ORC in Buffalo

At the invitation of the Buffalo ORC group chaired by Jack Kitrenos, US Comms Director Dobbs Davis gave a two-hour presentation of the ORC system to an assembled group of 50 people from the US and Canada at the spectacular Kleinhans Symphony Hall near downtown Buffalo on April 27.

Topics included the need for multiple-rating solutions in modern diverse fleets, the importance of data accuracy for fair ratings, and the broad range of scoring options offered on ORC USA-CAN rating certificates. Examples were given of races scored in other regional fleets using ORC, demonstrating close and more fair results than the use of single-number handicaps.

The pathway towards receiving ORC Club or ORC International certificates from US Sailing or ORC Canada was also discussed, and guidance references given from the newly-published ORC Race Management Guidebook for USA-CAN posted on the ORC page of the US Sailing website.

Besides an already strong presence in the Lakes region of Lake Michigan, Lake Huron and Detroit, there is growing local interest in ORC use also in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Stay tuned for more reports.