We already have a simple handicapping system. Why change to ORC Club?

Other simple rules have been spoiled by "rule beaters".
How can a cheap and simple system also be accurate and fait across the fleet?

I know VPP handicapping by wind velocity makes racing fair, but no one can understand it and computers are required.

Will a Measurer have to be hired?

Does this mean one-offs can’t race Club?

What about errors in simplified input data?

I don’t want to strip my boat for racing; can cruising boats get the credit they need for fair racing?

Where do I go to get ORC Club? Who has the forms and issues the Rating Certificates?

Other simple rules have been spoiled by "rule beaters". How can a cheap and simple system also be accurate and fair across the fleet?

Any handicapping system is a practical compromise struck between producing the most accurate time allowances for all boats on the one hand and, on the other hand, minimising cost and complication of doing so. However, like any developing technology (e.g., computers), over the years quality improves and costs go down. In the case of rating systems, this means that for the same cost, there can today be fewer compromises in quality. This is the case with ORC Club.

For the same low cost, yachts can be raced on a level playing field with fewer owners "buying" their trophies with rule beaters and conversely, fewer owners never having a chance at placing in the top three. For the same low cost, new designs (for which local handicappers have no experience) can enter the racing fleet and be given handicaps which are as fair and accurate at the outset as those for the older designs which have been observed for years.

ORC Club is engineered and crafted with a simple, familiar "user interface", not unlike any number of local handicapping systems, even including the owner declared input of such systems. There, however, the similarity ends... for inside ORC Club is the same advanced technology which has made ORC International the broadly acknowledged standard of fair and accurate handicapping the world over.

Each yacht’s rating certificate under ORC Club is directly produced through an advanced computer Velocity Prediction Program (VPP), just as designers now use. In an effort to correct anomalies and plug loopholes for "problem boats", the administrators of many local handicapping systems are now attempting to reference their handicaps to the ORC VPP by "borrowing" from ORC’s published ORC rating data, a procedure which can only result in gross approximations of correct ratings. Now, with ORC Club, you can have the real thing with no added complication and very low cost.

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I know VPP handicapping by wind velocity makes racing fair, but no one can understand it and computers are required.

Not so with ORC Club! With the simple explanation anyone can understand it and estimate their progress aboard the boat at mark roundings. The Race Committee may never see a computer if they choose not to, but ORC provides free scoring software to Race Committees to serve a great many race management functions which go well beyond Club’s simple scoring calculation. ORC Club’s "Performance Line" scoring requires no more than several quick steps on a hand calculator, whether it is aboard your boat or in the Race Committee office. After a season of Club, you can expect your fleet to demand Performance Line for fair racing, but if not, single-number Time-on-Time and single-number Time-on-Distance or event Triple Number scoring are also provided on the Club certificate.

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Will a Measurer have to be hired?

For an owner of one of several thousand production models already measured and recorded in ORC’s world database, it will cost nothing to measure -- the owner can simply fill out an ORC Club application form confirming a few details about the boat, including a handful of simple sail measurements he has taken himself. All the other information will come from ORC’s database.

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Does this mean one-offs can’t race Club?

No -- all monohulls can be rated, but more information is required for one-offs. Often additional information will be available from the designer or design data the owner has on hand; displacement, draft and so forth. The rig measurements required can all be taken from the deck, probably by the owner himself. Where the yacht has a rating certificate under another rule, any measurement data may be taken from it. If hull shape information is not available from design specifications, sales brochure, etc., then several hull photographs and a few "hard" measurements are all that is required. The owner will be provided with clear instructions, but he may use a Measurer if preferred.

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What about errors in simplified input data?

There are no secrets; The Club Rating Certificate displays in clear, graphic form most of the data on which the yacht has actually been rated and the data is easily checked. To be fair to owners who supply measured input, with regard to declared input, the ORC Club system is specifically designed with a slight statistical bias in the direction of increasing the likelihood that an improvement in input accuracy will result in improvement in rating.

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I don’t want to strip my boat for racing; can cruising boats get the credit they need for fair racing?

Yes! The VPP and Performance Line scoring will take care of design differences in cruisers, but also you can get full credit for the extra weight of your yacht by having it weighed or having the flotation measured if you believe you have a significant disadvantage. You can also get credit for a true cruising interior, for simplified mast rigging, no backstay adjuster, a roller furling jib and for having no "exotic" sails aboard (i.e., all sails are Dacron/Terelyne/Nylon). The rest is up to you and your crew!

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Where do I go to get ORC Club? Who has the forms and issues the Rating Certificates?

ORC Club is available world-wide. The easiest way to submit the data of your boat is on-line application form. Contact the national yachting federation in your country. The Offshore Racing Council is an international governing body composed of federations in 35 countries and in most countries there is already an ORC Rating Office experienced in processing certificates for ORC Club and also for ORC International. They can provide Application Forms and all the information you need, both to you directly and also to your yacht club if you are considering starting a local fleet.

If you do not know how to contact the national federation or they are not active in these rating systems, contact the ORC directly for further information.

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