MARION — Early bird registration fees for the biannual Marion Bermuda Race, scheduled to start on June 16, 2023, will end on Dec. 15. For skippers interested in taking on the 645-nautical mile challenge, now is the time to register to save on fees and ensure adequate time for preparation for this category one offshore race.

The Marion Bermuda Race is put on by the event’s organizing committee and Board of Directors in collaboration with the Royal Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club, the Beverly Yacht Club, and the Blue Water Sailing Club.

The 2023 race will follow the race’s historical course, starting in Buzzards Bay off of Marion, and finishing off St. David’s Head, Bermuda. While the race starts on June 16, there will be several preparation events, including yacht club presentations, and the “New” Northeast Offshore Race Symposium being held at Bentley University in Waltham on March 25, 2023.

There are three significant changes to the 2023 race — a Performance Class, ORR Performance Curve Scoring, and expanding a Multihull class.

“The line between cruising and racing boats over the last several years has become blurred, making it difficult to easily identify a boat as a strictly racing or cruising boat,” explained Marion Bermuda Race Chairman Neil Redburn. “The race has created a new class called the Performance Class for boats with an ORR rating of 1.000 and above. There is also more leeway in this class for modern enhancements, such as water ballast, retractable and canting keels that are becoming more commonplace in today’s performance cruising boats.”

Using ORR Performance Curve Scoring aims to level the playing field across the classes. ORR uses its proprietary VPP to provide a series of ratings explicitly designed for the Marion Bermuda Race by replicating the historical conditions of the initial beat out of the Bay, reach, and run seen during a typical race. These different ratings define a performance curve for each boat in seconds per mile versus wind conditions.

“With these adjustments, the boat with the highest average wins the race because, relative to their rating, they sailed the course the fastest among their competitors,” explained Redburn.

And finally, the formalization and expansion of a multihull class will widen the number of cruising boats able to compete in the Marion Bermuda Race and allow them to compete fairly both within their category and overall. Starting in 2023, the Marion Bermuda Race will allow multihulls between 32 and 80 feet LOA.

The Marion Bermuda race organizers have scheduled several upcoming information sessions useful for interested, new, and returning skippers alike. The sessions are planned for the following times and locations.

• Dec. 3, R&W Ropes New Bedford, MA at 9 a.m.
• Dec. 7, Jubilee YC Beverly, MA at 6:30 p.m.
• Dec. 21 2022, Stamford YC Stamford, CT, 6:30 p.m.
• Jan. 4, 2023, Zoom Presentation, 7 p.m. (details to be posted on marionbermuda.com)
• March 25, 2023, Northeast Offshore Race Symposium at Bentley University, Waltham, 8:00 a.m.

For more information on the Marion Bermuda Race, including registration, visit www.marionbermuda.com