Present:
Akis Tsalikis – chair
Agnes Lill, vice-chairman
Joaquin Barenys
David Bartol
Willem Ellemeet
Matt Gallagher
Ecky von der Mosel
Nicola Sironi
Johan Tuvstedt
Noora Westerlund
Approval of Minutes of 2023 meeting
Approved with note from Sweden about not having the quality parameters mentioned under 6. incorporated into the Race Management Guide yet.
2. Submissions
a) FIN 1 – Event sustainability
Hepo described the submission split in two parts where the first part that is:
”Adding event sustainability and evaluation to applications for Hosting Championships in ORC Championship Regulations as follows: 3.2 The application shall include: f) A plan of how the event organization supports and will drive sustainability standards through its events.”
– Is supported by the committée
b) SWE 4 – Quality parameters for different race types
PROPOSAL: Set general guidelines to improve overall quality of the races and help Racing Officers and participants to decide and expect more fair racing.
Examples include:
1. When setting courses for coastal and offshore races these should carry all wind angles in similar amounts. Starts should be upwind starts.
2. When setting courses for coastal and offshore races these should be held in open water allowing for an open playing field.
3. Coastal and offshore as well as W/L races should be sailed in mean winds above 6 kts to uphold the fairness and the equal chance to win.
4. Course lengths for W/L races should be that all classes have an elapsed time of 1.0-1.5 hrs for the slowest boat in the class. This will mean course lengths of between 5-8 miles.
Submission is deferred to a working party to be incorporated into the Race Management Guide
c) SWE 5 – Validating WRS numbers
Submission withdrawn after long dicussion with the RMC and ROs.
d) USA 6 – Guidance for Weather routing scoring
Submission withdrawn with respect to presentation from Andy Claughton, ITC.
e) USA 7 – VPP with TWS of 4 kts
ITC has agreed to add 4 kts to the wind speed knots.
Submission supported.
3. Weather Routing scoring – report from 2024 events and plans for the future
Andy held a short presentation about the current state of programming and making the WRS scoring web-app available.
Q: About whether there were different weather models available for different areas.
A: ROs will be able to choose different weather models but the recommendation will be that the NoR and SIs will tell which will be the weather model and timing is necessary.
Fear from ITC / Andy that we are making it too complicated by introducing too many alternatives.
There will be guidance regarding which kinds of races and minimum and maximum times the race will last for Weather Routing Scoring is to be used.
Difficulties with rescoring when a boat what scored with the wrong data.
4. Any other business
Scoring of races in 16-24kt wind speeds?
Is this a problem when boats are sometimes slower in higher winds than lower? Implied wind might not be predicting the right wind speed when the speeds for i.e. 24 kts TWS are lower than for 20 kts TWS.
-Not a problem with PCS Implied Wind as long as the total course and windspeed predictions for the boats are monotonous!
Need for new divisions? Q by Akis;
Is there a need for multiple divisions on type of boats or other divisions?
– Relevant viewpoint by David Bartol that the ORC is here to predict and fairly rate the fleets and not overcomplicate the system for the organizers.