Having spent their recent championships drifting around the Adriatic or freezing in the Baltic and North Sea, for 2022 ORC enthusiasts have finally made it to Porto Cervo. For decades the rest of the world had the Yacht Club Costa Smeralda pegged as one of the all-time great regatta venues but for some reason – cost perhaps – it was passed over by ORC organisers. Now the problem will be a follow-up


owners appreciate more than just results. I think this is an important realisation that is too often lost among the best teams.’ As for their set-up for the Worlds, Brady feels confident that an approach that is not over-complex will be best, so that they can focus on the basics of racing the various courses in the programme: seven windward/leeward races and two coastal/offshore courses. Unlike the TP52 Super Series where teams have as many as three mainsails and several headsails waiting in their support RIB, ready to deploy, ORC specifies strict sail limits on each certificate (although as yet there is no limitation on support boats, which Brady thinks should be similarly restricted).


‘At $78,000 for a TP52 mainsail, $12,000 just for the battens, it’s ridiculous the amount of money that can be spent on sails alone,’ he says. ‘This is why it’s important to rein in these costs


with sensible sail limits and I think ORC has the right balanced approach on this. You just have to be smart – for example, our rig is fairly simple, without a lot of deflectors, because I believe with the right luff curve on the main the sail can still be controlled well throughout the range for a single race day.’


ORC also rates speciality headsails and Code 0s, although Brady says he’s not too caught up in these either, except exploring the crossovers between an A3 spinnaker and a 75% Code 0 for the tighter reaching angles often encountered in coastal races. Even with an expressed desire for simplicity, this debate will without doubt roll on within the Beau Geste team: their helmsman is slated to be Ken Read, who as president of North Sails may have some opinions of his own on this topic… Dobbs Davis


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SEAHORSE 37


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