USA

One of the world's largest ORC nations. A diverse offshore racing culture spanning four coastlines.

Kinship

American racing spans four coasts.

Annapolis, Newport, Key West, Chicago, San Francisco — find US offshore racing.

 Hidden Shape

The hidden shape of the fleet.
The kinds of boat that keep appearing when every hull is measured the same way.

How every American boat clusters, before the results arrive.
Kinship

Four coastlines. Every competitive style.

The United States fields one of the most geographically diverse ORC communities in the world, spanning four distinct coastlines — the East Coast’s blue‑water programs, the Gulf’s expanding fleet, the Pacific’s innovation culture, and the Great Lakes’ intensity. This diversity of competitive styles makes the American fleet one of FleetEdge’s richest comparative datasets.

1,218
boats
53
events
395
races
National fleet view · as of 2026-08-20

National authority: US Sailing

The character of American offshore racing is diverse, and the 1,218-boat USA fleet sits across two structural anchors at once. AEROCORE leads the fleet at 21.1% — the large-scale production racer-cruiser tier that shows a measured downwind advantage in banked race evidence, and the widest single block in American offshore racing — with AEROSTREAM second at 17.0%, the towering-rig upwind-power tier that anchors the championship-grade end, and LEANRUN third at 15.6%, the large-scale tier whose balanced signature fits the Newport, Annapolis, and San Francisco Bay club traditions; HEFTLINE sits fourth at 14.1% — the compact, stiff-platform tier built around hulls like the J-111, Farr 30, and Cape 31, where America's one-design circuits meet handicap racing. Together, AEROCORE and AEROSTREAM account for 38.1% of the fleet and frame the American performance picture across both ends of the spectrum. The single largest structural fact, however, sits at the design board: Johnstone R / J/Boats carries 277 hulls — 22.7% of the fleet — the iconic J-line racer-cruiser family (J-105, J-120, J-111, J-109) that anchors American club racing on every coast. Teams range from East Coast dynasties with decades of offshore history to West Coast innovators and emerging Gulf competitors, with several premier venues — Chesapeake Bay, Long Island Sound, San Francisco Bay, Narragansett Bay — running tidal-gate water where current management is as decisive as boat speed. Almost the entire fleet now resolves cleanly into the public archetype model — 1,209 of 1,218 boats classified across the eight archetypes of the 2026 census. In autumn 2024, a 28-boat American contingent raced the ORC World Championship in Valencia, and the Botin 44 INTERLODGE 44 (USA 4415) won Class A on 8 points — see what we saw and the USA ORC fleet hub.

National fleet view · 1,218 boats · as of 2026-08-20

At a glance

USA — structural profile.

Scope
1,218 boats
1,206 ORC-rated · 12 mapped-IRC
Top 3 archetypes
  1. AEROCORE — 257 boats (21.1%)
  2. AEROSTREAM — 207 boats (17.0%)
  3. LEANRUN — 190 boats (15.6%)
Eight canonical performance archetypes cluster the fleet by dimensional signature. See the full map →
Top designer cluster
Johnstone R
277 boats (22.7%) — the most-represented design voice in this fleet.

Counts and archetype assignments above are measured from the current corpus. Commentary below is interpretive.

National fleet view · as of 2026-08-20
Hidden Shape

The shape of the American fleet.

1,218 boats in the fleet. 1,206 ORC-rated and 12 mapped IRC entries attributed across eight archetypes — spanning four coastlines and the deepest one-design backbone in offshore racing. Here's how they cluster, and what the collective signature reveals about how America races.

