World Sailing extends In-House Certification Program to Offshore Racing Congress

This move allows licensed sailmakers to produce sails in accordance with the rules and regulations that underpin offshore racing and ensures the same standards and certifications apply to events worldwide, supporting greater integrity in the sport and providing confidence amongst boat owners and sailors that the equipment used is officially certified and ready to race.

Olimpic Sails, based in Trieste, Italy, is the first World Sailing approved sailmakers to have been granted the license to IHC certify ORC sails.

There are currently 35 licensed sailmakers through the IHC Program, one assisted by the Japan Sailing Federation, four by the Swedish Sailing Federation, 20 by the Royal Yachting Association and 10 directly by World Sailing, as well as 30 World Sailing classes, 26 National Classes, one National Rating System and two international rating systems: International Racing Certificate (IRC) and ORC.

Jaime Navarro, World Sailing’s Director of Technical and Offshore, said, “As part of a wider project to bring the two international rating systems closer together, simplify administrative processes for boat owners and make sail measurements easier to understand, World Sailing is working closely with ORC and Olimpic Sails to fine tune the measurement and certification procedures, including the use of a universal measurement system (UMS) sail stamp, and will invite other manufacturers to join starting from 2024.

Sailmakers can be part of the IHC Programme through the application of a Certification System under licence issued by the World Sailing directly or approved Member National Authorities (MNAs)

Sail Measurement Training is provided during the initial audit of manufacturers and at least every three years during the World Sailing or MNA audit in order to ensure uniformity of measurements and confirm that the Equipment Rules of Sailing definitions and procedures are correctly applied.

A full list of participating sailmakers, classes and MNAs, along with more information on the program and how to become certified can be found on the World Sailing website.

Image courtesy of ORC.org, © Andrea Azzopardi