Developer documentation

Quick start

Every request is a GET to https://sas.orc.org/api/{key}/{endpoint}, with the parameters in the query string. To download the rating data of every active standard ORC certificate in Greece, as JSON:

curl -o GRE_ORC.json "https://sas.orc.org/api/$ORC_API_KEY/DownRMS?CountryId=GRE&Family=ORC&ext=json"

import os
import requests

BASE = f"https://sas.orc.org/api/{os.environ['ORC_API_KEY']}"

r = requests.get(f"{BASE}/DownRMS",
                 params={"CountryId": "GRE", "Family": "ORC", "ext": "json"},
                 timeout=120)
r.raise_for_status()
for boat in r.json()["rms"]:
    print(boat["SailNo"], boat["YachtName"], boat["GPH"])

const base = `https://sas.orc.org/api/${process.env.ORC_API_KEY}`;

const url = new URL(`${base}/DownBoatRMS_byrefno`);
url.search = new URLSearchParams({ RefNo: "03420004I82", ext: "json" });

const res = await fetch(url);
const body = await res.json();
if (!res.ok) throw new Error(body.errors.join("; "));
console.log(body.rms[0].YachtName, body.rms[0].GPH);

The examples read the key from an environment variable, ORC_API_KEY, so that it never ends up in your source code.

API keys

Getting a key

Keys belong to users of ORC Sailor Services. Register there if you have not already, sign in, and ask for API access on the Developers page, saying briefly what your project is and how it will use the API. ORC e-mails you its answer. Once access is granted, you make your own keys on the same page: as many as five active at a time, one per application, so that each can be replaced on its own. A key may be given an expiry date, and works to the end of that day (UTC). Every new key is announced by e-mail to your account's address.

A key looks like this: orc_ followed by 64 hexadecimal characters.

orc_3f9a1c07e52d4b8e9a61f0c3d7b2e4a58c19f6d03b7e2a4c5d8e1f0a9b3c6d27

You are shown the key once, when you make it. ORC keeps only a fingerprint of it and cannot look it up again: if you lose it, revoke it and make a new one.

Keeping it secret

When a key stops working

A key is refused (401) once it is revoked (by you or by ORC), once its expiry date has passed if it was given one, or while API access is withdrawn from the account that holds it.

Making requests

GET https://sas.orc.org/api/{key}/{endpoint}?{parameters}

• GET only. Any other method is answered with 405.
• HTTPS. The key travels in the URL; always use https://.
• Names are not case-sensitive, neither endpoint names nor parameter names: DownRMS and downrms, CountryId and countryid are the same. Nor are values that are codes: GRE or gre, DH or dh.
• Patterns. Parameters marked pattern below match like SQL LIKE: % stands for any run of characters and _ for a single character; without either, the value must match in full. YachtName=PEG% finds PEGA and PEGASUS. Remember to URL-encode: % is written %25 in a query string.
• Parameters that are not recognised are ignored. Parameters described as numbers must be numbers. The one exception is format, where a value the service does not know is an error rather than a different answer than you asked for.

Responses and errors

Four endpoints answer with a JSON document (RMS, activecerts, country-fleet, sssdataex) — and three of those four will answer XML instead, if you ask for it; the three Down… endpoints answer with a file, sent with a Content-Disposition: attachment header that names it, in the format you ask for with ext; advanced-polar answers with plain text. All text is UTF-8; dates are ISO 8601.

Status codes

Error body

Every error comes as JSON, with an errors array of messages:

HTTP/1.1 401 Unauthorized
Content-Type: application/json; charset=UTF-8

{
  "errors": [
    "Missing or invalid API key."
  ]
}

XML instead of JSON

format=xml on RMS, activecerts and sssdataex answers with the XML document ORC's older web service has long served for the same data, so that a program written against it can be pointed here unchanged. The rows carry the same column names and the same values as the JSON; only the wrapping differs.

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: text/xml; charset=UTF-8

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<ROOT>
  <DATA>
    <ROW RowNum="1">
      <CountryId>GRE</CountryId>
      <dxtID>247085</dxtID>
      <RefNo>03420004HJ7</RefNo>
      <dxtDate>2026-03-12T14:30:45.000Z</dxtDate>
      <GPH>587.2</GPH>
      <Area_Sym></Area_Sym>
      …
    </ROW>
    …
  </DATA>
  <ERRORS/>
</ROOT>

• Rows are ROW elements under DATA, numbered from 1 in RowNum, with one child element per column. RMS puts its certificate types and families beside them, in CTyp and CFam.
• An empty column is an empty element (<Area_Sym></Area_Sym>) where the JSON has null, and a true/false column reads True or False.
• Errors go in ERRORS, as ERROR elements, under the same status code the JSON answer would carry. The node is there, empty, when all went well.
• The other endpoints have no XML answer. format=xml on country-fleet, advanced-polar or a Down… endpoint — whose format is already ext's to choose — is answered with 400.
• format=json may be written out, and is what you get in any case. Any other value is a 400.

