Inaugural ORC Doublehanded European Championship Announcement

(Sounio, Greece)– The Hellenic Offshore Racing Club (HORC) and the Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) are pleased to announce entry is now open for the inaugural ORC Doublehanded European Championship to be held from July 2nd to 10th, 2021. The event is being held concurrently with the AEGEAN 600, a non-stop 600-mile full-crew race tour of the Aegean Sea that also starts and ends in Sounio.

The ORC DH Europeans is a new event in the portfolio of annual ORC World and European championships, one that harnesses the growing enthusiasm for Doublehanded sailing following the proposal by World Sailing for this to be included as a mixed gender two-person offshore keelboat event in the Olympic program for the 2024 Games in Paris.


The regatta will be based at the Olympic Marina, gateway to the Aegean Sea, 70 km southeast from central Athens and just north of Cape Sounion. The format consists of a short Coastal Race and a Long Offshore Race worth 1.0 and 1.5 points, respectively, with registrations and inspections starting on Friday, July 2nd and concluding on Sunday, July 4th before the Coastal Race start on Monday, July 5th. The intended length of this race is 10-12 hours on a course set in the Saronikos Gulf and the Cyclades islands.    
    
After a recovery day on Tuesday, racing will resume on Wednesday, July 7th with the Long Offshore Race of 60-72 hours duration in the same course area in the Aegean. Awards will be given in a Closing Ceremony held on Saturday, July 10th.

Entries are open to all boats with a valid ORCi DH certificate with a GPH rating from 500 to 700 seconds per mile. Class divisions will be determined at the closing date for entries on June 4th, with no more than three classes defined with expected GPH ranges of 80-120 s/mi per class.

All entries are expected to have their boats and crew suitably prepared for Doublehanded racing and are expected to have experience in participation in offshore racing of extended duration. Trophies will be awarded to the top three winners in each class, and additional prizes may be awarded to the top three male/female and mixed gender crews in each class.    
    
“The Aegean Sea is considered the cradle of western civilization,” said Ioannis Maragkoudakis, Commodore of HORC. “And it’s due to these deep roots of life on the sea that we have a rich maritime heritage, in general, and a robust sailboat racing culture, in particular. Xenios Zeus, the ancient Greek god of hospitality, promises to provide to all participating crews exceptional hospitality and exciting racing!”


Watch promo video of "In the Sea of Myths & Legends" here

“We are very excited that our friends at HORC have organized this important new ORC championship,” said Bruno Finzi, Chairman of ORC. “There is a long history of competitive offshore racing in Greece, and the Aegean Sea is both beautiful and challenging, so we encourage all offshore sailors to considering joining us in Sounio for this significant new event that for some may be on a pathway to the Olympics.”
For more ORC Doublehanded European Championship sailing information

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J/133 Dominates Sydney-Hobart Race Class!

(Hobart, Tasmania, Australia)- Congratulations to Jason Close's Sandringham YC team on the J/133 PATRIOT! They had a remarkable performance in the 2019 ROLEX Sydney-Hobart Race.. winning IRC 5 Class (IRC Overall 9th) and winning ORC 4 Class (ORC Overall 10th).

Jason's team included Lex O'Connor (navigator), Greg Coutts, Jordan Sunkel-Lozel, Stu Shafer, Cathy Furey, Graeme Smith, Pete Chalkley, Brett Averey, Stu Moseley, Andy Mcgrath, and Marissa Chalkley. The crew are members of Sandringham Yacht Club, with four of them having lots of International 14-foot skiff experience.

Clearly, their skiff experiences helped on this fast-reaching race... the J/133 PATRIOT was the only production boat in the top 14 overall; all the rest were flat-out, carbon-fiber racers that were professionally-sailed; TP52s went 1-2-3 (8 total in top 14), and the others were all 62 to 69 feet extreme carbon machines. Not bad company for a 15-year-old boat!


Here is the commentary from owner Jason Close on their race-winning performance:

"Our Rolex Sydney-Hobart campaign started with the Sydney-Gold Coast race in July. We had a good result, placing in both our divisions and we had a good look at our opposition.

Our race plan was to sail at, or as close to, 100% polars for the entire race and leave nothing in the tank.

With our fantastic pre-race routing and forecasting prepared by weather and climate expert Jess Sweeney, we set off confident of a good result.   

After a great start, we exited Sydney Heads with two Farr 40s and were at the front of our division.

The first night consisted of some solid downwind sailing, which the J/133 really excelled in, and it enabled us to put a big break on our division and work through boats 2 or 3 divisions higher!

We found ourselves pretty well match-racing with an extremely well-campaigned Cookson 12 named Sail Exchange. We both pushed each other up the fleet and well into the overall IRC contention.

