News Archive

Yacht racing is a unique sport where vessels of different sizes and designs can compete against each other in the same race. Some designs are inherently faster than others, so achieving fairness means applying varying handicaps to individual yachts to adjust raw race times. This ensures the best sailors win, not just the fastest boats.

The Officers and Staff of the ORC - Offshore Racing Congress wish you and your loved ones a joyous Christmas season and the Best Wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year!

While nearly every weather condition can be encountered on this race, for the 40th edition of the race in June 2025 the organizers from Annapolis Yacht Club are strongly considering use of ORC's Weather Routing Scoring (WRS) to generate fair ratings for a complex course that includes three distinct segments

The Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) and VENNVIND take their partnership to the next level as ORC’s Official Technical Clothing Supplier.

Past weekend, the Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) team held hosting its annual staff meeting at the iconic Monfalcone Yacht Club, where we were planning the 2025 season and refined our long-term strategy for 2025–2030.

The 2025 ORC Sportboat European Championship will be held over 11-17 May 2025 in one of the world's most iconic small boat sailing venues: Lago di Garda, Italy. The Circolo Vela Torbole in cooperation with ORC has just issued their Notice of Race and invitation to enter.

Circolo del Remo e della Vela Italia, organizer of the prestigious Tre Golfi Sailing Week, is thrilled to announce that entries for the 2025 edition of the event are now open. Interested participants can register on the official website, tregolfisailingweek.com, where the Notice of Race and additional details are also available.

The Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) concluded its 2024 Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Singapore with a clear vision for the future. Building on growth and key achievements in 2024, ORC has set ambitious goals for 2025, focusing on innovation, sustainability, and global expansion.

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.