Sixteen nations for ORC World Champs

Sixty-nine teams from 16 nations are assembled for the 2022 ORC World Championship on June 25-29 in Porto Cervo, Italy. The fleet is divided into three classes – 20 in Class A, 27 in Class B and 22 in Class C – who will race for separate World Championship medals awarded in each class. Each class will also have scoring and awards for all-amateur Corinthian entries.

“We’re very pleased to have such an impressive high-quality fleet here this year,” said ORC Chairman Bruno Finzi. “The number of current and former World, European, National, and regional ORC champion teams assembled here is unprecedented, so we anticipate a hard fight.”

Leading up to the event, teams have been inspected to confirm compliance with ORC rules and standards, and throughout the event class leaders will also be inspected and measured after racing to ensure continued compliance.

The format is a mix of offshore, coastal, and inshore windward/leeward course racing. The schedule calls for a June 25start to the offshore race intended to last for 30-36 hours for the slowest boats on a course around the Costa Smeralda, the scenic northeast coast of Sardinia.

This course will require not only accurate navigation but it will help to have experience in knowing what lies around each corner of this complex coast dotted with islands of all sizes, rocky promontories and secluded beaches.

For June 27-28, there will be inshore windward/leeward racing followed on June 29 with a 10-12 hour coastal race along the Costa Smeralda for all classes, and June 30 will resume inshore racing to conclude the championship.

Yacht designer Matteo Polli (ITA), who is also a member of the ORC’s International Technical Committee and regularly provides input to improve the system’s rating science, is optimistic about the fairness of competition.

“We seem to be doing a good job with the ORC VPP these days, the racing is very close in corrected times among the best-sailed teams,” Polli said. “There is good progress and cooperation among our members, and input from racing fleets like this one provides valuable insight to the performance of the system and where improvements can be made.”

Race details – Entry list – Facebook