We had a number of challenging navigational decisions around Gabo Heads, with the strong current, in particular. But, we stuck with our pre-race strategy and made some significant inroads on the fleet.

The next night, we saw 20-25 knots of breeze downwind, with a very confused sea state, but the boat cut through it like butter with the assistance of some high-quality helming by the team... the skiff sailors loved it, diving from trough to trough as long as they could!


The next phase of the race was challenging, with many wind transitions to deal with. We managed to keep the boat moving and got through the wind transitions well. Unfortunately, from our perspective, the TP52 carbon racers at the front of the fleet (all the guys that won their class and overall) did not encounter the light weather that we did, so they all put a fair amount of time on us.

Coming into Storm Bay with the Cookson still hot on our tail, we had another light period before catching a decent sea breeze. Thankfully, the moderate sea breeze carried us through to the finish and allowed us to keep our nose in front of our opposition, at least in our class.  However, that sequence of light patches, getting becalmed, and waiting for the seabreeze to build cost us a shot at the overall title.

To win both ORCI and IRC in our divisions was what we set out to do, and we were extremely happy we achieved this. Nevertheless, to finish 9th IRC Overall and 10th overall in ORCI in a big boat race against fully professional outfits in our production J/133 was nothing short of remarkable. It was a credit to our great team and our awesome boat! This was one for the little guys!!"   Sailing photo credits- ROLEX/ Kurt Arrigo  For more Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/112E Crowned ORC European Champion!

(Oxelsund, Sweden)- The 2019 ORC European Championship took place off Oxelsund, Sweden on the Baltic Sea. The regatta had a simple format, with two buoy races on the first day, followed by a 58.8nm distance race, then closing with two more days of buoy racing. The entire championship was sailed in medium to strong winds of 8 to 22 kts.

Racing in the ORC C Class of forty-one boats (by far the largest in the regatta) was the J/112E MATILDA 4, owned by Kodutarve Ou from Estonia and skippered by Joachim Aschenbrenner. Starting off with two bullets on the first day, the team managed to avoid a deep race until the final day.  Going into the seventh and final race, MATILDA 4 had six points lead over the second place team, the Postimees Sailing Team also from Estonia.

In the last race, the MATILDA 4 crew took advantage of their faster setup to defend their lead by controlling the second and third boat on the leaderboard. They essentially matched raced the Postimees team into the middle of the fleet, using their last race as a discard, as did Postimees with a 15th place. Consequently, MATILDA 4 won the regatta with 17 pts net, three points clear of the reigning ORC European Class C Champion, the Arcona 340 Katarina II from Estonia. The J/112E MATILDA 4 also crushed the reigning ORC World Class C Champion Italia 9.98 SUGAR.  Follow the ORC European Championship on Facebook here.   For more 2019 ORC European Championship sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/112E Leading ORC Europeans

(Oxelsund, Sweden)- The 2019 ORC European Championship is currently under way with sailing taking place off Oxelsund, Sweden on the Baltic Sea.  Racing in the ORC C Class of forty-one boats (by far the largest in the regatta) is the J/112E MATILDA 4, owned by Kodutarve Ou from Estonia and skippered by Joachim Aschenbrenner.

As of Thursday, after two around-the-cans races and the 58.8nm Distance Race, MATILDA 4 is currently leading the ORC C fleet with a scoreline of 1-1-5 for 7 pts. There are two more days of windward-leeward course racing left for the fleet. The fleet has been blessed with good sailing weather so far, with plenty of breeze on the first day (puffy, shifty, 17-22 kt winds) and steady southwest 10-15 kt winds for the distance race. The reigning ORC World Class C Champion Italia 9.98- SUGAR- and the reigning ORC European Class C Champion Arcona 340- KATARIINA II- are being crushed by the J/112E MATILDA 4.
Follow the ORC European Championship on Facebook here  For more 2019 ORC European Championship sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/Crews Leading North Sea Regatta

(Scheveningen, The Netherlands)- Hosted by the Jachtclub Scheveningen, the North Sea Regatta is the largest event hosted in the Netherlands each year for a host of one-design classes (dinghies, cats, and keelboats like J/22s and J/80s) and offshore ORC/IRC classes.

The event kicked off on May 8th with the Vuurschepen Race, a North Sea Regatta Feeder Race that goes from the starting line off The Hague (Scheveningen) and takes a 3 mark course of 130nm across the North Sea to Harwich in the United Kingdom.  Several J/teams were sailing and almost all had podium finishes!

The “J/All-stars” were in the ORC Two-Handed division.  Winning was Robin Verhoef & John van der Starre’s J/122E AJETO.  Taking the silver was Chris Revelman & Pascal Bakker’s J/122 JUNIQUE/ RAYMARINE and 4th was Wim van Slooten & Jochem Hamstra’s J/109 FIRESTORM.

