The Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) is pleased to announce the new rules and regulations for this year's 2024 season of racing are now available online.
These rules cover a range of topics related to fair handicap racing held among a broad range of boat types, from Sport boats to Superyachts to Multihulls.
The 2024 ORC Velocity Prediction Program (VPP) is also now ready and distributed to national rating offices around the world for them to start issuing 2024 ORC International and ORC Club certificates according to their local policies.
The 2024 VPP is also loaded into the ORC's unique Sailor Services online portal for retrieving copies of any ORCi or ORC Club certificate issued in the last 15 years and using this data for running Test Certificates, generating ORC Speed Guide polars and producing Target Speed performance data for upwind and downwind VMG racing.
A summary of the changes to the rules based on approvals from the 2023 ORC Congress Annual Meeting is available and include some notable improvements such as :-
Adding 24 knots to the True Wind Speed range of the ORC VPP
Expanding allowed use of whisker poles
Updates of depowering and force coefficients for Headsails set Flying
Allowing Headsails set Flying to be flown in front of the forestay along with a spinnaker
Removal of GPH from certificates in favor of APH
Addition of a new Class 0 among the CDL limits defined for ORC Championship events
Any fair rating system needs a solid platform that defines the procedures and methods for measuring a boat's hull, appendages, propeller, stability, rig, sails and accommodations, and this is described in the International Measurement System (IMS) rules.
These are intended to be used primarily for ORC International and ORC Club certificates, but they can also be used by other handicapping systems that wish to adjust their performance analysis by secret or public formulae. The IMS follows the concept of the Universal Measurement System (UMS) and may be used by any rating system.
The ORC Rating System rules for ORC International and ORC Club certificates use IMS as a measurement platform and the ORC Velocity Prediction Program (VPP) to rate boats of different characteristics in size, hull and appendages shape and configuration, stability, rig and sails measurement, propeller installation and other details affecting their speed.
ORC Rating Rules include the limits and defaults for the hull, rig, sails and crew, the rules applying while racing, certificate layouts and descriptions of different ORC scoring options, with the flexibility to allow national variations in scoring preferences when desired.
The ORC Race Management Guide is a comprehensive guidebook to the way ORC ratings are applied to racing and some best practices tips learned from decades of race management experience at annual ORC championship events. The structure of organizing races and regattas is also discussed, along with many examples of the various scoring methods and recommendations for their intended use.
The ORC VPP Documentation will be updated for 2024 in due course, and the Hull Scanning Measurement Guide and ORC Speed Guide Explanation texts remain unchanged from previous editions.
"We are pleased to give to the racing community this year's set of rules and our latest edition of the VPP in time for the start of racing in the 2024 season," said Bruno Finzi, Chairman of ORC. "These are both the result of a considerable investment of effort and expertise made by our Staff and committee members to continue to innovate and provide the type of fair and transparent handicap racing expected by the sailors in the ORC racing community around the world."
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