2024 ORC European Double-Handed Championship to Kick Off on Friday

With just a couple of hours remaining until the start of the ORC European Double-Handed Championship, anticipation is high for the sailing community. This championship will be contested during the 30th edition of La Duecento, a renowned 200-mile race organized by Circolo Nautico Porto Santa Margherita (CNSM) in the upper Adriatic. This is the second edition of the ORC DH European championship, an annual event co-organized by the Offshore Racing Congress (ORC). 

Twenty-nine boats from Croatia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, and Italy are set to compete in the race from May 3rd to 5th. They will navigate the challenging 200-mile course from Caorle to the Croation island of Susak via Grado and back. Over the past two days these boats have been docked at the marina in Darsena dell'Orologio and have undergone meticulous measurement checks led by the Technical Committee, chaired by ORC Chief Measurer Zoran Grubisa. The checklist includes inspections of safety equipment and sails.

Scoring for La Duecento will utilize the ORC’s Weather Routing Scoring (WRS) method, a novel approach introduced this year for offshore races in ORC European and World Championship events. WRS utilizes each entry’s polar performance data combined with the latest high-resolution weather models to determine a Time-on-Time rating for the boat. Each boat's score, therefore, reflects its performance relative to its potential in predicted weather conditions that are encountered during the race and thus produces the most fair possible rating.

The ORC DH Europeans’ fleet has been segmented into three classes: Class A, featuring 11 entries; Class B, with 8 entries; and Class C, with 10 entries.

Several notable teams stand out among the fleet. In Class A, Colombre, a JPK 10.80 owned by Massimo Juris from Venice, has Pietro Luciani as an accomplished crewmate and navigator with extensive Class40 experience, so they are a team to watch.

In Class B, the Italian Offshore X2 champions Marco Rusticali and Riccardo Rossi, winners of La Duecento 2023, will sail Mr. Hyde, a small and agile Hyde 27 optimized for offshpore competitiveness.

In Class C, Paolo Striuli and Roberto Scardellato sail on their IMX-38 Black Angel. Paolo is a seven-time winner of the 500x2 regatta, and Roberto boasts several Italian and European titles in different classes (IMS, Meteor, and others). Together, Paolo and Roberto clinched the overall victory in the 500-mile edition of this race in 2016 and established themselves as formidable competitors in the Adriatic double-handed racing circuit.

Among the international entries, there is JOY, J99 owned by Slovenians Vladimir Borstnar and Bojan Gale; the Czech-Slovenian crew of Peter Podunavac and Vid Jeranko sailing their JPK 10.30 MARY S; Slovenians Andrej Jereb and Jernej Drofenik on their Salona 38 TEQUILA IDRIJA, and the female crew composed of Croatian sailor Petra Kliba with her teammate German Steffi Edeler on the new First 36 MANA.

The official program started on Thursday, May 2nd, with the Skipper Meeting at 6 pm, hosted at the Civic Center of Caorle. The teams were briefed by Principal Race Officer Giancarlo Crevatin, the Event Technical Committee chair Zoran Grubisa, and the Weather Strategist and Performance Analyst Andrea Boscolo from Trim, who will provide insights into the weather forecasts for the race area.

Recent weather conditions, having turned autumnal, are expected to remain unpredictable throughout the race area. "The predominantly gradient wind will be weak with local reinforcements and variable direction due to cloud system interference on Friday and Saturday. Only from Sunday night will the cloudy system give way to clear skies with light breezes," anticipates Andrea Boscolo.

As anticipation builds, unpredictable weather conditions add an additional challenge to the championship. “The weather could be better, for sure. From the wind strength point of view, it will be very tricky and changing. I’m almost like a local sailor here, but I don’t feel my strength here. It will be no sleeping, a lot of dreaming and steering, and no help from the autopilot at all,” said Petra Kliba, Mana's skipper. 

The ORC DH Europeans will commence on Friday, May 3rd, at 10 AM, with fleet positions tracked in real-time via SGS Tracking here.    

After intense racing, participants and guests will gather at the Sporting Restaurant on Sunday, May 5th, to celebrate the championship's culmination with the Award Ceremony and the Crew Party. ORC DH European Champion medals will be awarded to the winning teams in three classes, and teams composed of all amateur Corinthian sailors will also be recognized.

“We look forward to seeing this competitive fleet of diverse boat types using our Weather Routing Scoring system for the first of our ORC Championship events,” said Bruno Finzi, Chairman of ORC. “Our team has worked hard to develop this system specifically for this type of racing, so we wish all competitors the best of luck in racing their boat fast in the conditions they will see in this race.”

La Duecento and the ORC DH European Championship 2024 are supported by sailboat hardware producer Antal, whose equipment innovation and quality are renowned in shipyards, among the designers, sail makers, and nautical product distributors throughout the world, Zanutta, a leading construction company, and by Vennvind, the Italian brand of sailing and leisure clothing. Other supporters include Caorle Tourism, Darsena dell’Orologio - Caorle (Venezia), Birra Castello and FIV.