Summary
ORC Rating Systems include the management of measurement rules and certificates for Monohulls (ORC International and ORC Club), ORC Multihulls, ORC Superyachts and this year the J Class.
ORC certificates for monohulls (ORC International, ORC Club) are issued by National Rating Offices in 41 countries on six continents and centrally managed by ORC for 4 countries where a national office is not yet established, while ORC Multihulls, ORC Superyachts and the J Class yachts are currently administered by the ORC central office.
Since ORC Rating systems are unique in measuring the stability of offshore yachts, the size and types of boats using ORC rules is quite broad, ranging from very small cruisers and Sportboats to racing Superyachts and now Multihulls and Foiling monohulls.
The rule is quite versatile since the VPP can characterize all manner of performance-enhancing features and thus predict their performance and rate them under ORC Rules. These include movable ballast features such as water ballast and canting keels, with all combinations of associated appendages, such as DSS, bilgeboards, etc.
The total number of ORC Certificates issued in 2024 until 31 October is 14,176 for 9224 boats that includes:
- 2906 ORC International certificates
- 6885 ORC Club certificates
- 509 ORCi DH certificates
- 2102 ORC Club DH certificates
- 104 ORC International Non-Spinnaker certificates
- 1670 ORC Club Non-spinnaker certificates
- 23 J Class, 34 Multihull and 140 Superyacht certificates
Compared to the same period of the previous year, the total number of boats issued certificates, has increased by 3.5% and certificates increased by 0.3%.
ORC developed Double-handed (ORC DH) certificates five years ago, and while there was a dip in DH Club certificates issued in 2023 compared to 2022 (see the chart below), it has remained relatively constant in 2024 along with the popularity of ORC DH World and European championships. ORC continues its policy to allow national rating offices to issue DH certificates to any boat with a valid ORC Club or ORCi certificate levy-free – this promotion helps to encourage participation in DH racing.
In its fourth year of a similar levy-free promotion, ORC Non-Spinnaker (ORC NS) certificates are offered to give local fleets more versatility in their use of ORC scoring at casual and cruising club-level events.
Both ORC NS and ORC DH certificates are valid alongside standard certificate types, allowing for ease of use among boats that race in these varied formats.
Increases in ORC certificates in 2024 from 2023 are observed in 23 nations: ARG, AUS, BRA, BUL, CAN, CRO, CYP, ECU, ESP, GRE, ISR, ITA, JPN, KOR, LAT, MNE, NED, PER, RSA, SLO, SWE, TUR and USA. Significant increases have been in ARG, GRE, LAT, NED, RSA, TUR and USA.
ORC this year has continued administering, developing and refining the ORC Superyacht Rule (ORCsy), with a significant increase in both boats and certificates from 2023. A total of 140 ORCsy certificates have been issued in 2024.
After five years of development, established measurement protocols, and a functional VPP, the ORC Multihull Rule (ORCmh) this year issued 34 certificates and was used by several events to score multihull fleets.
This was the first year of ORC’s collaboration with the J Class, with extensive technical developments performed by the ORC technical staff, with 23 J Class certificates issued.
ORC championship events continue to be popular and competitive, with high levels of participation and the highest-quality teams emerging on top after a combination of several inshore and offshore races. Individual races are competitive and often resolved only within seconds of corrected time. Inspections and measurement controls are strictly enforced at ORC championship events, with a variety of designs – both racers and cruiser/racers – winning these events, suggesting fairness in the system for all boat types.
- The 2024 ORC World Championship in Newport, USA was the first World Championship held outside Europe in 24 years. The event was considered a success in attracting a wide variety of boat types with 43 teams entered , raced by some of the world’s top sailors and exemplary race and event management provided by New York Yacht Club.
- The 2024 ORC European Championship featured 56 entries from 10 countries and was held at Mariehamn, Åland.
- The 2024 ORC Sportboat European Championship was held in Valencia, Spain with 13 entries from four countries. The 2024 ORC Double Handed World Championship was held in Oslo-Tønsberg, Norway, with a record turnout of 68 entries from 10 countries.
