CARLO BORLENGHI
ORC
Heading for the sun
The annual ORC World Championship has done well in recent editions in attracting a large number of teams, mostly from across Europe, for a solid week of inshore and coastal racing – and this year is no exception. The venue at Yacht Club Costa Smeralda is of course world-class, offering the best in facilities, stunning course areas, race-management skill… and ambience. The level of the most serious teams this year also looks to be
the highest for some time and, with a good diversity of conditions expected over the week, and a wide spread of boat types, the sub- sequent performance analysis from these top teams is important for the ORC tech team to evaluate the VPP for the following year. Preparation is of course always a huge factor in the hunt for a
podium, with the best teams taking a close look not only at the race format and expected weather conditions, but also a peek at their competition to know how to configure their boat, sails and team. Designer Matteo Polli has long been at the forefront of winning ORC designs, with his pretty Italia 11.98s in particular perennial winners in Class C – while last year his Grand Soleil 44 Essentia also dominated Class B at the Worlds in Tallinn. ‘Wind stats for Porto Cervo in mid-June indicate mostly light wind
or heavy wind, with not much in between,’ says Polli, ‘which par- ticularly influences the choices we make about downwind sails.’ With a heavy emphasis on windward/leeward courses, fights on
the downwind legs within the 30-boat classes are inevitably very close, skewing many teams towards symmetrical spinnakers for VMG and tactical advantage approaching the bottom gates (many of these moderate to heavier designs will not be planing in light to medium conditions anyway, regardless of sail configuration). The relative increase in rated speed in ORC this year for asym- metrical spinnakers in light air may further reinforce this trend, but
36 SEAHORSE
Polli continues to believe it’s still worth having the extra speed in these conditions. ‘It’s also worth having A-sails uprange as well, particularly over 14kt in waves, because the sail is easier to fly in semi-planing or surfing conditions; given this weather expectation I’m seeing trends towards more use of asymmetric sails among the boats I’ve been working with in Classes B and C,’ Polli adds. Looking at the roster of entries in Class A, with several Ker 46s,
and Jason Ker, like Polli, being on the ORC ITC, one would have thought the English designer would also have had some optimisation clients for the event... ‘No, not really,’ Jason said. ‘We’ve been very busy with other
work recently, but I honestly think the rule is doing a good enough job that the cost/rating trade-offs for making major changes are simply not there… in IRC either.’ These teams may have finally realised the best gains are made by covering the basics: solid prepa- ration of the team, the boat and well-sorted new sails may get you further than sinking time and money into optimisation loops. Elsewhere in Class A there are four TP52s at the head of the
class, including Hong Kong-based Karl Kwok’s TP52 Beau Geste team back to try to repeat their win at the Worlds in 2018. This time the team is on a newer-generation Super Series boat, the 2018 Botín ex-Onda from the same mould as series champion Azzura. Kwok’s longtime team manager Gavin Brady has some interesting
observations on their approach to this year’s big event. ‘First off, we’re really pleased to be getting back into international competition given the pandemic’s restrictions on travel. This is especially impor- tant for us given our team is so international,’ he said. ‘Secondly, this is such a great venue for owners like Karl who
really enjoy sailing in classic locations like Bomb Alley. It’s spec- tacular sailing, something that all of us should remember and make
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