Technical focus on IOR

The RORC rating rules developed by the Royal Ocean Racing Club technical committee came into force in Europe in 1931 when an increasing number of yachts intended to participate in offshore races and in the waters of various European nations. The regulations, through updates, had come to have to deal with the evolution of yachting after the Second World War and therefore with the changing dimensional ratios of the new projects (LB-Draft-Displ).

In the USA the same situation and the same evolution and difficulty in updating the rules of ratings and measurements had happened to the rules of the CCA Cruising Club of America which since the 30s had studied a typology of rules to measure and penalize boats in racing based on the experiences of different design schools.

Meanwhile, the Metric Classes of the International Rating Rule, born in 1907, also remained very important, and evolved especially in some of the classes to follow the evolution of hull studies.

Boats built on the RORC rating rules, wanting to race in the USA under the CCA in the years 1955-56 were severely penalized because the CCA for example emphasized stability of form, penalized little the width and made it advantageous to reduce the draft, while the RORC boats, born from the experiences of the RORC of the 20s-30s were advantaged if narrow and deep, to put it in an extremely simplified and crude way. Even boats rated as Cruiser Racer CR under the International Racing Rules like the 8 and 9 CR (the famous ones of Mc.Gruer) and the 12 CR in America were severely penalized if they participated in offshore races of the CCA.

I refer Nicola and Guido for any further information on the different ratings and they will focus more on the evolution of hulls and sails based on the regulations with which a boat was rated.

The demand for a truly international offshore racing rulebook arose when a number of trophies and events were created on both sides of the Atlantic that encouraged international teams to participate. These included the Onion Patch series and later the SORC in the United States, using the CCA, and the Admiral's Cup, and the Mediterranean races using the RORC rulebook.

In 1960 the Offshore Racing Congress was formed with the spirit and intent of promoting the competition of marine boats by allowing the evolution of designs and construction methods on a fair basis and with an open spirit of innovation.

On November 1, 1969, the Offshore Rules Coordination Committee, formed by Olin Stephens, Dick Carter, Van den Stadt, Gustav Plym among the most famous, held its last meeting and approved the constitution of the new ORC Offshore Rating Council. The regulation created by the ORC was the International Offshore Rule (IOR) which came into force in 1969, continuing to update the rating formula and the measurement methods by combining and elaborating the results and experiences of the RORC and the CCA.

This was the sentence that introduced the IOR: "It is the spirit and intent of the rule to promote the racing of seaworthy offshore racing yachts of various designs, types and construction on a fair and equitable basis".

Initially the IOR rating formula was very similar to the RORC one and this allowed many RORCs of the last generation (1960-70) to be rated IOR and continue to race honorably. Just out of curiosity, because it goes beyond today's topic, the ORC is still responsible for the development studies of modern ratings such as IMS and IRC. Honorary President is the King of Norway Harald V. Nicola Sironi has several very important positions within.

The birth of the IOR was one of the unforgettable stages in the history of yachting, as happened in 1907 for the creation of the International Rule and the metric classes. And as then, the rules on which excellent boats such as the metric classes were built and raced were founded with the participation of the greatest naval designers of the time, from Anker, Fife, Liljegren, Nicholson, Mylne, Benzon, Oerst, Linton Hope,

the launch of the IOR was christened by other brilliant designers and technicians as we have mentioned.

This historical reason has pushed VSV for many years now to open its events and regattas to IOR class boats and naturally to those that had contributed to its creation, namely the RORC and the American CCA rated boats, and to give them particular value for their historical and design character.

With the evolution of materials and construction methods, already in 1964 we saw the migration of the rudder towards the stern and the separation of the rudder from the keel which became shorter and shorter until it became the ballast fin and the rudder a wing profile hanging near the aft exit of the waterline. Along these lines Stephens designed Deb in 1964, Carter Rabbit in 1965 (won the Fastnet in plywood), Nicholson Noryema V and La Meloria in 68. These were not new ideas, because in the distant late 1800s racing boats with separate rudders were already being built, fantastic planing monsters, but they were not habitable and structurally robust and safe Ocean racers; they were extreme boats suitable for coastal races: Bona Fide is an example like the many Swedish boats designed as tonners or scows.