In the ORC 2 division, taking 3rd was Alain Bornet’s J/109 JAI ALAI and 4th Arjen van Leeuwen’s J/109 JOULE.

After a two-day layover, on the 11th of May, teams representing Belgium, Denmark, France, Great Britain and the Netherlands entered the 181nm North Sea Race; the start was off Harwich, England and finished in Scheveningen, The Netherlands. The race was organized by the Royal Ocean Racing Club, in association with the Royal Harwich Yacht Club, the East Anglian Offshore Racing Association, and the Yacht Club Scheveningen.

“The race was mostly upwind and reaching, with very few teams getting their spinnakers out of the bag,” commented RORC Racing Manager, Chris Stone. “Conditions conspired to favor the smaller yachts, as the faster boats did not get the breeze that arrived later in the race. Over the course of the season, favorable conditions will average out through the fleet. Well done to the teams that did well, even when the conditions are right for your team, you still have to put in a top performance to win your class, and have a chance of the overall win.”

In the IRC Two-Handed Class, Robin Verhoef & John Van Der Starre's Dutch J/122e AJETO was second, and Wim van Slooten's Dutch J/109 FIRESTORM was third.  Then, 4th were the amazing women duo of Edith Voskamp & Yvonne Beusker’s J/105 PANTHER, finishing 5th behind them were Chris Revelman & Pascal Bakker’s J/122 JUNIQUE.

“We are very please with our result, as Two-handed racing in Holland has become very popular and very competitive.” commented AJETO’s Robin Verhoef. “Our J/122e was specially built for Two-handed sailing, and we love to sail that way because we don't need any more crew or all the additional equipment and provisions required when more people are on board. We do have systems designed for two-handed racing, and our preparation is always a big part of producing the best performance.”

As a result, the three teams that are dominating the podium for the overall regatta in the ORC Two-handed Division are AJETO on top, followed by JUNIQUE and FIRESTORM.

On the return trip to the Netherlands, the ORC 2 division J/crews had a rough time.  Settling for 5th was Alain Bornet’s JAI ALAI (currently sitting 2nd in class for the overall regatta) and ending up in 9th was Arjen van Leeuwen’s J/109 JOULE.   Follow the North Sea Regatta on Facebook here   For more North Sea Regatta sailing information   RORC North Sea Race information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/Crews Triumphant in Southern Straits Race

(Vancouver, BC, Canada)- The 50th annual Southern Straits Race took place this past weekend, hosted by the West Vancouver YC in British Columbia- the Canadian side of the infamous Straits of Juan de Fuca that separate the wild and majestic Olympic Peninsula from the Canadian Maritimes to the north.

The race is a popular one in the Pacific Northwest for the offshore racing fraternity.  Like the Swiftsure International Yacht Race that sails later in the year, the West Vancouver YC has also evolved the race over the course of time to be more accommodating to the reality of today’s lifestyles.  The participants have the choice of three course- the Long Course (140nm), the Medium Course (106nm), and the Short Course (73nm).  A majority of the J/Teams participating sailed the Long Course (mostly 35 footers on up), while the smaller J’s did the Medium Course.  Here is a report of what took place during the race by Peter Salusbury who sailed on a boat called Longboard.

“This was the 50th anniversary of the Southern Straits Race classic and weather cooperated for what most will admit was a very pleasant and enjoyable race. Bruce Hedrick’s pre-race forecast was mostly spot on, though the NW wind stayed on a little longer than forecast into Saturday morning and then re-built closer to Vancouver to get most boats home early Saturday evening.

After a brief postponement waiting for the westerly winds to build into English Bay, all the fleets started in a light westerly which built fairly quickly as we passed Point Atkinson and hit the Bowen Island shore. On the long course, most boats left the Bowen Island shore after reaching Cowan Point and started the long starboard tack over to the Nanaimo harbor area. The now NW wind built to between 12 to 16 knots all afternoon. The J/160 JAM and others really legged out with their long waterlines on the smaller long course boats. The long and fast downwind sail to T10 was beautiful, with a huge full moon all night long and clear skies. On our boat, we seemed to notice an unusual amount of wood in the water and twice ran smack into substantial logs doing 10+ knots!

On the downwind leg, it seemed to pay dividends to keep tacking to port offshore every time the wind went light while on starboard tack. We always found bigger breeze offshore and made big gains on our fleet by approaching T10 from the north.

After rounding T10, we had a solid beat upwind to Ballenas (second time) with winds peaking out over 20+ knots at time, but lightening substantially after Nanaimo Harbor. Going upwind, it seemed advantageous to be a little closer to the Valdez/ Gabriola Island shores as we picked up a nice port tack lift that definitely helped us on those competitors who were more offshore.