Families, types and countries

Certificate families

Wherever a parameter takes a Family, it accepts the number or the code, except activecerts, which takes only the number.

Certificate types

Each certificate has a type within its family. The RMS endpoint returns this list as ctyp.

Countries

Certificates are issued by national rating offices, identified by a three-letter CountryId such as GRE, ITA or USA. A few identifiers are not countries: SY_ for super yachts, MU_ for multihulls, ODD for one-design classes. The RMS endpoint tells you which countries have certificates, and every JSON rating file carries the list of rating offices as Countries.

Certificates and boats

Every certificate has a reference number, RefNo, unique to it: no two certificates share one, and a boat's next certificate gets a new one. A boat can hold several certificates over the years, in more than one family. ORC does not number boats; in general a boat is the issuing country together with its certificate file name: CountryId and dxtName (also called BIN).

Endpoints

Eight endpoints, each described below with its parameters and a sample answer.

{
  "data": {
    "rows": [
      { "CountryId": "GRE", "Family": 1, "CertType": 2, "VPPYear": 2026, "CertCount": 15,
        "CountryName": "Greece", "LastUpdate": "2026-03-18T15:49:08.000Z",
        "CertName": "International", "RMSCode": "INTL" },
      { "CountryId": "GRE", "Family": 1, "CertType": 3, "VPPYear": 2026, "CertCount": 84,
        "CountryName": "Greece", "LastUpdate": "2026-03-18T15:49:08.000Z",
        "CertName": "Club", "RMSCode": "CLUB" },
      { "CountryId": "GRE", "Family": 1, "CertType": null, "VPPYear": null, "CertCount": 99,
        "CountryName": "Greece", "LastUpdate": "2026-03-18T15:49:08.000Z",
        "CertName": null, "RMSCode": null },
      …
    ],
    "ctyp": [ { "CertType": 2, "CertName": "International", "RMSCode": "INTL", "Family": 1,
                "Title": "International", "StatCode": null }, … ],
    "cfam": [ { "Family": 1, "FamilyName": "ORC Standard" }, … ]
  },
  "readme": "…"
}

{
  "data": {
    "rows": [
      {
        "Family": 1,
        "CountryId": "GRE",
        "dxtID": 246855,
        "RefNo": "03420004HB1",
        "dxtDate": "2026-03-10T16:44:39.000Z",
        "dxtName": "GR803.dxt",
        "YachtName": "FAETHON",
        "SailNo": "GRE-803",
        "VPPYear": 2026,
        "CertType": 3,
        "Expiry": "2026-12-31T00:00:00.000Z",
        "IsOd": false,
        "Class": "MOODY 30",
        "CertName": "Club",
        "FamilyName": "ORC Standard"
      },
      …
    ]
  }
}

GET https://sas.orc.org/api/{key}/DownRMS?CountryId=GRE&Family=ORC&VPPYear=2026&ext=json

GET https://sas.orc.org/api/{key}/DownBoatRMS?CountryId=GRE&SailNo=GRE-970&ext=json

GET https://sas.orc.org/api/{key}/DownBoatRMS_byrefno?RefNo=03420004I82&ext=json

1	0	0	47.7	0.91	52	1.01	60	1.14	75	1.24	90	1.19	110	1.14	120	1.09	135	0.93	138.7	0.88	150	0.7	165	0.58	180	0.53
2	0	0	47.7	1.8	52	1.98	60	2.21	75	2.39	90	2.29	110	2.22	120	2.13	135	1.83	138.7	1.75	150	1.41	165	1.16	180	1.07
3	0	0	47.7	2.67	52	2.9	60	3.2	75	3.43	90	3.31	110	3.24	120	3.12	135	2.71	138.7	2.59	150	2.13	165	1.76	180	1.61
…
24	0	0	40.2	7.27	52	7.97	60	8.25	75	8.77	90	9.29	110	10.12	120	10.98	135	11.62	150	10.62	164.9	9.71	165	9.67	180	9.3

{
  "data": {
    "rows": [
      {
        "CountryId": "GRE",
        "dxtName": "GR016.dxt",
        "YachtName": "AETHER",
        "SailNo": "GRE-016",
        "VPPYear": 2026,
        "Class": "DEHLER 30 OD",
        "Designer": "JUDEL FRIEDRICH / VROELIJK ROLF",
        "Builder": "DEHLER"
      },
      …
    ],
    "more": false
  }
}

{
  "data": {
    "rows": [
      {
        "CountryId": "GRE",
        "dxtID": 247085,
        "RefNo": "03420004HJ7",
        "VPPYear": 2026,
        "dxtName": "GR046.dxt",
        "YachtName": "OPTIMUM 4",
        "Class": "DEHLER 30 OD",
        "SailNo": "GRE-046",
        "Club": "NOK",
        "dxtDate": "2026-03-12T14:30:45.000Z",
        "Override": "IMS",
        "Division": "R",
        "GPH": 587.2,
        "Family": 1,
        "CertType": 2,
        …
        "CDL": 8.893,
        "APHD": 527.9946
      },
      …
    ]
  }
}

Rating data formats

The Down… endpoints give the same data in three formats. JSON is the one to use in new software; rms and csv exist for programs that already read them.

json

UTF-8, without a byte order mark. One object per certificate in rms, each with a few hundred fields. When metric is true, measurements are in metres, square metres and kilograms.

