2023 ORC Annual Meeting to be held in Malaga

2023 ORC Annual Meeting to be held in Malaga © Offshore Racing Congress

The Offshore Racing Congress (ORC) announces its Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held in Malaga, Spain over 10-14 November 2023.

This event is important because it is where the feedback from thousands of ORC users around the world - along with the expertise of the ORC technical teams - can be used to improve the system's use for the future.

Six committees will meet over 10-13 November in Malaga: Management, Promotion and Development, Classes and Events, Race Management, Measurement and Rating Officers. Each will have an agenda of items that will include a review of the past year and suggestions for future improvements. Their recommendations then go to the ORC Congress for approval at its meeting on 14 November.

The ORC International Technical Committee (ITC), who develop and improve the ORC Velocity Prediction Program (VPP) among other tasks, will meet separately prior to the AGM to make final adjustments to the new year's VPP and decisions on Submissions made to their committee. ITC Chairman Andy Claughton will present their findings and recommendations to the Management Committee and to Congress for approval.

Just as all ORC rules and formulations of the rating system are available for review, most ORC meetings will also open to the public for observation.

This entire process starts with Submissions: these are specific ideas for improvement to the ORC system that are articulated by national authorities, submitted to ORC and then assigned to relevant committees for discussion at the AGM. Submissions provide vitally important feedback that keeps ORC rules and policies relevant to the racing community, from Sportboats to Superyachts and now Multihulls as well.

Users of ORC should contact their national authorities if they have specific ideas for changes to the ORC rules. The list and contact information for these authorities can be found here.

Submissions must be received by ORC no later than 4 September.

"Our Annual Meeting is very important for our organization," said Bruno Finzi, Chairman of ORC. "It brings together all members of the ORC community to look over what went right and what could use improvement in our past year of events and policies, and most importantly it gives us a roadmap to be better in the future in our service to the sport. This is more important now than ever since we offer so many diverse classes of boats and types of racing we now help: from Sportboats to Superyachts to Multihulls, both inshore and offshore racing, and in boats racing with full crews or Double Handed."

For more information on Submissions, the detailed schedule of events, and to book your room at the host hotel HN Hotel Malaga, visit the event webpage here.