ORC Rating Office Opens in Caribbean

(July 19, 2016) – The Caribbean Sailing Association (CSA) has opened a new Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) Rating Office in Antigua to serve sailors in the Caribbean region. Starting September 1, 2016, CSA will be authorized to accept measurement data and issue ORC Club and ORC International certificates.

The CSA and ORC have been in discussion for several years and the opening of this office in Antigua marks the beginning of what is hoped to be a beneficial collaboration for both organizations.

CSA Senior Measurer Bastien Pouthier has been nominated to the role of ORC National Rating Officer. The CSA will continue to measure boats and issue CSA certificates throughout the Caribbean region for the foreseeable future, in addition to issuing ORC certificates.

“Partnering with ORC will give us some new and effective tools to help make CSA more efficient at delivering accurate ratings and certificates to our constituents,” said Kathy Lammers, President of CSA. “This will be implemented in a manner that preserves the existing strong relationships we have with our events and customers in the region, with the added resource base ORC has of some 90,000 measurement data records collected over the past 30 years.”

Of the relationship with CSA, ORC Chairman Bruno Finzi said: “We are extremely pleased to work closely in cooperation with CSA, and welcome them to our family of 42 other rating offices around the world. CSA has a long and admired history in servicing the needs of their community, and we are very happy to help them continue with this valuable service.”

Inquiries about the CSA Rating Rule and the CSA ORC Rating Office can be directed to ORC National Rating Officer for the Caribbean region, Bastien Pouthier at rating@pouthier.eu.

Background:
Since 1969, ORC has provided the most scientific and transparent VPP-based rating system in the world, used to create fair racing among a broad variety of boat types. Over 10,000 ORC certificates were issued by 39 rating offices around the world in 2015, and ORC organizes the annual ORC World Championship, an inshore and offshore event sanctioned by World Sailing, the international governing body of the sport of sailing.
More information about ORC can be found at www.orc.org.

The Caribbean Sailing Association (CSA) promotes sailing within the region, and Caribbean sailing to the world. The CSA also administers Rating Rules to provide a simple and fair handicap system for racing. Additionally, the CSA serves as a forum for yacht clubs, regattas, sailing organizations and sailors throughout the Caribbean to coordinate interests and events, exchange ideas and best practices, and combine voices to achieve broader exposure to the international community. For more information visit http://caribbean-sailing.com/.

Source: CSA