The Offshore Racing Rule and Americap II™
ISAF Offshore and Special Regulations Submissions 2008
Attached below is a table with a summary of Offshore and Special Regs submissions plus a zip file of those submissions. Important issues - and none of these have been analyzed for their impact (to our knowledge)
038-08 Reg 20 Revamp of Advertizing code. 20.6.5 Says Trans Oceanic races (Bermuda, Transpac, etc.) need ISAF permission to allow advertising and 20.7 says if a boat's advertising conflicts with the event organizers sponsor, tough! 20.8 says the event must pay a fee to ISAF.
039-08 Anti doping testing for the recreational sailor - wow!
035-08 Standardizing stability and construction requirements - good idea - needs some studying
034-08 Reg 29 that said only ORC Limited can admin IMS - since IMS is gone, change to ORC International. Makes sense. Only issue is ORC & US SAILING have not resolved ownership of the VPP.
071-08 Reg 26.2 ISAF OD classes currently must meet the ERS. Those do not address safety issues and some classes allow Spectra lifelines and slack lifelines to promote hiking. The Submission requires Special Regs to capture those safety issues.
124-08 New Regulation covering special regs administration - requires thorough review
125-08 regs 15.6 & 15.7 dissolve Oceanic Com and incorporate it's functions into a re-named Oceanic and Offshore committee.
Word Document link summary here
US SAILING Conducts Offshore Sailing Survey
US SAILING is currently conducting a survey specifically geared towards offshore sailors. If you are an offshore sailor, please make sure to take this survey to help US SAILING and similar-affiliated sailing organizations operate at their greatest potential. It should only take about 15 minutes to complete the survey. The results of the survey will be made public once they've been analyzed. http://www.prsurvey.com/USSAILING
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In the fall of 2004, three major US yacht clubs, the
Chicago Yacht Club ,
Cruising Club of America and
Transpacific Yacht Club, joined forces
in an alliance called the Offshore Racing Association (ORA). ORA was formed to promote and support the use of VPP-based handicapping and has undertaken the task of developing a new measurement-based rating rule that provides the fairest handicapping possible. Working in collaboration with US SAILING, ORA has undertake promotional and developmental tasks providing an increased level of manpower not previously directed toward the AMERICAP II™ rule while US SAILING has retained the function of certificate issuance. This new rule which is the next evolution of the AMERICAP II™ rule has been given the name Offshore Racing Rule (ORR) and started to be used in the 2006 racing season. The Offshore Racing Association (ORA) administers the ORR (http://www.offshorerace.org/).
The ORR predicts relative time allowances between boats to permit boats of different sizes, types and ages to compete with the fairest ratings possible. The ORR is an objective rule. Its ratings are based on full measurement of all the speed-related features of sailboats and on a Velocity Prediction Program (VPP) that calculates the speed potential of each boat at any combination of wind speed and course direction. The VPP is a set of algorithms developed through systematic research that use fundamental scientific methods. ORR is intended to be a non-type forming measurement rule that fairly rates properly designed and prepared yachts which are equipped for offshore racing. It must be clearly understood by all who use ORR that it is not a development rule and therefore is not intended for sailors who are looking to “beat” the rule. In order to discourage attempts to design yachts “to the rule”, the algorithms of the VPP are non-public. ORR will be updated on a regular basis to stay ahead of design developments.
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