ORC
(Definitely) a step in the right direction
The prologue The Offshore World Championship in The Hague is now part of history and it is time to look back trying to draw some conclusions. As expected, the event was particularly interesting since for the first time ever the results were calculated using both the ORC and IRC systems, with the sum of the points used to produce the final rankings in each race and in the series overall. A tight six-day programme allowed for two offshore and seven
inshore races that ticked most boxes. Wind conditions were generally light to medium, in the offshores ranging from 0-12kt and on the inshore courses mainly between 8 and 12kt. As a result the choice of ORC Triple Number employed was usually ‘Medium’ with only two races scored using the ‘High’ number (actually, the breeze was frequently on the crossover so the committee had some hard calls making their choice – directly affecting some results). Under IRC scoring there is of course just a single TCC number to work with. Strong currents were always expected in The Hague with a max-
imum velocity of about 2kt – though most of the time the direction was aligned with the course axis. Although this flow velocity during the inshore races was steady, even employing time-on-time (much preferable in tide but the first time this has been tried at a major ORC event) this still had a big impact on the results as it influenced the balance between time spent sailing upwind and down. Since handicap systems in general do not take current into account, when the ratio between wind and current speed is low some boats will
32 SEAHORSE
always be favoured and this is true whether you are using a time or distance-based format.
The play IRC and ORC certificates had been issued for all the 85 entries using the same measurements, so it is possible to compare pre- cisely both ratings and results across the fleet. Looking at the final results, each class had its own story, since the number of entries in each category varied considerably as did the characteristics of the boats. Class A had just a small number of entries (nine), almost all of
which were proper racing machines not designed for handicap racing apart from the Ker 46 and the Botín 52 that were born as IRC-driven designs. The overall standings confirm the supremacy of the big high-performance boats – the Botín 52 Beau Geste and the TP52 Outsider ended the regatta with a considerable lead over the third-place Ker 46 Van Uden. The only two cruiser-racers in this class, the Swan 45 Blue Nights
(2017 ORC European champion) and the X-44 Xenia, could not do much to get onto the podium. Interestingly in this fleet the ORC and IRC scores were almost
identical in all races showing a good match between the rules and confirming that at this size both systems favour fast boats. On the other hand, it was disappointing to see that a Swan 45 – one of the nicest cruiser-racers around – even when sailed by a good crew
SANDER VAN DER BORCH
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