The American ORC Fleet Signature

America's classified fleet is anchored at both ends of the spectrum, and the end that holds the count lead is the production racer-cruiser backbone: AEROCORE. AEROCORE carries 21.1% (257 boats) of the fleet — the large-scale, upright-posture tier that shows a measured downwind advantage in banked race evidence, hulls like the First 36 and J-120 — the single widest block in American offshore racing, and the shape the country's club and coastal circuits are built around. AEROSTREAM follows at 17.0% (207 boats), the towering-rig upwind-power tier that suits the windward-leeward and grand-prix end — the championship-grade archetype, and the one that carried INTERLODGE 44 to her Class A world title at Valencia. LEANRUN sits third at 15.6% (190 boats), the large-scale tier whose balanced signature fits the Newport, Annapolis, and San Francisco Bay club traditions, with HEFTLINE fourth at 14.1% (172 boats) — the compact, stiff-platform tier built around hulls like the J-111, Farr 30, and Cape 31, where America's one-design circuits meet handicap racing. Together the leading pair carries 38.1% of the fleet — reaching across the American spectrum at once, from the production racer-cruiser backbone to the grand-prix sharp end. AEROFORCE, LEANFORCE, KEELRUN, and SPARKFLEX fill the remainder of the classified pool. Underneath the archetype shape, the design board is unambiguous: Johnstone R / J/Boats carries 277 hulls — 22.7% of the fleet, the largest single-designer concentration in the American fleet. The iconic J-line (J-105, J-120, J-111, J-109) is the structural backbone of American club racing on all four coastlines. The fleet now resolves almost entirely into the public archetype model — 1,209 of 1,218 boats classified across the eight archetypes of the 2026 census.

  • AEROCORE 21.1% · 257 boats
  • AEROSTREAM 17.0% · 207 boats
  • LEANRUN 15.6% · 190 boats

Design board: Johnstone R / J/Boats 22.7%

In autumn 2024 a 28-boat American contingent raced the ORC World Championship in Valencia, and the Botin 44 INTERLODGE 44 (USA 4415, AEROSTREAM) won Class A outright — 1st of 19 on 8 points, twenty clear of the next American boat. TIO LOCO and ZAMMERMOOS held 3rd and 5th in the published class order behind her. See what we saw and the USA ORC fleet hub.

Complete data Latest published view

AEROCORE

Large scale · upright posture · tender reserve — measured downwind advantage in banked race evidence.

neutral upwind · neutral reaching · neutral downwind

Boats 257
Share 21.1%
  • First 36
  • Bavaria CR 46
  • J-120

KEELRUN

Compact scale · upright posture · neutral reserve — reaching-neutral in banked race evidence.

moderate upwind · strong reaching · moderate downwind

Boats 112
Share 9.2%
  • First 31.7
  • J-105
  • Sunfast 3200

HEFTLINE

Compact scale · level posture · stiff reserve — reaching-neutral in banked race evidence.

moderate upwind · moderate reaching · moderate downwind

Boats 172
Share 14.1%
  • J-111
  • Farr 30
  • Cape 31

AEROSTREAM

Towering scale · level posture · stiff reserve — measured downwind advantage in banked race evidence.

strong upwind · weak reaching · strong downwind

Boats 207
Share 17.0%
  • TP-52
  • XP-44
  • Farr 40

LEANRUN

Large scale · upright posture — downwind-neutral in banked race evidence.

neutral upwind · neutral reaching · neutral downwind

Boats 190
Share 15.6%
  • First 36.7
  • J-109
  • First 35

LEANFORCE

Compact scale — downwind-neutral in banked race evidence.

weak upwind · neutral reaching · weak downwind

Boats 114
Share 9.4%
  • Fortuna 9
  • Mat 10.10
  • Aphrodite 101

SPARKFLEX

Minimal scale · upright posture · tender reserve — downwind-constrained in banked race evidence.

weak upwind · moderate reaching · weak downwind

Boats 32
Share 2.6%
  • J-80 OD
  • J-24
  • J-70 ONE DESIGN

AEROFORCE

Large scale · level posture · neutral reserve — reaching-constrained in banked race evidence.

neutral upwind · weak reaching · neutral downwind

Boats 125
Share 10.3%
  • First 40.7
  • X-43
  • Grand Soleil 40

Event cohort view · 28 boats · as of 2026-08-20

The American ORC community is one of the most competitive in the world. US Sailing provides the national framework for certification and handicap racing. The East Coast hosts traditional offshore races with strong IRC participation, while the Pacific coast has developed a reputation for technical innovation and competitive depth. The Gulf coast fleet has grown significantly in recent years, adding warm-water year-round programs to the mix. The Great Lakes circuit — Chicago–Mackinac, Bayview–Mackinac, the Verve Cup — adds a fourth offshore tradition with short-summer-season intensity and a freshwater-chop signature.

