I’v posted before. We, Boy Scouts in the Thunder Reservation on the Flint River, middle Georgia are looking for a method to time Kayak Racing. This is a 2 event race. One event is on a small lake (1/2 mile obstacle course and the other is on the Flint River (1 mile run). We can use portable radios and stop watches, but there must be a better way. I check into Electroic chips, but too costly. Any advice would be greatly appreciated…Thanks, Terry Adair
mass start
then just time when people finish. that’s the system for almost any race i’ve ever done. why wouldn’t that work?
andrew
not very complicated
Are you smarter than the 5th grader? 
2 people. 2 synchronized stopwatches.
Start both.
One goes to the finish
At start, mark both the participant’s number and start time.
At finish, mark both the participant’s number and finish time.
The starting person goes to the finish, brings the starting sheet.
The finishing person hopefully still has his.
Time for the race = finish time - start time.
When everybody is done, tabulate results.
Just Make Sure
if your field is larger, your finish is narrow, or both, you have some clearly delineated numbers on the boat and extra spotters to call out the numbers as they come across the line. Having a couple people recording also helps to clear up confusion if multiple boats come across the finish simultaneously. Some organizers instruct the racers to call out their number at the finish, or even at the halfway/turnaround point/s.