Please select your home edition
Edition
Rooster 2025

ORC World Championship at New York Yacht Club Overall - New (and Old) Winners Prevail

by Dobbs Davis 6 Oct 2024 00:28 BST September 27 - October 5, 2024

After six days of competitive inshore and offshore racing within three classes, two new and one returning team have been crowned ORC World Champions at the New York Yacht Club Harbour Court.

These three teams demonstrated an exceptional level of preparation, practice and eventual execution to prevail after six days of intense inshore and offshore racing among the 43 entries with top-level sailors from throughout the United States and around the globe.

Two North American Champion titles have also been awarded among Maxi class yachts competing in their own series and the entries that were originally planning to compete in a Class C, but were folded into racing in Class B.

The final day of racing today was spectacular: 10 to 12 knots of northerly breeze in flat water and under sunny skies produced some of the closest inshore racing of the week, a fitting end to a highly competitive world championship regatta.

The new 2024 ORC Class 0 World Champions are those that raced on Victor Wild's TP52 Fox 2.0. This team dominated this new class—first introduced to the ORC Championships this year—by winning five of seven races, enough to build an insurmountable 9-point lead overall. The silver medal position went to Peter Askew's Botin 52 Wizard, and bronze to Andrew Berdon's TP52 Summer Storm.

Since 1969, the Offshore Racing Congress has been a world leader in providing a scientific and transparent rating system used to create fair racing among a broad variety of boat types, from sportboats to superyachts. Since 1999, ORC has organized annual ORC World Championships and other inshore and offshore racing events sanctioned by World Sailing, with recent events attracting over 100 entries from dozens of countries around the world. The 2024 ORC World Championship was held in Newport, R.I., and hosted by the New York Yacht Club. Registration and measurement started on September 27, with racing kicking off on Monday, September 30, and finishing on Saturday, October 5. The ORC World Championship was sponsored by Helly Hansen, Safe Harbor Marinas, Peters & May and Hammetts Hotel. The ORC World Championship will serve as the culmination of the Road to the 2024 ORC World Championship series, which encompasses four regattas in Newport, R.I., from June through October.

The Fox 2.0 team included Andy Horton, Harry West, Chris Hosking, Cooper Dressler, Dean Curtis, Graham Post, Jareese Finch, Kelvin Harrap, Maciel Cicchetti, Ignacio Postigo, Orrin Starr, Santiago Lange, Scott Nixon, Aidan Naughton and Lucas Chapman.

"This is Victor's third TP52," said Horton, tactician for Fox 2.0. "This boat was specifically built for the ORC Worlds in 2020, then Covid happened, yet we've always kept this regatta on the long-term planning and just slowly chipped away at the details that we'd need during this event. The right crew members, and the guys working on the boat have been endlessly trying to improve it. This includes things like the sails, which were sized for this regatta, and the different types of sails, like some specialty reaching sails we've been developing for two years. The boat mods and doing all of these other regattas were training with this bigger picture in mind, to come to the ORC worlds and do well."

Yet things were not always easy nor perfect for Fox, such as during the first race of the event, the Long Offshore Race.

"We didn't have the greatest start, and we were chasing all the other boats down," he said. "And then on the big long run one of our halyards slipped and the wind instruments got chucked, so all of a sudden we were blind going into the night. Our sails were too flat for the breeze: we expected it to be windier, so we had our heavy-air main and a J2 that were the only upwind sails on the boat to keep the boat light. So I knew for about 10 hours that we were gonna have a tough night.

"And you know, the guys sailed the pants off the boat. I mean, it was amazing to see everyone work so hard without wind gear. All night long, we challenged. We got back up to the front, and it got really light, and we fell back, and then we fought all the way to the finish and picked up a couple boats on the last 30-mile beat and ended up second. This was an outstanding effort by this team."

Similarly, the new ORC Class A World Champion dominated their class through a similar long road taken to the top. Austin & Gwen Fragomen's Botin 44 Interlodge IV managed to win all races but two among 19 rivals, the largest class in the event.

"Austin and I have been racing for about 20 years," said Gwen Fragomen, "and I was on different positions on his boats, from foredeck on a J/24 to pit on a J/105 and then sewer on the Swan 42. Yet until recently I'd never been at the helm, and so this is really fabulous. It's a bit daunting to be a world champion today."