- The 2024 ORC Double Handed World Championship was held in Oslo-Tønsberg, Norway, with a record turnout of 68 entries from 10 countries.
- The 2024 ORC Double Handed European Championship was held in Caorle, Italy with 29 entries from 4 countries.
Besides World and Continental championships, many 2024 National and Regional ORC championships and numerous prominent offshore races have also offered ORC scoring for both fully crewed and double handed teams.
Weather Routing Scoring was extensively developed this year with PredictWind and used officially for all offshore races at ORC World and European Championship events, as well as at some major offshore races such as the AEGEAN 600. At the request of organizers from dozens of other ORC-scored races around the world this was also used for shadow-scoring in order to test the method’s effectiveness at predicting fair results.
Among several dozen races and regattas held in six continents around the world, there have been 5 Rolex- and Loro Piana supported events in 2024 that also used ORC scoring. These included Rolex Tre Golfi Sailing Week, the Loro Piana Giraglia Cup, the AEGEAN 600, the Rolex Middle Sea Race, and the Rolex Big Boat Series in San Francisco, USA.
ORC Superyacht Rule (ORCsy)
ORC’s cooperation with the Super Yacht Racing Association (SYRA) started in 2015 and continued through this year, with an increase to 140 ORCsy certificates for the year to date.
Ten regattas used the system this year including the Millennium Cup in NZL, Antigua SY Challenge, the St Barths Bucket Regatta, the Giorgio Armani Cup in Porto Cervo, the Cyclades Cup Antiparos in Greece, the Super Yacht Cup in Palma, the Super Maxi Class at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup in Porto Cervo, the Ibiza Joy Sail Regatta and America’s Cup Superyacht Regatta in Barcelona.
The acceptance of the ORCsy system is due in part to its rigorous measurement protocols, flexible and innovative scoring options to produce the fairest racing among these widely diverse designs. Transparency in rules and process and direct assistance provided by the ORC Staff at most of these events is also a hallmark of this system and is appreciated by its users, who are often advised by professional America’s Cup-level tacticians and crews.
The ORC Sailor Services is used by Superyacht professional sailors, skippers and captains for running test certificates as well as downloading of their competitor’s official certificates, further increasing the transparency and full-service ORC provides to the Superyacht community.
Periodic updates are made to the rule to increase its accuracy, with rationale agreed by ORC and SYRA and published on the ORCsy rule website.
The 2024 ORCsy VPP introduced some improvements that were proven to better reflect the real performance of the boats, with attention paid to specific features such as:
- revised model for centerboards based on CFD research
- a revision of the Dynamic and Tacking Allowances
- revision of downwind aero coefficients for boats with spinnaker poles
- correction to the de-powering treatment of overlapping headsails
For 2025 there is a long list of improvements anticipated for the ORCsy VPP:
New Centerboard hydro model and C/B slot resistance
Ketches:
- Revision of high mizzen mast treatment
- Revision of high mast separations
- New mizzen staysail treatment, especially at tight reaching angles
- Introduction of Mizzen roach effect
Schooners – correction of Effective Height
Dynamic Allowance (DA)
- Revision of its formulation considering real sail area used in that moment
- Additional term based on Righting Moment
Tacking Allowance - no Tacking allowance with big blades instead of a staysail
Winch speed allowance model for Jib sheets, Spinnaker sheets and Spinnaker Halyards
DLR allowance reduction for intermediate draft boats
Gaff rigs reduction of Effective Height
Sail Inventory penalty –
- Same weight of sails on board computation when 1 or 2 sails are declared
- Verification if applying sails inventory penalty only upwind or downwind
Test for no spinnaker boats to use downwind jib coefficients.
Furler windage
Effect of sail weight on aerodynamic forces
ORC Multihull Rule (ORCmh)
Now in its second year of use, the advent of the VPP-based ORC Multihull Rule (ORCmh) is vastly improving fair racing among multihulls due to their dramatic differences in performance as wind speed and points of sail change. For multihulls the difference in performance as wind speed and point of sail changes are often dramatic.
