First-ever ORC Asian Championship to be held at Busan Super Cup

by Dobbs Davis on 9 Apr 2014 Organizers from the Busan Sailing Federation (BSF) in conjunction with Busan Metropolitan City, Sungwoo Hightech Co., Ltd under the authority of the Korean Sailing Federation, as well as the Offshore Racing Congress (ORC), are all pleased to announce the first-ever ORC Asian Championship will be held as part of the Busan Super Cup International Yacht Race 2014. This is the first ORC continental championship event to be held in Asia with ORCi certificates and scoring, and will feature ORC's new shorter four-day format option for continental championships: six inshore races and one offshore race.

Activities will start with a Pre-measurement period held over April 28-30th, Registration and Measurement will be held over May 1-2nd, and Racing will start on May 2nd and proceed daily through May 5th. Shoreside activities will be held at the Busan Yachting Center Marina, with inshore races held south of Busan in Su Yeong Bay. And weather-permitting, the offshore race will be from Busan to the island of Nam Hyung Je-Do and return, for a duration of 10-12 hours.

Teams with ORC Club certificates can enter the Open section of the event, but only teams with ORCi Certificates may qualify for trophies in the ORC Asian Championship. The ORC technical staff is assisting BSF organizers in the next several weeks to perform the additional measurements necessary to 'upgrade' the fleet from ORC Club to ORCi certificates.

'To sailors and officials from home and abroad participating in the Busan Super Cup, my warmest welcome to you all to Busan, the maritime capital of Korea,' said Hur Nam-sik, Mayor of Busan Metropolitan City. 'Busan City is committed to providing every possible support for the continued development of this sailing event, enabling international sailors to improve their skills and to show off the best of our yachting culture. In this regard, I look forward to your keen interest and full support.'

In order to encourage foreign teams to enter this event, Busan Super Cup organizers offer generous subsidies for teams from out of the area, ranging from 500,000 KRW (about €350) available to teams entered from outside Busan, to 2,000,000 KRW (about €1400) for overseas teams entering from China, Russia, or beyond.

Busan has a history of hosting world-class sailing events, going back to the 1988 Olympic Games for Sailing, two Asian Games events, the ISAF/ORC AGM in 2009 and several prize-money Women's Match Race events, to name a few.

'We anticipate many competitive sailors to join us and enjoy racing here in Busan,' said June Lee, a member of the event's Organizing Committee. 'We would like to express our sincere appreciation to ORC representatives in China, Japan, Russia and the ORC staff for their energetic support and advice.'

Organizers anticipate teams from these nations in addition to South Korea to participate, with 40 boats expected and some 500 sailors and their families to be part of the festivities.

'We are pleased that Busan is the site of the first-ever ORC Asian Championship. This region is very important in its potential for the future growth and popularity of offshore sailing, and we are happy to help in this growth,' said Bruno Finzi, Chairman of the Offshore Racing Congress. 'There has been a lot of work that the Busan Sailing Federation has done to raise the level of their regatta to be an ORC Continental championship, and we look forward to assisting the organizers give the teams from the region the best possible racing to our international standards.'

For more information about the Busan Super Cup, visit the event website.