{
  "rms": [
    {
      "NatAuth": "GRE",
      "BIN": "GR1925",
      "CertNo": "01969",
      "RefNo": "03420004HB7",
      "SailNo": "GRE-1925",
      "YachtName": "STELLA",
      "Class": "SUN ODYSSEY 42i SD",
      "Builder": "JEANNEAU",
      "Designer": "LOMBARD",
      "C_Type": "CLUB",
      "Family": "ORC",
      "Division": "C",
      "IssueDate": "2026-03-10T17:00:24.885Z",
      "LOA": 12.526,
      "Dspl_Sailing": 9550,
      "CDL": 9.435,
      "GPH": 660.8,
      "APHD": 578,
      "APHT": 1.0381,
      "OSN": 635.9,
      "TMF_Inshore": 0.8141,
      "TMF_Offshore": 0.9435,
      "TND_Offshore_Low": 804,
      "TN_Offshore_Low": 0.7463,
      …
      "GRE_S_AP_TOD": …,
      "Allowances": {
        "WindSpeeds": [4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20, 24],
        "WindAngles": [52, 60, 75, 90, 110, 120, 135, 150],
        "R52":  [1228.4, 825.3, 658.9, 572.6, 521.1, 493.2, 480, 474.7, 480.6],
        …
        "Beat": [1973.3, 1312.9, 1031, 881.5, 790.7, 740, 719.5, 714.7, 737.9],
        …
      }
    }
  ],
  "Countries": [
    { "CountryId": "ORC", "Name": "Offshore Racing Congress" },
    { "CountryId": "AUS", "Name": "Australia" },
    …
  ],
  "ScoringOptions": [
    { "Families": ["ORC", "SY", "DH", "Mu", "NS", "LI"], "CountryId": "ORC",
      "Kind": "TOD", "Fieldname": "APHD", "Name": "All Purpose" },
    { "Families": ["ORC", "SY", "DH", "NS"], "CountryId": "GRE",
      "Kind": "PCS", "Fieldname": "OC", "Name": "Coastal/Long Distance" },
    …
  ]
}

The certificate

• Identity: NatAuth (issuing country), BIN, CertNo, RefNo, SailNo, YachtName, Class, Builder, Designer, Club, C_Type (certificate type code), Family, Division, IssueDate.
• Measurements: LOA, IMSL, Draft, MB, Dspl_Sailing, Dspl_Measurement, WSS, the sail areas Area_Main, Area_Jib, Area_Sym, Area_Asym, CrewWT, Age_Year, CDL.
• Single-number ratings, as printed on the certificate: GPH, APHD and APHT, OSN, TMF_Inshore and TMF_Offshore, the triple numbers TND_… (time on distance) and TN_… (time on time) for offshore and inshore, low, medium and high wind, and the predicted-course values Pred_Up_… and Pred_Down_….
• National options: fields prefixed with a country, such as US_…, IRL_… or GRE_…, are ratings for that country's own scoring options.
• Allowances: time allowances in seconds per mile. Each array has one value per wind speed in WindSpeeds (knots). R52 to R150 are for each true wind angle in WindAngles (degrees); Beat and Run are the upwind and downwind VMG allowances, BeatAngle and GybeAngle the optimum angles; WL, CR and OC are the course models used by Performance Curve Scoring.

Countries and ScoringOptions

Countries lists the rating offices. ScoringOptions lists the scoring options each office offers (CountryId ORC for the international ones): Kind is TOD (time on distance), TOT (time on time) or PCS (Performance Curve Scoring), and Fieldname names the certificate field that holds the value to score with, or for PCS the array in Allowances. Families lists the families the option applies to.

rms

The fixed-width text format read by scoring programs: a header row naming the columns, then one line per certificate. UTF-8 with a byte order mark, CRLF line ends.

NATCERTN.FILE_ID SAILNUMB    NAME                    TYPE              BUILDER           DESIGNER          YEAR …
GRE00764 GR2115  GRE-2115    SELINI                  HALLBERG-RASSY 382HALLBERG-RASSY    ENDERLEIN         1984 …

csv

The same columns, comma-separated, with a header row; text values that need it are in double quotes, and numbers use a point as the decimal separator. UTF-8 with a byte order mark, CRLF line ends.

Good practice

• Download what you need, and keep it. Filter by country, family and VPP year, and cache the files you fetch rather than asking again for every page view. Certificates change only when one is issued or revised.
• Allow time for large files. A country file can take a few seconds; set your HTTP timeout accordingly.
• Read fields by name and ignore the ones you don't know. New fields are added from time to time, such as the 4-knot allowances in 2025.
• Treat an empty result as an answer. No match gives 200 with an empty list, not an error, except from advanced-polar.
• Requests are recorded per key and endpoint.

Last updated 21 September 2026.