ORC Club Meeting Set for Dun Laoghaire Harbour

16th October 2025

Afloat.ie Team

Rockabill VI from Dublin Bay was one of the Class Zero boats racing under ORC handicap for the first time at the 2025 Calves Week Regatta in August

An information meeting on adopting 'ORC Club' handicaps will take place at the Royal Irish Yacht Club at Dun Laoghaire Harbour next Tuesday, 21 October, at 7.30 pm.

The session follows concerns raised earlier this year about 'dissatisfaction' with the main IRC system among owners and crews.

An Irish interest group, which includes leading Dublin race organiser Fintan Cairns, confirmed the agenda will cover how the ORC Club works, certification, and the transition process.

“There are already over 70 ORC Club certificates in Ireland,” he told Afloat.

The Cork based three quarter tonner Bataleur 88 is one of 70 Irish boats with an active ORC certificate this season Photo: Bob Bateman

John Kelly, who has been liaising with the ORC technical team, will lead the briefing. He will outline certification procedures and address common misconceptions, including inclination tests and mast weighing.

Cairns encouraged owners, crews and others with an interest to attend and to bring colleagues.

Earliier this year, the group claimed it had run the 'first structured ORC offshore race in Ireland' following June's 2025 Dun Laoghaire Dingle Race where almost half of the 40-boat fleet opted to have 'shadow results' calculated using the ORC rating for comparison purposes with the rival 'IRC' rule, the official handicap system used in the 280-mile race.

ORC was also used in August at the 2025 Calves Week Regatta.

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About the ORC Handicap System and Its Use in Ireland

The ORC (Offshore Racing Congress) handicap system is a measurement-based rating rule used to create fair competition between sailing yachts of different designs. Rather than relying on performance data alone, ORC ratings are calculated from detailed measurements of each yacht’s hull shape, rig, sails and stability. These measurements generate a Velocity Prediction Program (VPP) model, which estimates how fast the boat should sail in various wind strengths and angles. Race results are then corrected using one of several scoring options, such as Time-on-Time or Time-on-Distance, aiming to reward crew performance rather than inherent design advantages.

In recent years, there has been exploration in Ireland toward broader adoption of the ORC system, particularly ORC International (ORCi) and ORC Club certificates.

Clubs on both east and south coasts have explored ORC as an alternative or complement to the IRC rating rule, which has traditionally dominated Irish handicap racing. In 2025, events such as the D2D Race and Calves Week trialled ORC scoring or dual-scoring with IRC to ease the transition.

The move is driven by a desire for transparency, international alignment and access to the robust technical framework that ORC offers. Some Irish sailors are asking for consistency with European events where ORC is already well established.