One of biggest red flags that appeared almost immediately when the Buffalo ORC Advisory Committee started comparing PHRF scoring with ORC scoring was the time differentials between boats and how those differentials played out in the final scoring results. It was not unusual for a time differential of over 5 minutes between boats would translate into a boat clearly winning by several hundred yards would end up losing a race, particularly in light air conditions. This raised the issue of wind conditions on various points of sail. PHRF cannot account for these variables and as a result does not yield accurate results. In fact, if you look at PHRF ratings and compare similar boats that have ORC ratings, the results bear no relationship to one another. ORC scoring can account for wind speeds between 4 and 24 knots!

PHRF is a performance based rule. It tries to handicap boats based on observed performance. ORC is a measurement based rating rule. ORC rates boats by taking measurements and using these measurements in a Velocity Prediction Programs (VPP).

Clearly, Not all boats of the same design are the same when it comes to how they are rated. For example, under PHRF all J/35’s, J/120’s, J/111’s, J/105’s Beneteau 36.7’s. Beneteau 40,7″s, etc all have the same ratings. Are all these boats the same? Of course not! If you were to weigh these boats, take specific measurements, look at the sails they are using, the years the boats were first launched, and a variety of other variables, It would become very clear that they are all different, but yet they all have the same rating.

Another consideration is that as boats age, the hulls becomes less stiff and, particularly in fiberglass constructed boats, they may gain weight. As a result the rating should change to accomodate these factors. Other scoring systems do not take this variable into consideration and as a result will yield and inaccurate and oftentimes unfair scoring result.

Because ORC is a measurement rule, the variables on all boats are taken into consideration and the results of these measurements are used in a Velocity Predication Program to assign a rating appropriate for each individual boat.

The vast majority of racing sailors compete on monohull yachts, so this forms the basis of the ORC system. Dimension data or the hull, rig and sails, along with a few other inputs, are used to allow the VPP to calculate the rated speed potential of the boat throughout a wide range of wind speeds and wind angles. This information in turn is used to develop models for use in scoring monohulls to calculate race results.