Huge Fleet Gearing up for 2016 ORC Worlds

Three major ORC championship events in Italy, Greece and Denmark will provide the highlights in 2016.

The largest of these events will be the annual ORC World Championship, now in its 18th year of crowning the best in the sport of inshore and offshore racing in an event sanctioned by World Sailing. This year’s edition will be held July 15-23 and is being co-organized by the Royal Danish Yacht Club (KDY) and Egaa Yacht Club, drawing on the combined talent of the two clubs to set up an efficient and experienced group of ground staff, Race Officers and event management.

The venue harbor will be Skovshoved Harbor located a few kilometers north of Copenhagen. Skovshoved has just been expanded with close to 300 berths, and is one of the best-equipped harbors in Denmark, including a boatyard, chandlery and sailloft. One of KDY’s three clubhouses is also located at Skovshoved.

Sailing for the inshore races will be on the Öresund, a well-known racing area having hosted numerous Worlds, Europeans and Nordic championships. The offshore races will either go to southern part of the Kattegat north of Helsingör, or into the area where Ôresund meets the Baltic Sea.

In 2016 KDY will celebrate its 150-year anniversary being the oldest yacht club in Denmark, with many activities planned throughout the year, including the ORC Worlds and a regatta for “old” Olympic classes as spearheads. The major social event will be a Grand Ball in the Copenhagen Opera with already confirmed participation from the Scandinavian Royal Families.

The 2016 ORC World Championship has thus shown a strong interest, with an impressive number of teams taking advantage of an early entry discount deadline: as of January 1 the event has already attracted an astounding 89 entries from 9 countries throughout Europe and beyond.

The event’s preliminary Notice of Race is available now, with the final NOR to be posted soon. Registration information, which teams have registered to date and more can be found at the event website at http://orcworlds2016.com.

The other major event on the 2016 ORC championship calendar is the ORC European Championship being held in Porto Carras, Greece on July 3-10 and organized by the Nautical Club of Thessaloniki.

Like the Worlds, this event will feature several days of inshore and offshore racing in the Toroneos Gulf and the North Aegean Sea. The start of the competition and the skippers’ meeting will be held at Porto Carras in Halkidiki, which is also the headquarters of the event. Participating boats will be moored in the marina of Porto Carras.

The venue at Porto Carras Grand Resort is located in Sithonia peninsula, a one and a half hour drive from Thessaloniki, and features not only a beautiful setting of sandy beaches and coves, but a golf course as well, giving teams the opportunity to enjoy world class racing in a luxury holiday resort.

Marking the first time the European Championship is being held in Greece, Akis Tsalikis, Chairman of the Hellenic Offshore Committee and N.C. Thessaloniki Commodore, commented, “Porto Carras is a fantastic resort marina complex, and has a proven track record of experience hosting numerous other regattas and events. The perfect weather conditions, excellent facilities, and close proximity to Thessaloniki make this an ideal location to host a major championship regatta.”

The first discount entry deadline for the ORC Europeans is not until 30 April, but already 20 teams from six countries are entered with many more expected in the coming months.

The event’s Notice of Race, procedures for entry and more information and who has registered thusfar is available at http://orci.ncth.gr.

The third major event on the 2016 ORC championship calendar is the ORC Sportboat European Championship being held in Chioggia, Italy on May 24-29 and organized by Il Portodimare. The ORC Sportboat class is limited to boats under 2000 kg in weight and between 6-9 m in length, with displacement to length ratios of less than 4.50.

Participation is expected to be high following last year’s successful ORC Sportboat championship in Hungary, and more information can be found at www.orcsportboateuropeans2016.com.

“Following the great success of our events in 2015 and a growing number of sailors using the ORC system, we expect our 2016 regattas to be very popular and competitive,” said Bruno Finzi, Chairman of ORC. “We wish everyone a fantastic new year, both on and off the water, and look forward to seeing great racing at these and other ORC events throughout the year.”

Source: ORC