2023 ORC Worlds on record course

As the only World title for offshore sailing, it remains a missed opportunity for North America when the 2020 ORC World Championship to be held in the USA was cancelled due to the pandemic.

But momentum for this measurement rating system has continued in the continent, now used for the Big Boat Series in California and both the Chicago Mackinac and Bayview Mackinac Races on the Great Lakes. And with the possibility of the 2024 ORC Worlds in the USA, broad interest would continue.

There is certainly massive interest in Europe as the 2023 Offshore World Championship is on record course toward the competition on August 4-12 in Kiel, Germany. At the end of the pre-registration, 128 yachts from 16 nations were entered in the list of participants, with some strong candidates from Estonia still missing, who dominated Group C at the World Championship two years ago in Tallinn and the European Championship this year in Hankö (Norway).

But already now the second ORC World Championship in Kiel has the chance to set new records for participants. 151 offshore yachts from 15 nations competed in the 2014 World Championship in Kiel. This mark is unrivaled until now – perhaps only until August 2023.

In addition to the large German fleet, the Scandinavian countries Sweden (9), Denmark (8), Finland, Lithuania and Norway (6 each) provide the largest contingents, as expected. While at the World Championships on the Mediterranean Sea, mainly Mediterranean countries were at the start, the majority in 2023 comes as expected from the Baltic Sea.

Following the cancellation of the 2020 Offshore World Championships in the USA, the 2021 World Championship in Tallinn (Estonia) had 104 participants from twelve nations while the 2022 World Championship at the Italian club Costa Smeralda (Sardinia) had 69 starters from 14 nations.

In 2014, 70 German yachts were at the start here, and 60 are currently registered for 2023. The fast pre-registration success was probably also helped by a lure, because one of the pre-registered yachts gets the entry fee waived.

“This is just the pre-registration, of course, but we are happy about the enthusiasm that is already there. And there will certainly be more entries,” says Eckart Reinke, offshore boss at the Kieler Yacht-Club.

The hope of ORC Vice President Eckhard von der Mosel that the World Championship in his own country will also provide impetus for the German ORC fleet seems to be coming true. “I assume that the ORC fleet in Germany will be enriched and that the offshore scene will be revived.”

As of today, the largest fleet is once again provided by the X-Yachts shipyard with, among others, the X-41 (6 yachts), X-35 (5) and X-332 (5). The Italia 9.98 fleet is also strongly represented with five boats.

Details: https://www.orcworlds2023.com/

Source: Hermann Hell, Kieler Yacht-Club