This year ORCmh was used at the Millennium Cup (NZL), the Diamond Coast Race (RSA), the Southern Straits Race (CAN), the Maxi Rolex Cup (ITA) and the Multihull Cup (ESP).
Currently the ORCmh database contains 450 catamarans and trimarans.
The MH VPP focus in 2024 has been to update sail coefficients and implement inputs for asymmetric daggerboards. An update to the residuary resistance model has also been researched where model data has been developed into a force model that can replace the existing formulation which is difficult to manage. Preliminary tests with this data suggest that this force model is better behaved across the fleet when looking at the smaller MOCRA-style boats compared to the Maxi class.
Before making a change to the residuary resistance formulation the technical team will study the performance database data and launch a simple CFD study. Once this analysis is complete an update to the residuary resistance formulation will be introduced to the VPP.
Current analysis of the performance database suggests that the upwind performance of the boats is overestimated. Currently, the calculation of the aerodynamic drag of the hulls and cross structure follows the Monohull and Superyacht approach. For the Multihulls, the prediction of the projected area as heel and AWA change needs to be improved, and the drag coefficients associated with the various components need to be verified.
Work continues to implement the effect of horizontal rudder foils used for trim control, the influence of curved and cambered daggerboards, the effect of canting the rig, both aerodynamically and in terms of righting moment, tacking allowance when overlapping sails are used, and pitch inertia. An upgraded windage model is also planned for 2025.
With their sensitivity in performance to changing conditions, the advent of Weather Routing Scoring (WRS) for Multihulls will have particular relevance for scoring future ORCmh races.
ORCj
During 2024, ORC, in collaboration with the J Class Association (JCA) Technical Group, devised a version of the ORCi VPP that was tailored to the J Class fleet. The JCA and ORC have agreed on a protocol for the management and development of the new rule.
This ORCj rule was successfully used in conjunction with PCScs (Polar Curve Scoring with constructed course) scoring at two J Class regattas held in Palma and Barcelona.
During 2025 the ORC will explore improvements to the following aspects of the ORCj rule:
- drag of the propeller aperture, using CFD simulations on a generic J Class hull
- effects of pitch inertia
- effects of shroud envelope on the aerodynamic coefficients
Technical developments
There were 32 Submissions sent by 9 National Authorities and the Management Committee to be discussed at the ORC Annual Meeting. These requests for rule and policy changes, nearly range all aspects of ORC system use, from technical aspects of the ORC Velocity Prediction Program (VPP) to measurement protocols and ratings to scoring.
Most Submissions are addressed by the International Technical Committee (ITC), the research and development group for ORC that is composed of prominent designers and sailing yacht technologists, which includes permanent members and Research Associates who are helping in analyzing VPP and rating outputs by their input from the industry point of view.
ITC met five times in 2024: two hybrid meetings (face-to-face plus virtual) in April and October and three shorter virtual meetings during the summer.
2024 Submissions
The 2024 Submissions supported by the ITC include ESP 3, EST 2, FIN 2, NOR 1, SLO 1, SWE 1, USA 4 and USA 7 (see https://orc.org/agm-2024 for descriptions).
Feedback from the fleet on use of the 2024 VPP has been positive as measured by close race results at the major races and ORC championship events. Nonetheless, there has been ongoing research for improvements in the VPP in some specific areas of interest.
These include:
- offwind Aero force coefficients for asymmetric and symmetric spinnakers and flying headsails adjusted slightly based on analyses from the Performance Database
- a study of the effects of heel limit that will continue into 2025
- Revise the credit for furling headsails
- improved calculation of residuary resistance for long keel yachts
- improved force model for yachts fitted with lifting foils
Initial runs of the proposed 2025 VPP on the ORC test fleet indicate only a modest 0.4% change in APH ratings.
Other developments for ITC in 2024 include:
- Weather Routing Scoring:
The ORC WRS system, powered by PredictWind, has been used to score or shadow score 50 races and regattas during 2024. The process is handled from within the ORC Scorer software and can now offer the ability to select from the grib files available in the area. Making this selection is not mandatory as the PredictWind API has access to the complete online method that chooses the best forecast and current model appropriate for each local area.
