ROYAL OCEAN RACING CLUB
Rating Office
Who are we ?
The RORC Rating Office, company name Seahorse Rating Ltd, is a part of the Royal Ocean Racing Club in London. The Rating Office is based in Lymington on the central south coast of England, with a small team of full time staff. Take a look at our office page and staff profiles.
What is a rating ?
Boats who wish to race need to obtain either a "handicap" or a "rating" so that they can race fairly with boats of different designs.
A "handicap" is a system, usually locally administered, which allocates a time allowance to a boat to reflect its performance on the water. This allowance can be reviewed based on actual performance and race results.
A "rating", on the other hand, is a time corrector based on the measurements of the boat, rig and sails, and takes no account of crew ability or race results.
What do we do ?
The RORC Rating Office obtains measurements for boats which apply to us for a rating, and calculates a time corrector based on that data. There is only one such office in the UK and we also issue rating certificates to many other countries worldwide.
There are several different rating systems worldwide, the RORC Rating Office administers the following rating "rules" : Musto IRC, I the RYA/RORC Sportsboat Rule and the Nautor's Swan Rule. The office also administers the Volvo 70 and certain other One Design classes. Details on each of the rating rules can be found on this website, but here is a summary:
Musto IRC is a self-measurement rule, meaning that boats do not have to be officially measured. The boat owner submits an application form and we issue a rating certificate. The maths behind the calculation are secret so that boats cannot be designed specifically to take advantage of the rule.
SBR, the Sportsboat Rule, is similar to IRC except that it is aimed at small, light boats with large sail area.
NSR, the Nautors' Swan Rule is again based on IRC with modifications. NSR is used only at Swan Regattas.
The office also undertakes many other tasks and provides services to clubs etc. Members of staff sit on several UK and International committees and councils.