My point was that competition on the water is much more important than trophies. I hope nobody lets the trophy situation drive the regatta organization.

We've been doing the photo trophies at one of our regattas for several years now, and its worked out fine. The photos are taken from the committee boat, without the need for extra personnel.

I think having good photos that can be posted on the web is important for drawing people to the regatta, so RCs should be taking as many photos as possible anyway. Also, if you're going to be doing Portsmouth scoring you'll probably also have a computer and printer.

I'll bet all the pieces of the puzzle are already present at 90% of regattas with an open division.