Whilst the handicapping process starts with a simulated race for every boat using her scoring polar table, the input to the scoring system is a distribution of TWS and TWA experienced during the race. This is used to calculate a Predicted Elapsed Time (PET) for each boat, along with a scratch sheet of ratings based on the average PET for the division.
To date the ratio of PET/ET has been used as the KPI, and on this metric the WRS system will always outperform the generalized APH rating and usually also any pre-determined course model (eg, in the USA and CAN). A better metric would be the comparison of the TWA/TWS matrix from the WRS and that observed onboard, however, this data is much more time consuming to gather as it needs the boat’s instrument log data.
Whilst ORC will continue to offer WRS as a remote service for race organizers, ORC wishes to make the system publicly available via a machine-agnostic Web App. During 2024 ORC has been developing a Web App close to being available in beta form. This web app will give the user the ability to use a laptop or tablet with an internet connection to:
- assemble a fleet from the certificates on the ORC database
- define a course, any exclusion zones, start times, etc.
- run the PredictWind routing engine
- check the predicted tracks
- publish TCF’s and time allowance sheets for scoring the race
For 2025 ORC will continue to support race organizers that want to use WRS, and the web app will be tested in conjunction with this.
- Offshore Special Regulations Rule 3.04 Working Group
During 2024 a working group - composed of Dan Nowlan (Chairman), Richard Hinterholler and Andy Claughton - were tasked to investigate possible improvements to Section 3.04 of the OSR’s which relates to stability requirements for qualification for Offshore races. The existing rule offers three methods of demonstrating compliance: ORC Stability Index, ISO STIX number and the IRC SSS.
The first two of these are based on the determination of a VCG position and the calculation of a righting arm curve to define an angle of vanishing stability (AVS). SSS is part of the IRC calculations and uses the boats principal dimensions to calculate a SSS value. This formulation is confidential to the IRC.
The ORC SI is derived from the result of an inclining test, and a verified geometry for the hull and keel, and an ISO STIX calculation may be made using designers’ calculations instead of an inclining test.
The Working Party’s recommendations are as follows:
- For offshore categories 2 and 3, make no changes.
- For offshore categories 0 and 1, require the most stringent requirement of ISO 12217-2 or ORC Stability Index.
- For offshore categories 0 and 1, measured displacement and stability shall be used for the ISO and ORC calculations.
Make access to ISO, ORC and SSS values easier by hosting a list on the World Sailing website. The submission is available on the World Sailing website. The ITC view on the situation is that compliance with stability (AVS) requirements for offshore races should be based on an inclining test with the boat in a known flotation condition. This reflects the practice for all commercially operated yachts.
Other technical developments
A hallmark of ORC is that it is an open and accessible system for its users, both through local rating offices and through access to the ORC website.
Besides allowing access to all ORC rules, rating system documents and even the VPP used to generate ratings, ORC gives easy access to all available rating and measurement data from a database of over 185,000 boat measurement records gathered over the past 30 years.
The easy access, breadth and depth of this information made available is unique among international rating systems. This access is facilitated by the ORC Sailor Services system, which gives free online access to the ORC database.
At this portal, copies of certificates issued over the past 15 years are available for free, and the ability to run ORCi or ORC Club test certificates under the current VPP is available for a small fee. ORCsy uses the same web portal with similar features, with access restricted to registered ORCsy users.
Besides ORC test certificates, Sailor Services can also issue a customized ORC Speed Guide package of polar performance data for any ORC-measured boat, and the Target Speed product where a formatted PDF sheet is generated that gives target boat speed and wind angles based on VMG performance on windward-leeward courses.
This system has grown in popularity every year since its introduction in 2014 (see Appendix 3). Since that year, 3536 unique users have been issued 38,539 ORC test certificates, 3077 Speed Guides, and 3176 Target Speeds. To date, in 2024, there have been 751 new unique users that purchased at least one test certificate, and 4513 test certificate runs in the system, a 6.4% increase over 2023.
