ORC World Championship - Class splits revealed

by ORC Media on 3 Apr 2014 The record-breaking ORC World Championship fleet of over 160 entries will be split into three classes, with further sub-divisions made to enhance race quality.

After a careful analysis of the current fleet of over 160 entries from 18 countries, organizers from Kieler Yacht-Club (KYC) and the Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) have decided to divide the fleet into the following Classes for the 2014 ORC World Championship:

Class A:  ≥420.0 and <550.0 sec/mi GPH
Class B:  ≥550.0 and <615.0 sec/mi GPH
Class C:  ≥615.0 and ≤700.0 sec/mi GPH

Currently, this places approximately 30 boats in Class A, 65 boats in Class B, and 65 boats in Class C. The exact numbers will not be determined until the close of entries on July 28th, and all boats have submitted their final 2014 ORCi certificates for entry.

Dates for this event, the official ISAF Offshore World Championship, are scheduled for August 2-9, 2014.

Due to the large number of entries in Class B and Class C, and a desire to keep starting lines and race courses to a manageable size, race managers Eckart Reinke and Stefan Kunstmann have also decided to further divide these classes for the racing to be held in two separate course areas: for the first four scheduled days of racing the entries in each of two groups from Class B and Class C will be racing each other, and results will be used to determine a final Gold and Silver group in each class.

Gold group competitors in each class will thus be competing for the overall Championship trophies. A similar scheme was used successfully in the very large Class B fleet at the 2012 Audi ORCi World Championship in Helsinki.

'Achieving the right balance between fleet size and ensuring the quality of the competition for all participants is a real challenge for an open fleet of this large size,' says KYC event chairman Ecky von der Mosel. 'But fortunately with the experience we have from the fleets we work with each year at Kieler Woche, and with the knowledge ORC has of the types of boats that are racing and the formats used in the last two World Championships, we feel confident we will produce the most fair racing possible for both participants and race managers.'

Event website: click here