Rolex Sydney Hobart 2011 ORCi versus IRC as handicap rule

by Rob Kothe and the Sail-World Team on 29 Dec 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart 2011 and tomorrow the handicap winner for this year’s race will probably be decided. The overall IRC handicap rating winner will receive the prestigious Tattersalls Cup and there will be IRC results for 72 boats sailing in the fleet across four divisions.

At the same time there will be another set of handicap results for yachts sailing under the ORCi handicap rating, 38 boats in three divisions.

Over the years there have been a number of different rating systems for this race. Back in the 1980’s it was IOR, then came IMS, which gave way to IRC, the rule under which the Tattersalls Cup is decided.

With the introduction of the ORCi, offered by the Offshore Racing Council (ORC) as the replacement for IMS, a number of owners (amongst those Syd Fischer) have been in recent years expressing their preference for a measured, transparent rating rule.

Since 2009 under the watch of Past CYCA Commodore Matt Allen, entries under both IRC and ORCi have been accepted for the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

It seems the number of boats entered under ORCi is slowly but surely growing, with 38 boats this year ticking both IRC and ORCi options.

The winner of the Sydney Hobart race has won in both IRC and ORC although they are two fundamentally different systems. It will be interesting to compare the two sets of results at the end of this year’s race.

We talked to Matt Allen pre-Hobart about the two rules.

He explained ‘ORCi addresses stability issues where IRC doesn’t. The ORCi stability index is derived from the old IMS stability index which is something that we all know and trust in a comprehensive fashion. It’s used today to determine whether boats meet the stability requires for the Hobart race.

‘ORCi is a transparent rule while IRC is not. There are pros and cons for each rule.

‘I think also measuring the stability is a good thing as long as stability is encouraged. We don’t want to go back to sailing tippy boats. IMS, people thought it was in some respects a good rule but didn’t encourage boats to be stable and didn’t move with the times and possibly didn’t encourage boats to be quick as much as one might have wanted them to be.

‘I think IRC encouraged quick boats at 50 foot plus and has traditionally not encouraged boats under 50 feet or under 45 feet to be all that fast.

‘There is a comment from a lot of countries where they believe that the racer cruiser is more fairly treated in ORCi than IRC.

'They tend to think that some production boats do well under IRC while other brands do not seem to be nearly as well handicapped. Under ORCi they are possibly more evenly treated.

'There is probably a majority of owners that are saying that IRC is working and therefore don’t upset the apple cart and there is also a large group of owners, probably a minority, who are saying well they are not overly happy with IRC and would like to have a look at ORCi.

'It’s the only other rating rule that is probably going to be on the horizon in the foreseeable future. It is something that Australia should keep track of development wise and so I am pleased to see the dual scoring this happens with the Rolex Sydney Hobart race.'

Dobbs Davis from the Offshore Rating Council commented ‘ORC seems to be doing a better job across a broader range of boat types than some of the other rating rules.

‘There is already a measurement protocol place for the category 1 offshore sailors in Australia to get stability measured and they use the IMS protocol to do that.

‘Back in the days of IMS in the late 90s and early 2000s the measurement of stability was there but it was not accurately modelled in the performance of the VPP so the designers have worked around it.

‘That's been gone since 2007 when the ORC invested heavily in better analysis to produce much more accurate results.

‘Under ORCi Fast boats do fine and slow boats do fine. That's the challenge of all these rules, to make them work across the range of boat types. It is a challenge for sure but based on the results that we saw from the recent World Championships where we had 119 boats from 16 countries and in which we had that broad range of boat types, it seems to be working and it seems to be fair.

‘Owners are dissatisfied with strong type forming in the rules. The analysis we did from the last Worlds results show, are not strong type forming tendencies that the ORC type system might work as a good alternative across boat types but most importantly is it offers flexibility.

‘The ORCi scoring can be done on a single number time on time basis if you like or you can choose amongst other options.

‘You can do an offshore single number option. You can do an inshore single number option. You can do a triple number option of time on time across three different wind speeds.

‘It’s a scientific based system with no politics, no guessing. The rule is downloadable.

‘Boats are entering ORCi because they get a certificate anyway to get the stability.

‘The interesting part will come in the next day or two when we will look at the IRC and ORCi results and compare the two.’

Yes it will be and yes we will.

Here is the current ORCi progressive data on the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart race.

