MEASURING AND SCORING A JUMP

Watch the skier approaching the ramp and prepare to Freeze the picture. When the skier countercuts press the ALT key. The freeze should be highlighted in the upper left hand corner of the screen indicating that the system is ready to capture a graphic. Hold your finger poised just above the "F" key or the {Enter} key on the keyboard.

1. Then press the "F" or {Enter} key, just after the skier contacts the water.

   You want to capture the image as close as possible to the time of the first contact, but NOT before the landing -- that would leave you with an image of the skier still in the air, which is no clue at all to where they WILL contact the water surface. Later is better (up to a point), since the white spray disturbance from the first contact will still be clearly visible even as much as 1/2 second (about 15 video frames) after the actual contact is made. An ideal frozen image for distance measurement will show the skier's feet about two ski lengths beyond the beginning of the white disturbance from the landing.

2. Then use the Mouse to position the arrow at the exact point of first contact, which will be the earliest visible disturbance of the water surface closest to the jump ramp. "Click" the left mouse button to place the distance marker at that point. Both video judges must agree on this placement -- and the marker may be easily adjusted in small increments, by clicking on the arrowheads of the "Micro-adjust" wheel which will appear in the upper right area of the window. Remember that vertical positioning of the marker is every bit as important as horizontal positioning.
3. Once agreement has been reached on the marker placement, then click on the large "Record Jump" button. This will calculate and display the distance, then immediately Alt-Tab switch to the WSTIMS scoring window as you reach for the radio to call that displayed distance to the boat. The Distance boxes at the top of the window will still be visible above the top of the WSTIMS scoring window.
4. Press the "V" key at the WSTIMS "Result?" prompt as you communicate the distance to the boat. The boat should confirm that distance to you, then continue their transmission with the two boat times.
5. Key in those boat times as they are communicated from the boat, pressing the Enter key after each segment's time.
6. After the second segment time has been entered, the Option menu should have the "Enter Video Ft & Mtrs" option highlighted -- so press the Enter key again one more time to select that choice. You will see the Measurement window's results now appear on the WSTIMS scoring screen as the result of that jump attempt.
7. Now Alt-Tab back to the Measurement window, and click on the "Yes" button which appears in the "Save Frozen Frame" inquiry box. Or you could press the Enter key to accomplish this instead, if you prefer.
8. Once the image has been saved, then click on the "Unfreeze" button, which will return the live video picture to the screen.

These eight steps outlined above comprise the essentials of measuring and scoring each successful jump. At the conclusion of a skier's third jump, then after step #8 you would switch back to the WSTIMS scoring screen and select the next skier, as outlined previously.

IF THE SKIER PASSES

1. In the Measurement window you would click on the "Pass" button, then click on the "Record Jump" button.
2. Switch to the WSTIMS window. Press the "P" key at the "Result?" prompt, then enter just the first segment time which is called in from the boat.
3. Then switch back to the Measurement window.

Assuming you've frozen the image of the contact, if you want to measure that point follow all of the steps below. If you don't want to measure the distance of the fall, then skip steps 1 and 2 below, and carry out steps 3 and thereafter.

1. Mark the landing point as specified previously.
2. Click on the "Record Jump" button. This will display the distance to the marked contact point. Make a note of this result.
3. Click on the "Fall" button.
4. Click on the "Record Jump" button.
5. Alt-Tab switch to the WSTIMS Scoring window, and press the "F" key at the "Result?" prompt.
6. Enter the boat times as they are called in from the boat.
7. Switch back to the measurement window, and click on the "Unfreeze" button to restore the live video feed. Now you're ready for the next jump.

   Important point -- Once you've clicked on the "Fall" button, there's no way to get a measurement without unfreezing and the replaying from the video tape. See the notes below if that becomes important for some reason.

IF YOU MISS A LANDING AND NEED TO REPLAY IT FROM THE VCR

At this point you will have a frozen image which is not appropriate for measurement -- either with the skier in the air, or WAY after they've landed and moved off-screen -- or perhaps not even frozen. So:

1. If you're intimately familiar with the system and your VCR, this procedure can be carried out while the boat turns around for the next pass, without needing to stop the boat. Otherwise, you'll probably want to call the boat and ask them to hold up until you're done.
2. Unfreeze the screen, if necessary, so that you will be able to watch the VCR playback.
3. On the VCR, press the STOP button to stop recording, then the PLAY button to start playback mode. Then watch press and hold the "REVIEW" (or Rewind) button and watch the picture on the computer screen roll backwards.
4. Once you see missed the skier's landing play backwards -- he'll leap off the water back towards the jump -- take you finger off the Review button (or press the play button again to resume normal playback, depends on your VCR), and prepare to freeze the image again as the landing replays.
5. Continue with measuring and scoring that jump, and give that distance to the boat as soon as possible, so that they can resume, if they've been stopped.
6. STOP the VCR playback, then hit the RECORD button again to resume recording for subsequent jump attempts.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

You will see the four required reference marker points on the Measurement screen, and also four crosses (or circles with dots in their centers) as well. These crosses or dots should appear to be superimposed directly on top of the screen images of the four reference markers themselves. This way you can keep track of the calibration and alignment of the system. If the camera has moved or something else slips, then you'll know it right away.

If necessary, the system can be re-calibrated for a different camera view -- either intentional or otherwise -- in a matter of a minute or two. See the separate instructions on preparations and setup for the particulars of this process.