name | Meaning |
|---|
| NSO | No Sign-on | The sailor did not sign on for the race. |
| NOH | Not on Handicap list | The boat's class is not on the handicap list for the event. |
| OPN | Open entry | The sailor entered as an open (non-scoring or guest) entry. |
| NSC | Did not sail the course | The boat started but did not sail the course. |
How each code is scored
A code does not carry a fixed number of points. The points come from the event's own scoring rules, copied from a scoring template when the event was created, which set a rule for each code per event type (series, regatta, or open). To see or change those rules, see How scoring templates work and Edit a scoring template's rules.
The most common pattern, and the Dockside default, works like this:
| Code group | Typical default |
|---|
| DNS, DNC, DNF, RET, RAF, TLE, OCS, BFD, UFD, DSQ, DGM, DNE | The number of boats plus one, so a non-finish scores just below the last finisher. |
| RDGa, RDGb, RO, OOD | The average of the sailor's other races, once they have sailed a minimum number of races. |
| SCP, ZFP | The boat's finishing place plus a percentage of the race starters. |
| DPI | The boat's finishing place plus a set number of penalty points. |
These are defaults. A club can change any of them in its scoring template, and an event's own rules can differ from the template it came from, so check the event's scoring rules if you need to know exactly how a code scores there.