ORC Scorer software is available for free download from the ORC website, as well as the online Scratch Sheet, which can be built from valid certificates found in the online database. This year, the ORC Scorer software was also upgraded to include integration of an API for Weather Routing Scoring, giving users the ability to generate TCF ratings for offshore races with inputs of the course, any restricted zones, starting times and a list of entries with their ORC certificate numbers.
ORC Certificates are available digitally on the website as soon as a certificate is issued by the Rating office and there is no need for paper copies of certificates what together with other digital tools for event management makes events more environmentally friendly.
Measurement and Rating Offices
ORC has 41 active national rating offices worldwide and is regularly organizing measurement seminars in countries where there is a need for it. Organized in cooperation with US Sailing, a complete measurement seminar was also held in San Diego, USA to provide training for measurements of rigs, sails, and propellers, as well as measurements for flotation and stability data. Another measurement seminar was organized in Oslo, Norway, before the ORC DH World Championship and in Helsinki, Finland, before the ORC European Championship in Mariehamn, Åland.
Several online presentations were made for the participants of the ORC championships (fully crewed and Double Handed), explaining all the technical aspects needed for participation in the ORC events.
All seminars were also used for general presentations about the ORC rating systems and scoring options together with recitations on best race management practices.
Communications
Upgraded and re-designed last year, the ORC website provides an accessible and contemporary site that offers easy public online access to ORC publications, explanations of the rating systems, scoring methods and measurement, as well as regular news items related to ORC events and a comprehensive online calendar of races and regattas held in countries where ORC certificates are issued worldwide.
Traffic on the site has increased to 300K visitors this year, about 25,000 sessions/month. All figures show growth: total sessions +25.6%, engaged sessions +19.4%, average session +3.6%, total users +26.1%.
Social media channels continue to show growth in numbers: Facebook followers are up 1K at 9,400, the organic (not paid) reach is 381,6K, Instagram followers are up 2,4K at 21,1K, and the organic reach is 292,7K. ORC is also active on LinkedIn, Flickr, and YouTube.
ORC newsletter and press release production included 44 stories sent to 18,600 worldwide email contacts.
Championship Events
ORC World and continental championship events, Superyacht, Multihull and J Class regattas and numerous other prominent races and regattas that use ORC rating systems are supported by the ORC staff. In new regions of use this is also common at other major events, where the ORC staff is often asked to provide direct support consisting of NoR and SI reviews, event promotion and media resources, measurement services, and scoring support.
ORC Championship regattas are important in competitive handicap racing since they typically engage over 1000 participants at each event with additional multipliers of friends and family bringing significant economic and promotional value to site hosts, their sponsors and local and international media.
Likewise, strict rules compliance through inspections is employed to ensure fairness, and scoring for all ORC Championship events has been standardised to be in the same format and using the same software to preserve consistency. Links are then created from event websites to the ORC results shown on the ORC webpage dedicated to displaying event results online (examples are described below in the event reports).
2024 ORC World Championship
The 2024 ORC World Championship held in Newport USA and hosted by New York Yacht Club over 27 September - 5 October was a successful championship event held at one of our sport’s great sailing venues and the first held outside Europe in 24 years. 43 entries from 4 nations were entered: 6 teams from the USA and GER in the new ORC Class 0, 19 teams from the USA in Class A and 14 teams from the USA and POL in Class B. Entries in Class C were combined to race in Class B but were also dual-scored for an ORC North American Class C title as well.
In addition to the Worlds fleet, NYYC hosted an ORC North American Maxi Class championship run concurrently with a slightly different format but in the same course areas.
As typical of all ORC championship events, the fleet was very diverse, with a broad mix of Performance and Cruiser/Racer designs – both custom and series-built - represented in all classes. Corrected time result margins measured in seconds or even ties for each race continue to indicate the quality of the ORC rating system to produce close and fair results. Performance Curve Scoring (PCS) was used for the format of 6 Windward/Leeward races, and Weather Routing Scoring (WRS) was used for two non-discardable offshore distance races that varied in distance for each class from 177 miles in Race 1 in Class 0 to 26 miles in Race 5 for Class B. A total of 8 races were scored for all classes, with near-perfect wind conditions throughout the event, ranging from 6 to 16 knots.
