Sailing Program Overview

The ORCV offers a core sailing program of approximately 15 races including Bay, Coastal and Offshore events. The races are grouped to form 3 championship series and augmented by a number of specialist training and development events.

The ORCV program offers a different style of racing to our kindred clubs with co-operation and scheduling to minimise calendar clashes as best we can.

The Coastal and Offshore races start at Drapers Reef, just inside Port Philip Heads approximately 1 hour before slack water. We endeavour to start the coastal races as close as possible to dawn and yachts to be home that evening. The offshore races are scheduled around public holidays and typically start at night.

The core races fall into four groups based on Australian Sailing safety categories:-

Bay Racing, - Category 5 events

• The Boxing Day “Cock of the Bay” race which accompanies our Melbourne-Devonport and Melbourne-Hobart Race fleet to the southern end of the Bay.
• A two-handed race conducted at the end of the Summer season
• Winter races (June – August) including two medium distance races “around the sticks” and destination races to Blairgowrie and Geelong. Novice Skippers and Women Skippers events are conducted in conjunction with those destination Races.

Coastal Racing - Category 3 events:

• Three “Coastal Sprints” of approximately 55NM length conducted in Bass Strait in the area between Westernport and Airey’s Inlet.
• A destination race to Apollo Bay at the end of the summer season

Offshore Racing - Category 2 events:

• Three within Bass Strait – to Devonport, Stanley and King Island
• A race to Port Fairy/Portland at Easter, subject to entry numbers
• The Melbourne-Hobart Ocean Race, the “Westcoaster”, through Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean
• Biennial long distance races to Noumea and the double handed Melbourne – Osaka event.

Double Handed and shorthanded entries, racing with autohelms (subject to a maximum of 4 crew), are offered in all races. All competitors compete, and are scored in an “Unrestricted Monohull Division” providing an overall result for the total fleet. Yachts racing with only two crew have the option of entering an additional Double Handed Division.

The Championships

Three championship series are offered:-

• A Coastal Championship drawing results from the four Category 3 events using a traditional scoring system.
• An Offshore Championship based on results drawn from both Category 3 and Category 2 events using a scoring system which incorporates factors recognising race difficulty and fleet sizes
• A Double Handed Championship

 Full details of the races and championships are given in the “Races” menu (as shown below) and current scheduled are given in the “Calendar” menu item.