American teams at international events represent consistent high performance. The United States sends boats to every major offshore championship — the Rolex Fastnet, the Sydney Hobart, Mediterranean races, and transatlantic events. American design houses continue to push innovation, and American crews maintain competitive standing across all rating and archetype categories. This is a nation where offshore racing is both established and dynamic.

Selected Race Result

ORC World Championship 2024, Valencia — Class A.

28 of the 1,218-boat American fleet competed at the 2024 ORC World Championship in Valencia. 33 races across offshore, windward-leeward, and coastal courses, September 30 to October 5, scored under PCS constructed-course and ToT weather-routing allowances. The headline American result: INTERLODGE 44 won Class A outright.

Headlines

The dimension leaders at Valencia.

The most recent race in FleetEdge’s current published view with American participation is the Round the Island Race, sailed 11 July 2026 around the Isle of Wight; its ORC-measured field is sorted by archetype in the Race Archetypes section that closes this panel. Valencia 2024 stays the featured American result, and its dimension leaders follow.

For Comparative Time, negative = faster than the rating expects (the boat beat its rating); positive = slower. For Crew Residual, negative = the crew beat the boat's archetype-expected pace (stronger execution); positive = below that baseline.

Comparative Time

1. AFRICA B SQUAD · −124.0 sec/nm
2. CHRISTOPHER DRAGON XII · −123.2
Event 32 boats

Crew Residual

1. CHRISTOPHER DRAGON XII · −132.0 sec/nm
2. DRUMLECK · −124.6
Event 32 boats

Upwind VMG (12 kt)

1. OC JV66 TEMPTATION · 7.59 kt
2. Vesper · 7.08 kt
Event 33 boats

The ORC World Championship 2026 (8–14 May 2026) also has an American presence in the current published view. Valencia 2024 stays the featured American result on this page; the World Championship 2026 classified entry is sorted by archetype in the Race Archetypes section further down this panel, ahead of the Round the Island Race grid of 11 July 2026.

Stories

What we saw at Valencia.

Championship Citation

INTERLODGE 44 — ORC World Champion, Class A.

INTERLODGE 44 (USA 4415 AEROSTREAM, Botin 44, Botin design, Neb build) finished 1st of 19 in Class A on 8 points — the American flag on the Class A podium at the 2024 World Championship in Valencia. The hull reads as AEROSTREAM in FleetEdge's public classification: the upwind-power specialist tier that suits the championship-grade end of the sport. Across the 33-race series — offshore, windward-leeward, and coastal — she held the class lead with an 8-point total in a class order that runs 19 deep in the published standings, a world title earned on the water of the Mediterranean and brought back across the Atlantic.

  • 1st of 19 · Class A, 8 points
  • AEROSTREAM · Botin 44 platform
Complete data ORC Worlds 2024
Nationality / Class Cluster

American depth at the top of Class A.

The United States did not just win Class A — it filled much of the visible order behind the champion as well. Behind INTERLODGE 44 in 1st, TIO LOCO (USA 4243, Swan 42) took 3rd on 28 points, ZAMMERMOOS (USA 4224, Swan 42 Club) 5th on 33, and the GP-42 SETTLER (USA 8668) 6th on 36.5 — a cluster of American Swan 42s and grand-prix 42-footers stacked through the top of the class. Of the eleven Class A boats visible in the published fleet view, nine are USA-flagged; the New Zealand RP-42 RIKKI sat 12th in that order. When the American contingent came to Valencia, Class A was the grid where its depth told.

  • Class A visible top: INTERLODGE 44 (1st), TIO LOCO (3rd), ZAMMERMOOS (5th), SETTLER (6th)
  • USA share of Class A: 9 of 11 boats visible in the published fleet view
Complete data ORC Worlds 2024
Magnitude Gap

INTERLODGE 44 closed Class A 20 points clear of the next American boat.

INTERLODGE 44 posted 8 points across the Class A series; the next American finisher, TIO LOCO, sat on 28 — a 20-point gulf in a class scored over 33 races. In a class order that runs 19 deep that margin is real daylight: not a countback or a tiebreak but a series held from the front. The American Swan 42s and GP-42s that filled the places behind her were quick boats in their own right; INTERLODGE 44 simply converted more of her starts into low scores, race after race, to build a cushion no rival could close.

