ORC

At the 53rd meeting of the ORC Congress representatives from 46 nations and World Sailing met to approve recommended improvements to the ORC rating system, the world’s largest, that has issued nearly 14,000 certificates for monohulls, multihulls, and Superyachts this year to date in 2022.

Reports and recommended improvements were made from the International Technical Committee (ITC), the Race Management, Rating Officers, Measurement, Offshore Classes and Events, Promotion and Development and Management Committees based on 40 submissions from 10 nations. Among the numerous approved innovations are the following:

An improved Velocity Prediction Program (VPP) that uses three key changes to the force model for 2023:

• after two years of research, a Neural Network-based Residuary Resistance force model will be now be used that has been validated through a performance analysis made of a diverse test fleet of designs
• the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)-based aerodynamic de-powering model has been improved so that there is no longer any subjective effects (eg, default righting moment) that affect the handicap polars
• with help from the ITC’s Research Associates group of nine prominent sailors, designers and sail designers, the sail force coefficients of Headsails set Flying (HSF’s) have been adjusted to more accurately match their rated and actual performance

“The end result of these improvements are a more fair treatment of both modern fast boat designs that we see in our championship fleets,” said ITC Chairman Andy Claughton, “and better treatment of older legacy designs as well, such as the Cal 40 and ULDB Sleds in the USA fleets.”

An embrace of a suggestion made by world-class navigator Stan Honey to use high resolution weather models to predict the wind conditions so that ratings can be calculated based on these conditions and the race course geometry. ORC will develop software to enable race committees to generate the ratings and distribute them prior to racing so that competitors may not only have more accurate ratings but also better predict their performance in corrected time on the race course.

Starting in 2024 ORC World and Continental championship events will offer a new distribution of CDL-defined class limits that will offer a new Class 0 in addition to Classes A, B and C. This new distribution divides the diverse ORC fleet into divisions that are more fair and competitive, and will allow for a total of four championship titles in each event.

The format of the 2023 ORC Worlds in Kiel will have a more flexible format to encourage more coastal races in addition to the Long Offshore race and multiple windward/leeward races.

Future ORC events will embrace initiatives to promote greater participation by youth and women sailors, and will also help encourage sustainability practices at its events. The 2023 ORC Worlds in Kiel, for example, is planning to have prizes dedicated to teams that have 50% or more females on their crew.

A calendar of confirmed major ORC championship events for 2023 has also been presented as follows:

• 23 April –1 May – ORC European Championship – Malta, Malta
• 19 – 21 May – ORC Mediterranean Championship – Sorrento, Italy
• 10 – 18 June – ORC DH European Championship – Helsingor, Denmark
• 4 – 12 August – ORC World Championship – Kiel, Germany
• 9 – 15 September – ORC DH World Championship – Barcelona, Spain
• 23 – 29 September – ORC Sportboat European Championship – Kalamaki, Greece

Confirmed 2024 ORC events:

• 10 – 15 June – ORC Double Handed World Championshios – Oslo, Norway
• 12 – 18 August –  ORC European Championship – Marienhamn, Aaland Islands
• 27 September – 5 October – ORC World Championship – Newport, USA

“This has been one of our most successful years in ORC history,” said Bruno Finzi, Chairman of ORC. “Our investments in science and the technical expertise of our growing staff have produced the opportunity for the widest possible array of boat types to enjoy fair racing. Sportboats, Racers, Cruiser/racers, Superyachts, Multihulls and even foiling boats can all now be measured, rated and scored accurately and fairly without bias using the ORC system. We look forward in the new year to service even better the more than 9000 boats that use our system and all the race organizers around the world who rely on our products and our support to provide great racing.”