Navigating the rating debate

With increasing interest in the ORC rating system across Ireland, Mark Mansfield, the Cork-Harbour-based Professional Sailor, Sailmaker, and Rating Specialist digs into the issue:

As someone who has spent decades navigating, racing, and working within different rating frameworks, I’ve seen rating rules evolve—and sometimes cause confusion, controversy, and change. This article offers a personal perspective on how IRC and ORC work, their strengths and weaknesses, and what Irish yacht owners might expect if ORC becomes more widely adopted.

There has been some controversy recently on the ORC rating of a new design—the X Yachts XR-41—which recently won her class at the ORC Worlds. Since then, the ORC organizers have decided she was too fast for her rating and have added a 10-second-per-mile penalty to her, as recently covered by Afloat.

I have been around long enough to see many rating systems come and go: IOR, then IMS, then Channel Handicap; now we have IRC and ORC. In Ireland, we have been fairly well served by IRC for a number of years. Now ORC is the new kid on the block, and is trying to move in, claiming to be more advanced and a fairer system. But is it? – Full report