GBCA Discussion Forum

As discussed in the prior posts - ORC is not for everyone. ORC should be used when there are enough boats to make a class. This usually happens in our Weekend regattas on the bay. There are many factors that go into the "rating" number that an ORC boat will use for any single race - be it a single long day or overnight race. As most of the GBCA races are "pursuit" style and use the same rating number for all races - that will defeat the basic goal of ORC which is the determine the "rating" by using wind velocity and wind angles that the boats sail during the race.

Mark Matthews

The decision to use Time On Time for the scoring system is a big step in the right direction. It tends to flatten out advantages that certain boats may enjoy in the Time On Distance scoring. TOT also can better deal with varying wind velocities and current movements during a race. THE one biggest help is to the RC - they do not have to worry about getting the distance correct - this is especially troublesome when setting marks for the course. Great decision and all the best to the participants.

The primary problem with the HMR scoring last year lay with the Performance Line selection. The proper scoring selection for this years HRM should be TIME on TIME. It does the best job of fairly handicapping an offshore race. The suggestion has been made to LYC and it is hoped they will use ToT. ORC suggests the scoring system.

There is a measurement day tentatively scheduled for Sept 10 at LYC. Persons desiring to have freeboards measured should acquire their valid ORC Club certificate and contact the PHRFGB to get on the list. More info will be coming in the near future.

Where do you access the Iclicle start times?
The sailing instructions which contain start times are no longer posted.

The interest shown by the sailors on the Forum is great. I hope that I can clarify on item - measurements. More specifically the freeboard measurement that determines the boat displacement. This is not required - but it is in the best of the boat to have the freeboards measured. If not measured - the boat will receive the lightest weight in the database for that class.

Members of the local PHRF committee support ORC and are ready to help and answer questions that
may come up as the application process is pursued. You may contact Ken Humphries at 713 249 2569 or Mark Matthews at 832 314 4070 for assistance.

There is a new ORC handbook just placed on their website.  http://www.orc.org/rules/ORC%20Guidebook%202016.pdf
This has answers to many of our questions Pages 7 - 9 - 16 - 17 will be particularly helpful.

There was no reason - as far as PHRFGB aftermarket sprit rating - that the Beneteau 25 should not be allowed to race a W/L format with the "factory sprit" boats. It was not the intend of the "retro sprit" to segregate the boats to racing only against each other.

Will the Spin Distance and Spin Distance aftermarket sprit classes be combined for this regatta?