She explained this was a project that grew out of their TP52 program to give her an opportunity to drive her own boat.

"I think that we're really fortunate because the team are super sailors," she said. "I'm very passionate about ballet, and I think of them as being great choreographers. I mean, they execute brilliantly. So I really give credit to the team and to Tony [Rey] as the tactician. It was really a great performance, better than Swan Lake."

Besides Rey the other choreographers on board Interlodge were Kris Matthews, Nick Ford, Adam Minter, Carlos Robles,Tom O'Donnell, Christian Kamp, Norman Berge, Hartwell Jordan, Jay Davis, and Brad Marsh.

Silver medallists in Class A were Don Thinschmidt's Ker 43 Abracadabra, and winning bronze was Henry Brauer's Club Swan 42 Tio Loco.

The road taken by the Class B ORC World Champions was literally the longest of any team at this event - from Poland to Baltimore by ship, then to Newport - but was also nearly three years in the planning and execution and had the experience taken from winning their class in two prior ORC World Championships in Sardinia in 2022 and last year in Germany.

Victory was only assured by Marcin Sutkowski on his Grand Soleil 44P Wind Whisper 44 after ensuring that their runner-up rival—John Brim's Italia 11.98& Rima98—could not finish today's final race with a score lower than the 2.5-point lead Wind Whisper had going into today. So the two match raced the course, which drove both back far enough to use their discards yet retaining their top two places in the final results. Winning Bronze was Bill & Jackie Baxter's J/111 Fireball.

"This was a fantastic event, I'm really glad we came to defend our title," said Sutkowski. "We have a mix of pros and young sailors on this team, so we are building and learning all the time. We are looking at keeping the boat here in the U.S. this winter and doing some more ORC racing. Next year I hope to have a new Class A boat ready for next year's championships."

The remainder of the Wind Whisper 44 team included Joan Navarro, Aksel Magdahl, Hugo Rocha, Stanislaw Bajerski, Kacper Gwózdz, Mateusz Gwózdz, and Piotr Przybylski.

Meanwhile the Maxis took advantage of great racing conditions today by having another two inshore races, with wins in each by Hap Fauth's Maxi 72 Bella Mente and Jim Swartz's Maxi 72 Vesper, who emerged victorious after 9 total races to win the ORC Maxi North American Championship title.

The ORC Class C North American title was won by NEKA Sailing's modified J/105 Sleeper, who also won the Class B all-amateur Corinthian Trophy. The Class A Corinthian Trophy was won by Bob Manchester's J/133 Vamoose.

"We congratulate all the winners and podium finishers at this World Championship," said ORC Chairman Bruno Finzi. "The New York Yacht Club race managers working with our team did a fantastic job this week of providing fair and competitive race courses. The racing for everyone was always close, and we hope to see some of you join us for next year's ORC World Championship in Tallinn, Estonia."

Overall Results:

Class 0 (6 boats)
1. Fox, Botin 52, Victor Wild, 2-1-1-1-1-4-1-(7/DNC), 11pts
2. Wizard, Botin 52, Peter Askew, 1-4-4-5-2-(6)-2-2, 20pts
3. Summer Storm 52, TP52, Andrew Berdon, 5-3-3-3-(4)-2-3-1, 20pts
4. Vesper 52, TP52, David Team, 6-2-(5)-4-3-1-5-3, 24pts
5. Final Final, Pac52, Jon Desmond, 4-(5)-2-2-5-3-4-4, 24pts

Class A (19 boats)
1. Interlodge 44, Botin 44, Austin & Gwen Fragomen, 2-1-1-1-(3)-1-1-1, 8pts
2. Abracadabra, Ker 43, Don Thinschmidt, 4-3-3-(8)-2-3-4-2.5, 21.5pts
3. Tio Loco, Swan 42, Henry Brauer, 6-4-4-(5)-1-4-5-4, 27pts
4. Impetuous, Swan 42, Paul Zabetakis, 5-7-2-4-5-6-3-(10), 32pts
5. Zammermoos, Swan 42, David Fass, 1-2-(13)-7-6-5-7-5, 33pts

