Pursuit races are handicap races that are run the opposite way from normal races. Rather than all boats starting together with times taken at the finish, boats start at different times, slowest first, then the rest at times depending on their handicap, fastest boat last. The idea is that after a set time they should all arrive at the finish line together. There is no need to time boats at the finish, the order is simply that in which they cross the line, just as in a level race.

You can indicate that a particular race is to be run as a pursuit race by editing it in the Schedule menu. Open its series for editing, then edit the particular race and set it to pursuit.

To get the start time for each boat:

• Click the Get start times button
• Set the race length in minutes (default 100) and the interval between starts (default 1 minute)
• Set the start time for a scratch boat, ie a boat with a handicap of 1.000 in IRC, or 1000 in PY (Note that there may not actually be a boat with such a handicap, but that is when it would start if there were one)
• Click the button to get the list of start times

Note that pursuit races are not the same as races with  staggered starts. In a staggered-start race no attempt is made to get all the boats to finish at the same time. The staggered start is purely for the convenience of the race organisers, for instance to avoid congestion in the start area.