  • 1st to next USA: 20 pts · 8 vs 28 (TIO LOCO)
  • Series length: 33 races · Class A order 19 deep
Complete data ORC Worlds 2024
Fleet vs Race Composition Shift

A grand-prix traveling squad against the home fleet's J/Boats breadth.

The 1,218-boat American national fleet leads with its production racer-cruiser backbone — AEROCORE 21.1% ahead of AEROSTREAM 17.0%, with LEANRUN at 15.6% and HEFTLINE at 14.1% — and almost the whole fleet (1,209 of 1,218) is now classified in the public archetype model. The Valencia traveling squad looked nothing like that breadth: the American Class A hardware — INTERLODGE 44's Botin 44, the Swan 42s TIO LOCO and ZAMMERMOOS, and the GP-42 SETTLER — every one reads AEROSTREAM in the current published classification, the grand-prix sharp end of the national spectrum. The home-fleet design board, by contrast, is anchored on production breadth: the Johnstone R / J/Boats family at 22.7% of the fleet is its largest single-designer concentration, and the J-line (J-105, J-120, J-111, J-109) is the structural backbone of American club racing across the East Coast, Great Lakes, Gulf, and Pacific. The Valencia squad does not represent that domestic breadth; it represents the grand-prix sharp end — see the USA ORC fleet hub.

  • Fleet baseline: AEROCORE 21.1% · AEROSTREAM 17.0% · LEANRUN 15.6% · HEFTLINE 14.1%
  • Class A American hardware — all AEROSTREAM in the current view: INTERLODGE 44 · TIO LOCO · ZAMMERMOOS · SETTLER
  • Designer share: Johnstone R / J/Boats 22.7% of the fleet · classified 1,209 of 1,218
Complete data Archetype groups
Race Archetypes

The 2024 ORC World Championship, Valencia.

The current publication carries no archetype view pinned near this event, so FleetEdge does not surface a race-group archetype distribution here. The race result above stands on the published event standings; the fleet-wide picture lives in the Fleet DNA view.

Archetypes reflect the current fleet view — no published view near this event yet.

Race Archetypes

Classified boats at the ORC World Championship 2026 (8–14 May 2026).

Archetype assignments dated 2026-08-20 — the FleetEdge analysis nearest this event.

The ORC World Championship 2026, raced 8–14 May 2026, with the whole classified entry sorted by archetype as it stood at the time of the event — the profile of that field, not a US national distribution; the national picture stays in Fleet DNA.

AEROSTREAM

Towering scale · level posture · stiff reserve — measured downwind advantage in banked race evidence.

Boats 44
Share 43.6%

AEROCORE

Large scale · upright posture · tender reserve — measured downwind advantage in banked race evidence.

Boats 16
Share 15.8%

LEANRUN

Large scale · upright posture — downwind-neutral in banked race evidence.

Boats 15
Share 14.9%

AEROFORCE

Large scale · level posture · neutral reserve — reaching-constrained in banked race evidence.

Boats 9
Share 8.9%

LEANFORCE

Compact scale — downwind-neutral in banked race evidence.

Boats 7
Share 6.9%

HEFTLINE

Compact scale · level posture · stiff reserve — reaching-neutral in banked race evidence.

Boats 6
Share 5.9%

KEELRUN

Compact scale · upright posture · neutral reserve — reaching-neutral in banked race evidence.

Boats 4
Share 4.0%
Race Archetypes

Round the Island Race 2026 — the ORC-measured field, 11 July 2026.

The archetype spread of the ORC-measured boats in the field, in the FleetEdge analysis published nearest the event — the profile of that field, not a US national distribution; the national picture stays in Fleet DNA.

Archetype assignments dated 2026-08-20 — the FleetEdge analysis nearest this event.

AEROSTREAM

Towering scale · level posture · stiff reserve — measured downwind advantage in banked race evidence.

Boats 4
Share 22.2%

LEANRUN

Large scale · upright posture — downwind-neutral in banked race evidence.

