The predominant scoring system that is used in most small clubs in PHRF. The selling point is that it’s inexpensive and somewhat easy to use. It does not, however, yield accurate results. In fact depending on the conditions and the factors used, the results can be very inaccurate. Another glaring inconsistency is that boats rated under PHRF, that have had ratings that haven’t changed in years, are most likely to have the wrong handicaps in relationship to each other. Some handicaps may be correct, but others may be off by several seconds per unit of measure.
One of the fallacies of PHRF scoring is the notion that a fair course consists of a triangular course with at least one windward/leeward leg. This myth has been propagated over the years and had been proven to be incorrect. ORC scoring allows for independent scoring of each leg of any given course. By evaluating each leg of a course independently of each other it is possible to arrive at a more accurate and fair result.
If you are a competitor and have invested in your sailboat racing program, the least you should expect is a fair result. Not only a fair result, but a clear and uncontestable time differential between competitors. ORC scoring eliminates the nagging question of fairness of a particular boats rating and puts these fairness issues to rest once and for all.
As was mentioned earlier, 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 off 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.
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.
By using ORC you have:
No questionable appeals requiring you to submit pages and pages of race data, no long delays in getting a fair rating, a rating that is just for your boat and not for a class of boats like yours, a full accounting and publicly available information on your boat, sails, and appendages, no feeling of being at the mercy of a committee that does not understand or care what rating you really have, no feeling of unfairness and, most importantly, no ongoing arguments about your rating.
