News Archive

The Offshore Racing Congress proudly announces that Johan Tuvstedt from Sweden has been officially appointed as a World Sailing International Measurer (IM) for the ORC class. This prestigious recognition follows his approval by the Race Officials Committee during the 2024 World Sailing Annual Conference.

In Singapore the ORC Nominating Committee led by Peter Tjalma (NED) recommended a two-term ORC Congress member join the ORC Management Committee to replace the retiring Pepe Frers (ARG). Their choice was an experienced sailor, race organizer and tireless volunteer for the sport based in Chicago: Matt Gallagher (USA).

Every organization needs strong professional administrative skills to succeed, and the Offshore Racing Congress, founded in 1969, has been fortunate to have several talented Secretaries in this important role.

The Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) is pleased to announce the appointment of David Bartol in a new position to help manage the growth of interest in racing small, lightweight, fast boats in the sportboat category. These boats have been immensely popular in a variety of regions around the world, yet outside of one-design formats they often struggle to have fair racing under handicap.

At the 55th ORC Congress Meeting in Singapore, the Officers were elected to lead the organization for a new four-year term of 2025-2028, effective immediately.

High-tech intersects with the historic sport of yacht racing in Leica's latest case study. Learn how the Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) and the iconic Nautor Swan are leveraging 3D laser scanning and Leica's reality capture technology in the world of yacht classification.

2024 is another successful year, with >14K certificates issued worldwide. Representatives of boat owners and sailors from the 41 nations around the world that use rating certificates from the Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) met today in Singapore at the 55th edition of their annual Congress meeting.

The strength of the ORC system is in its ability to use the latest scientific and technical tools to provide what’s needed for fair racing among racing sailboats of dissimilar design. With continual investment in research and updated analyses of the fleet, this approach to handicapping is more consistent and objective than other approaches since it can use these tools to more fairly rate boat types that range widely among Monohulls, Multihulls, Superyachts and now J Class yachts too.

The Offshore Racing Congress reports another great year of progress in its 55th year of providing technical solutions for fair racing among a wide variety of racing yachts: Monohulls, Multihulls, Superyachts and a new class this year: the magnificent J Class yachts.

The 2024 edition of the Mediterranean’s most famous 600-mile offshore race was one of the most memorable on record.
Swiss Franco Niggeler's Cookson 50 KUKA 3 wins Overall ORC Category and Boccale del Mediterraneo Trophy.

Organizers of the annual Southern Ocean Racing Conference (SORC), the premier ORC-scored winter offshore race series in the US, have announced that due to ongoing weather challenges in central Florida, they have made the difficult decision to cancel and replace this year’s St. Petersburg to Lauderdale Race, originally scheduled for November 20th.

The inaugural South African ORC Double-Handed Championship will be held on 19-20 October 2024. The Championship will be staged as a single offshore race, known as the Canyon Cup 100, with an intended course of 100 miles.

The team which has virtually dominated J Class racing since they joined the fleet early in 2022, had originally made winning this prestigious regatta - which has been sailed at the heart of the 37th America's Cup arena - as one of their primary goals from the outset.

The winners of the Barcelona Superyacht Regatta 2024 were: V, followed by Jasi and Nefertiti in the Performance Class. In the Cruiser Class, Halekai took the grand prize, followed by Esense and Fidelis.

October 5, 2024 - Newport, Rhode Island, USA - After six days of competitive inshore and offshore racing within three classes, two new and one returning team have been crowned ORC World Champions at the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court. These three teams demonstrated an exceptional level of preparation, practice and eventual execution to prevail after six days of intense inshore and offshore racing among the 43 entries with top-level sailors from throughout the United States and around the globe.

October 4, 2024 - Newport, Rhode Island, USA - Today’s penultimate race day at the 2024 ORC World Championship held at New York Yacht Club Harbour Court featured a day-long distance race to fulfil the event’s requirement to give another test of offshore sailing skill among the 43 participating teams.

October 3, 2024 - Newport, Rhode Island, USA - A delayed start to wait for wind today still yielded two more windward-leeward inshore races at the 2024 ORC World Championship held at New York Yacht Club Harbour Court. With five inshore races completed, the scorelines now have one discard applied, resulting in even closer points margins on the leaderboard in some classes.

Today the weather was the star in Day Three of the 2024 ORC World Championship held at New York Yacht Club at Harbour Court. A rather gloomy forecast of a 6- to 8-knot easterly blossomed into 10 to 12 knots and what many locals called some of the best conditions of the season.