Chairman of the event from New York YC was Matt Gallagher (USA) with IRO Tom Duggan (USA) as PRO. Two course areas for each class were managed by Duggan and IRO Shannon Bush. Chair of the International Jury was Nelson Ilha (BRA) with other members from ITA, CAN and USA, and Zoran Grubisa (CRO) was Chair of the Technical Committee with measurers and inspectors from ITA, ESP, SWE and USA.
Victor Wild’s Botin 52 FOX 2.0 (USA) dominated Class 0 by winning all but three races in the class. Wild built this boat for the cancelled 2020 Newport Worlds, and the FOX team has been training and optimizing for this event ever since.
FOX was sailed by a multi-national crew of top pro sailors, led by Andy Horton (USA) and Nacho Postigo (ESP). Runner-up was another Botin 52, Peter Askew’s WIZARD (USA), tied in points with Andrew Berdon’s third-placed TP 52 SUMMER STORM (USA), ex-OUTSIDER, last year’s Silver medallist at the 2023 Worlds in Kiel.
Class A was also dominated by its winning team, Austin and Gwen Fragomen’s Botin 44 INTERLODGE 44 (USA), who also won all but two races in this large class. This boat was sailed by another international all-pro team led by tactician Tony Rey (USA) who ably guided Gwen Fragomen on the helm.
INTERLODGE’s CDL rating was optimized for the event to just sneak under the limit to be the scratch boat in Class A. Runner-up was Don Thinschmidt’s Ker 43 ABRACADABRA (USA), and winning Bronze was Henry Brauer’s Club Swan 42 TIO LOCO (USA).
The road taken by the new Class B ORC World Champions was literally the longest of any team at this event - from Poland to Baltimore by ship, then to Newport - but was also nearly three years in the planning and execution and had the experience taken from winning their class in two prior ORC World Championships in Sardinia in 2022 and last year in Kiel.
Results in this class were the closest of all classes at the event, and victory for Marcin Sutkowski’s Grand Soleil 44P WIND WHISPER 44 (POL) was only assured after ensuring that their runner-up rival - John Brim’s Italia 11.98 RIMA98 (USA) - could not finish the final race with a score lower than the 2.5-point lead WIND WHISPER had into the final race. So, the two match raced the course, which drove both back far enough in the standings to use their discards yet retaining their top two places in the final results. Winning Bronze was Bill & Jackie Baxter’s J/111 FIREBALL (USA).
Interestingly, and unlike typical ORC championships held in Europe, there were only 7 all-amateur Corinthian teams entered at the Worlds in Newport, and only in Classes A and B. The Class A Corinthian champion was 8th-placed VAMOOSE, Bob Manchester’s J133, and 11th-placed SLEEPER, NEKA Sailing’s modified J105 in Class B.
Complete race details are available at https://orc.org/worlds2024.
2024 ORC European Championship
The 2024 ORC European Championship was held at Mariehamn, Åland over 9-18 August and hosted by the Finnish Offshore Racing Association and Åländska Segelsällskapet. Racing was held on course areas set near Mariehamn, and distance races were held in the Baltic Sea in and around the Åland islands, with 56 entries entered from 10 nations. There were 2 distance races and 6 windward/leeward races held in the 8-race format.
The winner of Class A was the 2023 Class A World and European Champion: Karl Kwok’s TP52 BEAU GESTE (HKG), whose international team of pro sailors led by tactician Gavin Brady dominated the class by winning all but one race. Tied in points for Silver and Bronze was Johannes Wackerhagen’s Knierim 49 DESNA (GER) and Jens Kuphal’s Landmark 43 INTERMEZZO (GER), with DESNA winning the tie-break. The 4th-placed team - Sampsa Vehkamaki’s Landmark 43 MADAME GRAY (FIN) - was the only all-amateur Corinthian crew in this class.