Standings At racetime 03:04:20 - 29 December 2011, 5:20pm

									EST. ELAPSED			EST. CORR.
	YACHT NAME	DIV	LAT	LONG	DTG	SOG	COG		TIME & SPEED		H'CAP	TIME & SPEED
ORCI Overall
1	Wild Rose	3	42° 22' S	148° 34' E	98.8	4.5	210		03:18:06:40	7.0	1.003	03:18:22:53	7.0
	R Hickman (34) NSW		10nm E of Cape Sonnerat					30 Dec, 7:06am
					Time to Win			03:18:41:25 30 Dec, 7:41am
2	Victoire	2	42° 54' S	148° 10' E	61.8	8.1	218		03:12:59:15	7.4	1.0689	03:18:50:35	6.9
	Darryl Hodgkinson (1) NSW		16nm S of Maria Island					30 Dec, 1:59am
					Time to Win			03:13:05:57 30 Dec, 2:05am
3	Ragamuffin	1	Finished						03:00:04:42	8.7	1.262	03:18:57:46	6.9
	Syd Fischer (42) NSW							29 Dec, 1:04pm
4	Jazz	1	Finished						02:23:53:56	8.7	1.2677	03:19:08:46	6.9
	Chris Bull (4) NSW							29 Dec, 12:53pm
5	Balance	2	42° 51' S	148° 15' E	66.6	7.2	208		03:13:09:55	7.4	1.0742	03:19:29:04	6.9
	Paul Clitheroe (4) NSW		13nm S of Maria Island					30 Dec, 2:09am
					Time to Win			03:12:40:45 30 Dec, 1:40am
6	Calm	1	Finished						02:23:42:55	8.8	1.2805	03:19:49:53	6.8
	Jason Van der Slot (6) VIC							29 Dec, 12:42pm
7	Two True	3	42° 33' S	148° 31' E	87.6	6.6	219		03:16:34:51	7.1	1.0384	03:19:58:56	6.8
	Andrew Saies (6) SA		15nm SE of Cape Sonnerat					30 Dec, 5:34am
					Time to Win			03:15:35:55 30 Dec, 4:35am
8	Lunchtime Legend	3	42° 20' S	148° 46' E	104.8	6.9	223		03:18:05:05	7.0	1.0309	03:20:52:06	6.8
	Robbo Robertson (10) QLD		19nm E of Cape Sonnerat					30 Dec, 7:05am
					Time to Win			03:16:14:09 30 Dec, 5:14am
9	Last Tango	2	42° 28' S	148° 28' E	90.9	6.3	214		03:16:49:02	7.1	1.0555	03:21:44:48	6.7
	Phillip King (14) NSW		10nm SE of Cape Sonnerat					30 Dec, 5:49am
					Time to Win			03:14:10:46 30 Dec, 3:10am
10	Patrice Six	2	42° 30' S	148° 33' E	91.2	5.7	215		03:16:48:35	7.1	1.0573	03:21:53:55	6.7
	Tony Kirby (27) NSW		14nm SE of Cape Sonnerat					30 Dec, 5:48am
					Time to Win			03:14:01:58 30 Dec, 3:01am
11	Deloitte As One	3	42° 11' S	148° 45' E	111.9	7.2	217		03:19:07:58	6.9	1.0338	03:22:12:47	6.7
	Chris Lewin (4) NSW		21nm NE of Cape Sonnerat					30 Dec, 8:07am
					Time to Win			03:15:59:18 30 Dec, 4:59am
12	Ella Bache	3	42° 11' S	148° 46' E	112.7	6.8	212		03:19:16:15	6.9	1.0362	03:22:34:29	6.6
	Jessica Watson NSW		21nm NE of Cape Sonnerat					30 Dec, 8:16am
					Time to Win			03:15:47:04 30 Dec, 4:47am
13	Minerva	1	42° 41' S	148° 18' E	76.8	5.0	224		03:14:32:50	7.3	1.1015	03:23:19:54	6.6
	Edward Cox (1) NSW		6nm E of Maria Island					30 Dec, 3:32am
					Time to Win			03:10:34:50 29 Dec, 11:34pm
14	Carina	3	41° 43' S	149° 05' E	143.4	7.0	200		03:22:44:05	6.6	1.0083	03:23:31:16	6.6
	Rives Potts USA		41nm SE of St Helens Point					30 Dec, 11:44am
					Time to Win			03:18:12:49 30 Dec, 7:12am
15	Copernicus	3	41° 25' S	148° 56' E	157.8	7.0	203		04:01:00:19	6.5	0.9894	03:23:58:37	6.5
	Greg Zyner (4) NSW		27nm E of St Helens Point					30 Dec, 2:00pm
					Time to Win			03:19:56:13 30 Dec, 8:56am
16	AFR Midnight Rambler	1	42° 51' S	148° 17' E	67.4	7.4	205		03:13:15:54	7.4	1.1297	04:00:19:26	6.5
	Ed Psaltis (30) NSW		13nm SE of Maria Island					30 Dec, 2:15am
					Time to Win			03:08:31:08 29 Dec, 9:31pm
17	Martela	3	41° 31' S	149° 10' E	156.3	7.2	211		04:02:06:30	6.4	0.984	04:00:32:19	6.5
	Anthony Williams (4) TAS		39nm E of St Helens Point					30 Dec, 3:06pm
					Time to Win			03:20:26:29 30 Dec, 9:26am