Boats 3
Share 16.7%

AEROFORCE

Large scale · level posture · neutral reserve — reaching-constrained in banked race evidence.

Boats 4
Share 22.2%

AEROCORE

Large scale · upright posture · tender reserve — measured downwind advantage in banked race evidence.

Boats 2
Share 11.1%

HEFTLINE

Compact scale · level posture · stiff reserve — reaching-neutral in banked race evidence.

Boats 2
Share 11.1%

KEELRUN

Compact scale · upright posture · neutral reserve — reaching-neutral in banked race evidence.

Boats 1
Share 5.6%

SPARKFLEX

Minimal scale · upright posture · tender reserve — downwind-constrained in banked race evidence.

Boats 1
Share 5.6%

LEANFORCE

Compact scale — downwind-neutral in banked race evidence.

Boats 1
Share 5.6%

Classified fleet view · 1,209 of 1,218 classified · as of 2026-08-20

Fleet Stories

The American fleet's signature.

Designer Density

The J/Boats backbone — 277 hulls, 22.7% of the American fleet.

Johnstone R / J/Boats carries 277 of the 1,218-boat American fleet's hulls — 22.7%, the largest single-designer concentration in the fleet. The J-line (J-105, J-120, J-111, J-109) is the structural backbone of American club racing across all four coastlines, from Newport and the Chesapeake to the Great Lakes and San Francisco Bay — and four of the fleet's five most popular classes are J/Boats designs: the J-111 (44 boats), J-105 (42), J-120 (33), and J-109 (29).

  • Johnstone R / J/Boats: 22.7% of the fleet
  • J-line in the top-5 classes: J-111 (44) · J-105 (42) · J-120 (33) · J-109 (29)
Complete data Designer mix
Archetype Density

AEROCORE leads the American fleet — the production racer-cruiser backbone.

AEROCORE leads the American fleet at 257 boats (21.1%), with AEROSTREAM second at 207 boats (17.0%) — together 38.1% of the fleet. AEROCORE is the large-scale, upright-posture production racer-cruiser tier — hulls like the First 36 and J-120 — that shows a measured downwind advantage in banked race evidence, and it is the shape American club and coastal racing is built around. AEROSTREAM is the towering-rig upwind-power tier that suits the windward-leeward and grand-prix end — the championship-grade archetype that carried INTERLODGE 44 to her Class A world title. LEANRUN follows on 190 boats (15.6%) — the large-scale tier whose balanced signature fits America's club traditions — with HEFTLINE fourth on 172 boats (14.1%), the compact, stiff-platform tier of the J-111, Farr 30, and Cape 31, where America's one-design circuits meet handicap racing.

  • AEROCORE: 21.1% of the fleet
  • AEROSTREAM: 207 boats · 17.0% · combined top-2 38.1%
Complete data Archetype groups
Popular Classes

The boats that define American racing.

First 36.7 (44)

Beneteau's mid-size Farr-designed IRC weapon of the 2000s.

J-111 (44)

J/Boats' carbon-rig 37 — one-design or handicap, always quick.

J-105 (42)

The J/Boats 35 that built club asymmetric racing.

J-120 (33)

A racer-cruiser from Tillotson-Pearson.

J-109 (29)

J/Boats' mid-2000s IRC 35-footer — one-design capable and handicap friendly.

Racing Fleets

Fleets in USA.

USA ORC

A major national ORC fleet, analyzed.

How It Works

See how FleetEdge turns certificates into intelligence.
Continue

Go deeper.

USA ORC Fleet

The fleet lens on American ORC racing — East Coast, Great Lakes, Gulf, and Pacific — built on the J/Boats backbone and the AEROSTREAM racing tier.

ORC Worlds 2026 — Sorrento

The marquee outcome that brought SUMMER STORM home with the Class 0 trophy — a 94-boat, 29-nation championship with four class titles.

Fleet Overview

The global offshore racing landscape and how American fleets fit within it.

Fleet Archetypes

The eight-archetype FleetEdge framework — the 2026 census — underneath every chart and story on this page.

Join the world's offshore racing teams.

Historical weather meets hull physics — every fleet, every leg.

See USA Racing — USA ORC See Fleet Overview