In contrast, the winner of Class B had a hard fight to emerge victorious. Tiit Vihul’s modified X-41 OLYMPIC (EST) with their all-amateur Corinthian crew managed to just stay ahead of the runner-up - Erik Stannow’s X-41 DIXI 4 (DEN) - by one point by tying for 5th place with yet another X-41 in corrected time in the final race. And after a shaky start to the event with a non-discardable 11th place in the long offshore race, Per Roman’s JPK 11.80 GARM (SWE) fared much better in the remainder of the series to also stay just 1.5 points ahead of Harles Liiv’s J112E SHADOW (EST) in the final results to claim Bronze. 11 of the 23 entries in this class had all-amateur Corinthian crews.
Even with the 2024 CDL limits being slower than in previous years, the defending champions on Class C managed to retain their title by shifting from their Italia 11.98 to their smaller Italia 9.98, and then dominating the results. Ott Kikkas’s SUGAR (EST) won all but 3 races in this class to win Gold, with two other past European champions - Patrick Forsgren’s modified First 36.7 sailed by an all-amateur Corinthian team on TEAM PRO4U (SWE) and Aivar Tuulberg’s Arcona 340 KATARIINA II (EST) - not too far behind on the podium in Silver and Bronze positions, respectively. 18 of 25 entries in this class had all-amateur Corinthian crews.
Complete race details are available at https://orc.org/europeans2024.
2024 ORC DH World Championship
Now in its third year, the 2024 ORC Double-Handed World Championship was held over 8-15 June in Oslo-Tønsberg, Norway with the Royal Norwegian Sailing Club as the organizing authority. A record 68 entries from 10 countries attended, an impressive turnout for this stand-alone event. Class A had 15 entries from NOR, SWE and GER, Class B had 22 entries from NOR, POL, SWE, FIN and GER, and Class C was the most internationally diverse class with 24 entries from NOR, SWE, LTU, NED, ESP, CZE and TUR. All classes had several all-amateur Corinthian crews among their teams.
Boat types in Classes A and C were mostly series-built production cruiser/racers, whereas Class B also featured numerous specialty short-handed production designs.
The format of racing was one long offshore race held in the Oslofjord and the Kattegat. For Class A the course was 340 miles, for Class B 320 miles and for Class C 300 miles. Elapsed times varied from just under 48 hours for Class A to over 60 hours in Class C.
The Gold medal winners in Class A were Karl Otto and Maren Magda Book on their Landmark 43 WHITE SHADOW (NOR). This team also won their class in last year’s very light air ORC DH European Championship in Denmark. Finishing second 27 minutes later in corrected time were amateur Corinthian sailors Thomas Robberstad and Per Haugen on their Swan 45 ZORRO (NOR), with Per Sorted and Frode Johansen on their Aquatich 40 SNAKKAS (NOR) in third only 3 minutes behind in corrected time after 49 hours of racing.
The Gold medal winners in Class B were Sigmund Andre Hertzberg and Tim Sandberg on their Dehler 30 OD HYRROKIN (NOR), winning by over 2 hours in corrected time after 47 hours of racing against runners-up Kristian Jerpetjon and Andreas Tinglum on their Figaro 2 TETRAKTYS (NOR). Michael Hofgen and Eckhard Kaller on their Arcona 385 LIGHTWORKS (GER) finished third. The top Corinthian team in the class was Andrzej Rozycki and Pawel Tryzna on their JPK 10.30 PNEUMA (POL).
Winning Gold in Class C was Halvor Schoyen and Rune Tonneson on their X-332 FLUX (NOR), with 1.2 hours of a corrected time margin after 52 hours of racing over Silver medallists Lars Bergkvist and Anders Dahlsjo on their Farr 30 CONSENSUS (SWE). Bronze medals were awarded to Oyvind and Morten Knudsen on their First 34.7 LETHE (NOR). The top Corinthian team in the class was 6th-placed Willy and Kare Forland on their Elan 37 LEVENS (NOR).
Complete race details are available at https://orc.org/dhworlds2024.
2024 ORC DH European Championship
The 2024 ORC Double Handed European Championship was held in Caorle, Italy over 1-5 May and organized by the Circolo Nautico Porto San Margherita. This was the second-ever ORC DH European Championship and featured 29 entries from 4 countries who competed in one long offshore race of 195 miles in the northern Adriatic Sea from the Italian to the Croatian coast and return.