After rounding Ballenas, the NW backed to more of a westerly and softened to less than 5 knots. We favored the north side of the course home, found a very nice 4 to 7 knot northerly that seldom hit the water, but we were able to keep the boat moving at 3 to 5 knots and sneak along over boats. Eventually the NE wind disappeared, and after a short period of calms (good time for hot oatmeal and cinnamon buns), a very light westerly started to build, which continued to build all the way to the finish. The smaller, slower boats on the Long Course were a little less fortunate with the westerly dying off not long after we finished, with many finishing late into Saturday evening– well done to them for persevering and getting a result! Overall, a very pleasant but somewhat ‘longer’ Long Course race compared to more recent years – but no rain, no clouds, full moon, lots of sun – none of us were complaining!

The boat that really impressed us on the Long Course was Bill Fox’s J/160 JAM who took the ORC Overall win by a wide margin– they appeared to sail a flawless race– super-fast up wind, and really managed the light air on the last leg to get the win– kudos to their team.

On the Medium Course, the J/109’s seemed to love the conditions as they took 3rd to 5th overall with a double handed J/120 called SHEARWATER, skippered by Justin Wolfe, taking an impressive 6th place overall, beating some very talented fully crewed boats. Great job to you both!

Once again, the race organizing committee deserves so much credit for making the 50th anniversary race so successful. On behalf of all participants, I’d like to thank first time Race Chairman, Mike Seper, and his army of volunteers at West Vancouver Yacht Club for making the race possible – great job, Mike! And lastly, thanks so much to all the participants who travelled from afar from home bases like Seattle and Victoria for the race – we appreciate the commitment you make to deliver your boats up and back at this time of the year and hope to see you all back next year.”  Thanks for contribution from Peter Salusbury and Sailish.com (http://sailish.com/index.php/category/racing/).

Winning the Long Course ORC Division was Bill Fox’s J/160 JAM, correcting out by nearly two hours over a TP52 and 1D48.

Winning the Medium Course ORC Division was Tom Sitar’s J/109 SERENDIPITY.  They were followed by Alex Smyth’s J/111 65 RED ROSES II in third place.

For the Medium Course PHRF 2 Division, J’s took 5 of the top 6 places. Sitar’s J/109 SERENDIPITY took the silver, with Mark Hansen’s J/109 MOJO awarded the bronze, John Peterson’s J/109 LEGACY in 4th, Wolfe’s J/120 SHEARWATER in 5th (sailing doublehanded!), and Smyth’s J/111 65 RED ROSES II in 6th.

The Medium Course PHRF Doublehanded Division was dominated by two J/Teams.  Winning was Justin Wolfe’s J/120 SHEARWATER and taking second was Scott Shaw-Mac & Brian Isaacs’ J/30 NATURAL HIGH.

The Medium Course PHRF 3 Division saw Ron Mackenzie’s J/37 FUTURE PRIMITIVE almost in the chocolates, having to settle for 4th place only 3.5 minutes back on corrected from taking the bronze!  Ouch.

Finally, in the Medium Course PHRF 4 Division, winning class was Phil Wampold’s J/92 ZAFF, taking the class by over a half hour on corrected time.  Taking the bronze was the Doublehanded team of Shaw-Mac and Isaacs on the J/30 NATURAL HIGH!

As a result of their performance, the J/crews did well in the Medium Course PHRF Overall scoring, with 5 of the top 8 going to J’s.  Top boat was Sitar’s J/109 SERENDIPITY taking the bronze, with Hansen’s J/109 MOJO in 4th, Peterson’s J/109 LEGACY in 5th, Wolfe’s J/120 SHEARWATER in 6th (sailing doublehanded!), and Smyth’s J/111 65 RED ROSES II in 8th.  Sailing photo credits- Jan Anderson/ Janpix.com.  For more Southern Straits Race sailing information Add to Flipboard Magazine.

J/112E- ORC Worlds Update

(Copenhagen, Denmark)- The ORC World Championship 2016 is organized by KDY and Egaa Sejlklub and taking place out of Skovshoved Habour, just a few kilometers north of Copenhagen. Sailing for the inshore races have been on Öresund, a well known racing venue, renowned for having hosted numerous Worlds, Europeans and Nordic championships. The offshore races have been off the southern part of the Kattegat north of Helsingör, or into the area where Öresund meets the Baltic Sea.

Favorable 8-15 knot conditions on the opening day enabled the PRO to hold three inshore races.  The day was characterized by very tight racing all day.  Leading after the first day in Class C with 59 teams was Bo Teichmann’s J/112E LANCE 12, posting a 2-3-1 scoreline.  The J/112E is being sailed by a mixed German and Dutch team that includes racing legend Bouwe Bekking (famous for both one-design and offshore championships in various classes as both tactician and skipper).   Racing continues until July 23rd.  You can follow their progress here.