Zeevalk instead was perhaps the first example of a small 12.5 m ocean racer with a separate rudder. It was designed by Van de Stadt in 1949 and built in marine plywood with a chine. Great publicity for Bruynzeel, a famous Dutch manufacturer of marine plywood. Very fast in certain conditions, it won the 1951 Fastnet in its class and together with other developments of this design, such as Black Soo in the early 1960s and Rabbit in 1965, it was one of the first modern boats of its type to create discontent among RORC racers who saw limitations in the rules.

But while the IOR was born and they were trying to fix the rating for modern boats with separate rudders, the industrial evolution and modernization of construction methods and materials were also developing in the nautical sector, which from the early 60s had led to the creation of series boats built in fiberglass and resins. This too is History and although we are all more attracted by the uniqueness of wooden works of art, VSV has deemed it necessary to consider the historical value in fiberglass constructions that have adequate characteristics and that have been produced by shipyards renowned for quality and designed by excellent designers who guarantee the historicity of the model and the excellence of the construction. For now we have limited the year of launch to 1980 and in regattas we try to group them together for their estimated speed performance as we do for other boats.

Most of the production boats of the 1970-80 decade were born IOR following a winning project as a prototype. Many, especially the first of the series, participated in national and international regattas. All the others, born mainly for cruising because the IOR produced boats that were wider and more habitable than those produced according to the RORC regulation, less expensive than the wooden ones, participated in large numbers in club regattas and by investing a lot in sails and equipment they managed to obtain results also in important competitions creating a growing number of young crews and helmsmen and a market of the most renowned and skilled crews. The evolution of the IOR and the repeated updates to the rating rules helped the market of the series IORs in fiberglass supported and publicized by the performances in regattas obtained by the one-off projects from which a good part of the series descended or from which they were inspired.

This continuous turnover of new projects and creations has created a large number of second and subsequent hand boats. Changing typology of buyers, often become pure cruisers with the experience of the first boat or owners not so excited by the regattas and the costs of updating sails and equipment, often the boats have been transformed or in any case modified to satisfy different needs, both in the interiors, systems, and in the sail plans and equipment, but also in the deck plans and superstructures. The first visible modification is the aft beach.

But VSV has in its aims and purposes those of the protection and respect of historic boats; and the IOR series boats in their best range we have declared historic boats and worthy of being valorized and saved. For this reason VSV advocates the revaluation of this fleet by suggesting to the current owners the recovery of the originality, just as through its good offices it has so far advocated and rewarded the recovery and restoration operations of wooden boats (and some famous wooden IORs have already been restored). Of course, the same shipyards that have restored wooden boats are not always equally prepared and competent in the field of resins and fibers; we should select adequate shipyards and craftsmen. Historical research will have a great deal of value for those who will direct or supervise the restoration of these series boats, as has been done and continues to be done for vintage and classic wooden boats: therefore photos, literature, videos or films of the history of each boat and the series to which it belongs, and there is a lot of material to research, right James? and Michel Dejoie if he is connected?

Some owners of high-quality fiberglass boats from this era have already experienced the type of restoration that boats deserve, and the types of interventions that can be standardized, such as osmosis control and elimination, checks on structures, systems, machinery, sails, rigging, masts, winches. Great respect and merit have been given to those associations that have advocated refitting with a return to originality. Matteo Salamon, founder and director of S&S Swan, can tell us a lot about this. On their website there are many examples of phases of restoration that respect originality.

S&S Swan Association has understood for years the importance of keeping the beautiful Swans as original as possible, of which it organizes prestigious gatherings: some of these were born under the RORC, the others IOR. Another topic could be explored by Guido Cavalazzi regarding the sails that once were numerous on the IORs ... In a restoration that allows an IOR to return to a future CIM or VSV regatta circuit with an optimal coefficient of originality, what should we do?

And the masts? Can I consider an IOR that no longer has its original Stearn mast perfectly restored? And should the deck bristling with winches like a pincushion that IORs have at a certain point in their evolution be restored like this?

And of course, will the coefficient of originality and the quality of the restoration enter into the calculation of their size? I think so, but other authoritative contributions of this pleasant meeting will speak to us about it properly and with the highest competence.

For us, the era of the ugly duckling begins: the IOR fiberglass boat of noble origins, neglected over the years, discolored and converted into a floating camper is ready to return to being a magnificent swan.

Enrico Zaccagni