Class A Corinthian Champion: Vamoose, J/133, Bob Manchester

Class B (13 boats)
1. Wind Whisper 44, Grand Soleil 44, Marc Sutkowski, 5-1-2-1-5-1-1-(14), 16pts
2. Rima98, Italia 11.98, John Brim, 1-2.5-1-6-4-2-3-(13), 19.5pts
3. Fireball, J/111, Bill & Jackie Better, 6-4-(6)-2-2-3-2-1, 20pts
4. Christopher Dragon XII, Italia 11.98, Linda & Andrew Weiss, 3-2.5-(5)-4-1-4-6-3, 23.5pts
5. The ROCC, J/112, Al Minella, 4-(8)-3-5-3-5-5-5, 30pts

Class B Corinthian Champion: Sleeper, J/105 (mod.) NEKA Sailing

Class C North American Champion: (sailed within Class B) Fleetwood, Melges 32, Jeremy Alexis

Maxi North American Championship:
1. Vesper, Maxi 72, Jim Swartz, (2)-1-1-1-1-1-2-2-1, 10pts
2. Bella Mente, Maxi 72, Hap Fauth, 1-2-2-(3)-2-2-3-1-2, 15pts
3. Temptation, Art Santry/Oakcliff, (3)-3-3-2-3-3-1-3-3, 21pts

Complete results are found here.

Positions of the entries in all races may be replayed on the TracTrac system here.

More information at nyyc.org/2024-orc-world-championship.

Related Articles

One month till close of entries into Mackay ‘25
Entries close July 18! Today marks one month till close of entries into Mackay '25! Posted on 18 Jun
New Caledonia Groupama Race update
Rushour crew safely back in Noumea after capsize The boat was located and it was identified as capsized. All crew members were accounted for. Crew were transferred in the larger aircraft at Koumac and arrived back at Noumea at about 4pm local time. Posted on 17 Jun
171st Annual Regatta at the New York Yacht Club
Coast Guard Cadets Show Their Mettle With About Face Sometimes a regatta win is just that. Sometimes it can mean a little bit more. For those looking for a splash of positivity that extends well beyond the racecourses at the New York Yacht Club's 171st Annual Regatta, consider the performance of Elan. Posted on 16 Jun
The Ultimate Guide to Load Pins
Types, applications and uses for cruising and racing The use of load pins onboard yachts dates back to grand prix racing in the 1980s. And, while there are many different load sensing devices available today, for standing rigging on yachts 50ft+, the load pin remains king. Posted on 15 Jun
Note from the Bayview Mackinac Technical Committee
This year a Cruiser-Racer class Division III has been established This year the Bayview Mackinac Race established Division III, consisting of one or more "Cruiser-Racer" classes and a special "Cruiser" class. Posted on 14 Jun
Loro Piana Giraglia 2025 Winners Announced
The 72nd edition was marked by high pressure and light winds, yet remained full of charm On Saturday at 9:00 AM, as the time limit expired, the long offshore race of the Loro Piana Giraglia 2025 officially came to an end. Posted on 14 Jun
Finnish Double-Handed Championship
Showcasing top teams ahead of the Garmin ORC DH Europeans 2025 The Espoo-Naissaari Race, held from 6 to 8 June 2025, brought together 17 double-handed offshore teams for a 143-nautical-mile course between Haukilahti in Espoo and Pentala Island. Posted on 13 Jun
Henri-Lloyd Færderseilasen Race this weekend
Keeping sailors, winners, volunteers and even the dancers happy! Henri-Lloyd's overwhelming support for Færderseilasen keeps sailors, winners, volunteers and even the dancers happy! Posted on 12 Jun
Loro Piana Giraglia 2025 the first roundings
It was a magical and spectacular dawn, following a night of sailing under the full moon. After yesterday's start in a steady and pleasant breeze, the fleet competing in the 2025 Loro Piana Giraglia began completing the first part of the shortened 200-nautical-mile course early this morning at first light. Posted on 12 Jun
40th Annapolis-to-Newport Race overall awards
Convincing victory for William Gunther in ORC Performance Cruiser 1 class William Gunther is a veteran offshore sailor, but had never done the Annapolis to Newport Race. The Essex, Connecticut resident decided to check that iconic event off the bucket list and did so in serious style. Posted on 12 Jun