Offshore Racing Congress 2011 rules now available

by ORC Press on 15 Jan 2011 Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) is pleased to announce the following 2011 ORC rules are available for download from the ORC website: the International Measurement System (IMS), the ORC Rating Rules systems, and the ORC 'Green Book' of Championship rules and ORC Class guidelines. This latter book has four sections, available for download separately or combined: the ORC Championship Rules, the ORC Standard Notice of Race, the ORC Standard Sailing Instructions, and guidelines for the ORC level-rating Classes, which currently includes ORC Maxis, ORC MiniMaxis and ORC Sportboats.

'We are proud to once again offer the ORC Rules and guidelines for 2011,' said Bruno Finzi, Chairman of ORC. 'This is continuing a long tradition ORC has had in providing an important framework for the offshore sailing community.'

With the availability of the 2011 ORC VPP, all 30 ORC Rating Offices around the world can now start issuing 2011 ORC Club and ORC International certificates which are valid for racing, and race managers can access RMS files for use in scoring programmes.

In addition, the final version of the Designer version of the 2011 ORC VPP is also now available for download, following on the Beta version release first offered one month ago. The 40%-off discounted price of €300 increases after tomorrow, 15 January, to the regular price of €500.

The ORC VPP Designer's version (DVP) is a Windows-based software programme, easy to use, with user-friendly interface and standard Windows functions. It uses the same software used by Rating officers to issue certificates, a function that is not implemented in this version but does give a complete set of hydro and aerodynamic data, as defined by the ORC rules but also as conventionally calculated.

Any designer may process design data through the VPP to analyse rating effects, and the software is therefore regarded as essential to anyone contemplating an 'ORC design' project. The subscription will not give access to existing hull data without the written permission of its designer, but rig, sails and other measurements can be found from any copy of an ORC Certificate.

A detailed summary of the changes made for 2011 can be found in Rules and Regulations section on the ORC website, but changes from 2010 are also highlighted in the margins of each document.

ORC Rules and Regulations are published in English, but ORC will seek to provide translations in other languages in collaboration with the 30 ORC Rating Offices around the world.

New rules for the GP 26, GP 33, and GP 42 Classes are in final review, and the VPP Documentation for 2011 is also being finalized. These will be available soon.

www.orc.org