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ORC Club is a simplified rating system which
uses the same ORC Velocity Prediction Program (VPP) as ORC
International and the same data structure of the
International Measurement System (IMS). ORC Club handicaps
are compatible with ORC International for scoring races, and ORC
Club and ORC International-rated boats may be scored together in
the same race, but ORC Club may also be administered as a
stand-alone system.
As the name implies, ORC
Club is an economical, simplified handicapping system intended
mainly for racing at the club or area level. The measurement
input used to produce Club certificates is not as rigorously
controlled as that needed for IMS (ORC International?). It is
important that owners and administrators understand Club’s
objectives, how it achieves these, what Club’s limitations are
and what compromises have been made and why. Owners are
responsible for doing their best to supply correct input
information and for asking their Rating Office or local measurer
for assistance when in doubt.
The power of the VPP enables ORC Club to
calculate a yacht's theoretical speeds for different wind
directions and strengths, making it possible to rate the same
boat differently in light and heavy winds. From the owners’ and
race administrators’ perspective, ORC Club is considerably
simplified relative to IMS. It is on a par in this regard with
other simplified systems, but does not sacrifice the rating
accuracy that is made possible with VPP handicapping. It also
offers the Rating Authority and/or race organiser with
scoring flexibility that is not available with other
simplified systems. And ORC Club scoring can be done with a hand
calculator if desired.
By definition, an ORC Club certificate is
produced on the basis of some combination of “measured” and
“constructed” measurement input. Minimum measurement inputs may
be declared by the owner which eliminates any measurement costs,
but may also be recorded by an official measurer. Once the
required inputs have been entered and the constructed inputs
have been generated by the rating program, the combined set of
data will be processed by the VPP in the same way as for IMS
(ORC Interantional?) processing and an
ORC Club certificate is created. This is possible by using a
very large database of all measured boats worldwide. There are
thousands of types of boats on ORC Standard Hull list, but also
one-offs or non-standard yachts may be calculated by defining
hull lines from drawings, picture or other available documents.
This is done by the ORC or by the local Rating offices and
almost every boat can be rated for ORC Club.
The ORC Club certificate can be obtained very
easily: just fill out an
on-line application form. The data will then be processed to
the relevant rating office and certificate can be issued in a
very short time.
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