18	Kiss Goodbye to MS	2	41° 59' S	148° 37' E	120.6	6.1	207		03:20:58:20	6.8	1.0417	04:00:50:57	6.5
	Tony Warren (3) VIC		25nm NE of Cape Sonnerat					30 Dec, 9:58am
					Time to Win			03:15:19:16 30 Dec, 4:19am
19	Sweethart	3	41° 53' S	148° 52' E	130.2	5.3	207		03:23:23:57	6.6	1.0194	04:01:15:00	6.5
	Laurence Pidgeon (4) QLD		36nm NE of Cape Sonnerat					30 Dec, 12:23pm
					Time to Win			03:17:13:53 30 Dec, 6:13am
20	Lahana	1	Finished						02:12:34:26	10.4	1.6175	04:01:58:42	6.4
	Peter Millard (2) NSW							29 Dec, 1:34am
21	Patrice IV	2	41° 59' S	148° 53' E	125.5	5.9	213		03:21:50:22	6.7	1.0457	04:02:07:40	6.4
	Shane Wiseman SA		32nm NE of Cape Sonnerat					30 Dec, 10:50am
					Time to Win			03:14:59:13 30 Dec, 3:59am
22	Jazz Player	2	42° 10' S	148° 56' E	117.0	7.9	214		03:19:44:09	6.8	1.072	04:02:20:27	6.4
	Andrew Lawrence (2) VIC		28nm E of Cape Sonnerat					30 Dec, 8:44am
					Time to Win			03:12:51:11 30 Dec, 1:51am
23	One For The Road	3	41° 58' S	148° 49' E	124.9	6.5	210		03:23:03:25	6.6	1.0361	04:02:29:19	6.4
	Kym Butler (3) NSW		31nm NE of Cape Sonnerat					30 Dec, 12:03pm
					Time to Win			03:15:47:35 30 Dec, 4:47am
24	Not Negotiable	3	40° 11' S	149° 32' E	236.2	7.4	206		04:17:30:51	5.5	0.8688	04:02:37:16	6.4
	John Rayner TAS		56nm E of Flinders Island					31 Dec, 6:30am
					Time to Win			04:08:41:56 30 Dec, 9:41pm
25	Knee Deep	1	43° 00' S	148° 01' E	55.1	7.9	202		03:11:58:32	7.5	1.1766	04:02:48:20	6.4
	Philip Childs (4) WA		14nm N of Tasman Island					30 Dec, 12:58am
					Time to Win			03:05:18:34 29 Dec, 6:18pm
26	Chutzpah	1	42° 43' S	148° 15' E	73.8	6.5	203		03:14:32:48	7.3	1.1589	04:04:17:56	6.3
	Bruce Taylor (30) VIC		6nm SE of Maria Island					30 Dec, 3:32am
					Time to Win			03:06:29:25 29 Dec, 7:29pm
27	Outrageous Fortune	2	41° 41' S	149° 00' E	144.0	5.8	189		03:22:40:45	6.6	1.0617	04:04:31:15	6.3
	Quintin Fowler New Zealand		37nm SE of St Helens Point					30 Dec, 11:40am
					Time to Win			03:13:40:34 30 Dec, 2:40am
28	Nutcracker	3	41° 00' S	149° 00' E	182.1	7.5	208		04:05:41:55	6.2	0.99	04:04:40:54	6.2
	Robert Davis / David Clancy VIC		29nm E of Eddystone Pt					30 Dec, 6:41pm
					Time to Win			03:19:52:52 30 Dec, 8:52am
29	Chancellor	3	41° 10' S	148° 42' E	168.9	6.4	200		04:03:52:44	6.3	1.0191	04:05:47:12	6.2
	Ted Tooher (6) NSW		17nm NE of St Helens Point					30 Dec, 4:52pm
					Time to Win			03:17:15:27 30 Dec, 6:15am
30	Optimus Prime	1	43° 00' S	148° 12' E	57.6	7.4	195		03:13:08:09	7.4	1.2058	04:06:39:24	6.1
	Trevor Taylor (3) WA		17nm NE of Tasman Island					30 Dec, 2:08am
31	Samurai Jack	2	41° 12' S	149° 02' E	171.5	7.7	198		04:03:02:46	6.3	1.0744	04:10:24:55	5.9
	Michael Lazzarini (1) QLD		31nm E of St Helens Point					30 Dec, 4:02pm
					Time to Win			03:12:39:48 30 Dec, 1:39am
32	Brindabella	1	Finished						03:03:27:00	8.3	1.4139	04:10:40:44	5.9
	Jim Cooney (1) NSW							29 Dec, 4:27pm
33	Fullynpushing	3	40° 40' S	149° 08' E	203.5	7.4	201		04:08:21:28	6.0	1.0356	04:12:04:22	5.8
	Andrew Griffiths VIC		41nm NE of Eddystone Pt					30 Dec, 9:21pm
					Time to Win			03:15:50:07 30 Dec, 4:50am
	Accenture Yeah Baby*	1	Retired - at Port
	Marc Ryckmans (5) NSW
	Alacrity*	2	Retired - at Port
	Chris Percy QLD
	Celestial*	1	Retired - at Port
	Sam Haynes (1) NSW
	Duende*	1	Retired - at Port
	Damien Parkes (24) NSW
	Pretty Fly III*	1	Retired - at Port
	Colin Woods (5) NSW