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SORC Events:

The SORC mission is to lead the expansion of offshore competitive sailing in South Florida by providing the highest level of race organization, management and promotions for those that enjoy the sport of ocean sailing. The SORC is a Florida non-profit organization driven by a select group of volunteers that bring professional event management, sailing, racing and other skills to the organization.

Recent Race News:

DATES FOR UPCOMING SORC RACES: Nassau Cup Ocean Race - November 11, 2010 Fort Lauderdale to Key West Race - January 12, 2011 Pineapple Cup / Montego Bay Race– February 5, 2011

 

June 18, 2010
Southern Ocean Winter Racing Kick Off
Nassau Cup
Paige Brooks SORC PR - The Nassau Cup Race, from Miami to Nassau, opens the South Florida ocean racing season this year on November 11th.  Running since 1934, this race is known for its share of great racers and vicious storms.  Starting in balmy Miami waters, sailors on the 176 nm course must carefully navigate crossing the Gulf Stream and periodic storm cells as they make their easterly course to the Bahamas.

Competitors over the history of this challenging race include race winner Ted Turner on Tenacious to the more recent four-time winner, Jim Bishop, on Gold Digger. Past contenders for the Cup include Dennis Conner, Dick Bertram, Ted Hood and Bobby Symonette.  This race has been covered by the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, numerous local papers, and is featured in the recently published Legend of Imp, which won her division several times in the 1970s. 

Fully crewed ocean racing category 2 mono and multi-hulls 30’ and over are invited to participate. SORC may also add a double-handed division (please contact the organizers for more information).

The Notice of Race is now posted on the website HERE.

The Lauderdale Yacht Club, the Coral Reef Yacht Club, the Nassau Yacht Club and the Storm Trysail Club sponsor this race, which is managed by SORC for the collective group. 

January, 2010
Heading North, Downstream
Paige Brooks, SORC PR – On March 31, 2010 the gun fires for the 2nd annual start of the reincarnated Fort Lauderdale to Charleston ocean race. 

By the time the boats cross the starting line, the navigators and tacticians in this 408 nautical mile distance race will have pored over charts and weather reports for days on end. The Gulf Stream is the strong silent factor that can make or break a navigator. Where this unmarked river is, how warm it is, and how fast it's traveling play into the strategy for each team in addition to the normal distance race elements like weather, course, position and sail selection. 
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January, 2010
Different Drummer Frank Atkinson Finds His Rhythm
Paige Brooks, SORC PR – After their 160 nm,19 hour sprint down the southern coast of Florida from Fort Lauderdale to Key West, Frank Atkinson, Ted Naughton, his father Ted Naughton Sr, Tom Ericsson, and Jamie Stewart were exhausted.  Racing against 33 other boats in the handicapped division (PHRF), these 5 men crewing on a narrow 40 foot boat “Different Drummer” didn’t realize until they were caught up on food and sleep that they had beat all of them on corrected time.  Frank Atkinson, who’s owned the boat for just 6 months said, “I am exuberant!” Read more...

 

April, 2009
Rosebud/Team DYT Sets New Record in 2009 Fort Lauderdale to Charleston Race; Teamwork takes IRC overall title; Jasmine wins PHRF 
Charleston, S.C. -  In a fitting re-birth of the venerable Fort Lauderdale to Charleston Race, Roger Sturgeon's STP65 Rosebud/Team DYT (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) crossed the finish line just before 10 p.m. on April 10, to break the 35-year-old race record set in 1974 by Ralph Ryder's C&C 66 Phantom and set a new standard for the modern running of this event. Eleven boats started the 408-nautical mile offshore race at 2:00pm on April 8, just outside of Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale and finished outside of Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. Although Rosebud/Team DYT clocked in at 1 day:7 hours:52 minutes: 49 seconds, on corrected time under IRC rules it finished second overall by less than nine seconds to Teamwork, the J/122 owned by Robin Team (Lexington, N.C.). Full results are posted on the event website www.fortlauderdalecharlestonrace.org.
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February, 2009
Privateer Overall Winner in 2009 Pineapple Cup / Montego Bay Race. Rosebud/Team DYT takes line honors and wins IRC A class; Soozal wins IRC B class; Affinity wins PHRF class

Montego Bay, Jamaica – With all but one of the Pineapple Cup – Montego Bay Race entrants having posted finish times, the 811-mile distance race from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. to Montego Bay, Jamaica, has officially concluded for 2009. Roger Sturgeon’s STP65 Rosebud/Team DYT (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) took line honors with an elapsed time of 2 days, 11hours, 28 minutes, and 35seconds, just one hour shy of the race record set in 2005, and won IRC A class.  Daniel Woolery’s King 40 Soozal (Alamo, Calif.) won the four-boat IRC B class, while Jack Desmond’s Swan 48 Affinity won the three-boat PHRF class.  Ron O’Hanley’s Privateer took the overall title for the 29th running of this ocean racing classic, and collected the silver Pineapple Cup.  The Pineapple Cup is awarded based on a PHRF conversion in order to combine both fleets.

 “If you think of the great races around the world, this would have to be in the top five,” said Ron O’Hanley (Boston, Mass.) after returning home. “The conditions you get and the water you cover, as you wind through the Bahamas and then past Cuba—and the whole forbidden nature of that – is incredible. If you think of the boats that have done it before us, they’re the who’s who of racing. If anyone thinks of themselves as an ocean racer, I would urge them to do this race. That [Montego Bay Yacht Club] is an extraordinary club down there. Not only do they organize the race and the reception of boats very well, they are all very friendly. It’s a very storied yacht club and I really wanted to stay longer.”
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