After a one year hiatus in competition last year, the annual ORC World Championship returns to the international yachting calendar on August 9-14 in Tallinn, Estonia. A total of 104 entries from 12 nations are registered for competing in three classes, each with its own World Champion titles and awards.
Racing will commence August 9 with a long offshore race in the Baltic, finishing the following day. Then on August 11-12, short Inshore racing will be held on four course areas near Tallinn. On August 13 there will be a short offshore race finishing the same day, followed on August 14 with more inshore racing and the Closing Ceremony.
The fastest boats in the fleet are in ORC Class A, with 8 entries on the start lines. Most teams are quite strong, with several being veterans of past ORC championship events, but a favorite in this class could be Tillmar Hansen’s TP 52 OUTSIDER from Germany. Even with their boat being brand new to them at the 2018 ORC/IRC Worlds in The Hague, Hansen and his team still managed to earn Silver medals at the event.
ORC Class B is four times the size of Class A with 33 teams, and is also full of numerous experienced teams, some even past ORC World and European champions. In the last ORC championship event held in the Baltic – the 2019 Europeans in Oxelosund, Sweden – there was a fierce battle throughout the event among five X-41’s and a Landmark 43 for the top positions.
All are back, some with different names and new owners and teams, and some the same. Aivar Tuulberg, former European Class C Champion, has a new Swan 42 Club KATARIINA II in Class B, and have already proven their supremacy at the ORC Italian Championship last month. So, it will be very difficult to pick any favorites what promises to be a very competitive class.
ORC Class C is enormous – 63 entries – so race organizers will split the class to race in two groups in a heat system. This is a common practice in large small boat fleets, but unusual in big-boat inshore and offshore racing.
Nonetheless, this super-sized Class C in Tallinn will have several former World and European champions once again battling for medals: teams like the reigning Class C World Champion from 2019, Ott Kikkas’s Italia 11.98 SUGAR 3 with their mixed Italian and Estonian crew; Juss Ojala’s J-112E MATILDA 4 from Estonia, the 2019 ORC Class C European champion; and Patrik Forsgren’s modified First 36.7 TEAM Pro4U from Sweden, the 2017 ORC Class C European champion.
Event details – Entry list – Facebook
Source: ORC