Boat types in the fleet were mostly Performance and Cruiser/Racer production boats with few specifically designed for DH racing but adapted for this purpose.
After almost 36 hours of racing Massimo Juris and Pietro Luciani on their JPK 10.80 COLOMBRE (ITA) won Class A by an impressive 3.5 hours in corrected time over runners-up and amateur Corinthian sailors Mauro and Giovanni Trevisan on their Millennium 40R HAURAKI (ITA). Winning Bronze was another Corinthian team, Andrea Micalli and Riccardo De Roia, on their Solaris 36 OD FURIETTA (ITA).
Wind conditions got progressively lighter in this race, prompting four entries out of ten in Class C to not finish. Yet two Slovenians - Vladimir Borstnar and Bojan Gale - on their J-99 JOY (SLO) managed to find enough breeze to finish 9 hours ahead of their runner-up rivals Paolo Striuli and Roberto Scardellato on their IMX 38 BLACK ANGEL (ITA) and nearly the same on third-placed Andrea Emili and Thomas Scola on their modified First 36.7 MARGOT (ITA).
Complete race details are available at https://orc.org/dheuropeans2024
2024 ORC Sportboat European Championship
The 2024 ORC Sportboat European Championship was raced in Valencia, Spain over 1-7 July and hosted by the Real Club Nautico Valencia. 13 entries from 4 countries attended and raced one 28-mile coastal race and 7 inshore races held on windward/leeward courses.
The four race days featured mostly sea breeze conditions, and there were many close race results using ORC Performance Curve Scoring. The event’s winner was determined only in the last race and was resolved only after a tie-break with the runner up.
After a mediocre start to the event in the opening long race, Jose Antonio Anton Olmos on his Sonar 23 SOS MAR MENOR (ESP), vastly improved with only one race worse than second in the remaining seven races in the series, defeating Andrea Pietrolucci’s Este 24 MILU’ 4 (ITA) for the win. Winning Bronze was Sukru Sanus and Zeynap Abatay’s Farr 25 OD ORIENT EXPRESS (TUR)
Future ORC Championship events
Future confirmed ORC Championship events include:
- 2025 ORC World Championship in Tallinn (EST), 8-16 August 2025
- 2025 ORC European Championship / Copa del Rey MAPFRE in Palma (ESP), 26 July - 2 August 2025
- 2025 ORC North American Championship in Chicago (USA), 20-24 August 2025
- 2025 ORC Double-Handed World Championship in Monfalcone (ITA), 7-13 September 2025
- 2025 ORC Double-Handed European Championship in Helsinki (FIN), 5-12 July 2025
- 2025 ORC Sportboat European Championship in Torbole (ITA), 18-24 May 2025 TBC
- 2026 ORC World Championship in Sorrento (ITA), 1-7 May 2026
- 2026 ORC Double-Handed World Championship in Scheveningen (NED), 22-25 May 2026
- 2026 ORC European Championship in Klaipeda (LTU), dates TBA
- 2026 ORC Double-Handed European Championship in Altea (ESP), dates TBA
- 2026 ORC North American Championship in San Francisco (USA), Sept dates TBA
- 2026 ORC Sportboat European Championship in Cartagena (ESP), Sept or Oct 2026
Note that in 2025 will be the first-ever ORC North American Championship in Chicago, followed in 2026 in San Francisco, with plans to continue to move the host venues annually throughout the USA, CAN and possibly MEX in subsequent years.
Other future ORC championship events for 2026 may be confirmed by the Offshore Classes and Events Committee during the coming year.
WS Sailor Categorization Code
Application of the WS Sailor Categorization Code is a regular feature to all ORC Championship events: World, European, Mediterranean, Double-Handed and European Sportboat Championships in defining the criteria for entries eligible for Corinthian Trophies offered in each event.
At the World Championship, Commission member Dobbs Davis worked hard during Registration to screen crew lists and with the help of the OA, Commission Chairman Glen Stanaway and WS staff. Troubleshooting individual cases was occasionally resolved by interviews, both remote and on-site.
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