ORR Announces 2012 National Championship Winners

Jan. 15, 2013 - PRLog -- The Offshore Racing Rule (ORR) announced the winners of the inaugural National Championship Series. The following winners of this inaugural National Championship will receive engraved silver award plates and custom appliqué brag flags.

·  First place: Terry Kohler and Pete Reichelsdorfer with their yacht, Evolution, a GL70

·  Second place: Philip O’Niel III and his yacht, Natalie J, a TP52

·  Third place: Lawrence Dickie and his yacht Ptarmigan, a Ker 43

Reichelsdorfer and Kohler of Sheboygan, Wisconsin, are winners of both the 2012 National Championship Series and the Great Lakes Championship Series. “We are honored not only to be included in such a competitive series, but to take home the very first National Championship,” said Reichelsdorfer.  “Terry and I are big supporters of the ORR, and we hope to encourage others to take part in an organization that advocates for fair and objective racing.”

2012 was the first year the ORR offered a National Championship award.  The Great Lakes and East Coast regions each offered their own Championship Series, open to yachts which held a valid 2012 ORR certificate, registered for their respective series, and that competed in the required number of races for each series.  Boats participating in either series – Great Lakes or East Coast – automatically qualified for the National Championship ranking.

ORR spokesperson Frank Kern congratulated the 2012 winners and said he looks forward to increasing numbers of participants in the coming years.  “By having a National Championship, we are demonstrating that this is a rule that can cover the maximum number of monohull sailing yachts in different areas of the country,” Kern stated. “The Offshore Racing Association (ORA) is a dynamic group that has been updating the rule based on both lab testing and real world experience.  The ORR is certainly a great alternative to other rules out there.”

Individual regions selected the races comprising their Championship Racing Series, which will vary each year.  On the East Coast, the 2012 series included:  The Block Island Race, New York Yacht Club Annual Regatta, Newport Bermuda Race, Royal Bermuda Yacht Club Anniversary Regatta and the Stamford Vineyard Race.  The Great Lakes region series included:  The Queen’s Cup, Bayview Mackinac Race, Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac, Little Traverse Yacht Club Annual Regatta, Verve Cup and the Bayview Long Distance.  

Each yacht's score for the Championship Series consisted of the points earned in the qualifying events. The number of points awarded for each regatta was determined by finish position divided by the number of ORR Championship Series registered yachts entered in that race or regatta. The sum of the points for each race divided by the total number of races became that yacht’s season score. The lowest score determined Championship Series placing.

The Great Lakes region has been offering an ORR Great Lakes Championship Series since 2010 and the East Coast held its inaugural series in 2012.  Several organizations were responsible for developing these ORR racing series:  the Offshore Racing Association (ORA), the Offshore Racing Rule (ORR) and the Offshore Racing Rule Owners Association (ORROA).  These regional series were designed for sailors and race organizers interested in giving boat owners of all types a fair and level playing field.  The ORR seeks to encourage the use of a common, objective rule – the Offshore Racing Rule – to increase participation in regattas across the country.