Racing Offshore
 The CCA Rule
By 1933 The Cruising Club of America was hard at work developing
a satisfactory ocean racing rule, and that year announced
a design contest to test the rule. Thus was the start of
the long evolution of The CCA Rule, which endured and evolved
for over fifty years.
CCA members have been leaders in the development of major
ocean racing rules, including the CCA Rule, MHS/IMS, and now,
the ORR.
Offshore
Racing Association
The CCA, along with the Chicago Yacht Club and the Transpacific Yacht  Club, joined
forces in the fall of 2004 in an alliance called the Offshore Racing Association.
ORA was formed to promote and support the use of VPP-based handicapping and has
undertaken the task of developing a new measurement-based rating rule that provides
the fairest handicapping possible. CCA Technical Committee Chair Bill Langan
is a principle in the Offshore Racing Association, and this new rule will be
put to the test in the 100th anniversary of the Bermuda Race in June 2006.
ORA Position Paper
The Offshore Racing Association was formed to bring together those US yacht clubs
that require an objective, comprehensive measurement handicapping rule that
is grounded in the best science available. Read this position paper for full
details on the rule's objectives and features.
A Bit of History
While The Cruising Club of America is, to its core, a cruising
club, racing offshore has been an essential component of
the Club's activities since its inception in 1922. The CCA,
along with the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club, is the organizer
of the Newport Bermuda Race, one of the top ocean races in
the world.
CCA members have been active players on the international
ocean racing map since Honorary Charter Member Thomas Flemming
Day, owner and editor of "The Rudder" magazine, advocated
ocean cruising and ocean racing, and began organizing daring
offshore races between east coast ports. Amid criticism from
New York and Boston papers, he blasted the "grey-bearded
rum soaked piazza scows...who spend their days swigging booze
on the front stoop of a clubhouse." Day continued to organize
offshore races and, in 1906, with the help of Sir Thomas Llipton
who provided the trophy, the Bermuda Race was born.
It is no accident that one of the founding principles of
both the CCA and the Bermuda Race is to develop good boats.
CCA Commodore Herbert L. Stone desired, on the revival of the
Bermuda Race in 1923, "...to encourage the designing,
building, and sailing of small seaworthy yachts, to make popular
cruising upon deep water, and to develop in the amateur sailor
a love of true seamanship, and to give opportunity to become
proficient in the art of navigation..." |
