28 January 2021 Mr Jaime Navarro Director of Technical
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International Etchells Class Association of Australia Inc. c/o 21 Valley View Court, Lilydale Victoria 3140 Australia 28 January 2021 Mr Jaime Navarro Director of Technical & Offshore World Sailing 20 Eastbourne Terrace London, UK, W2 6LG [email protected] Dear Jaime, Re: Certification of International Australian Etchells Class Association Mould 11 I refer to previous correspondence, and in particular to my email of 21 January 2021, which I attach.1 I am writing this letter in collaboration with the Australian licenced Etchells Builder, Pacesetter Yachts with the purpose of commencing a validation/certification process for Mould 11 if deemed necessary. You will see that Mr Phil Smidmore on behalf of Pacesetter Yachts is cc’d to this communication, as is Mr David Edwards of Australian Sailing (Certification Authority). As you are aware, the Mould 11 is owned by the International Etchells Class Association of Australia. The mould was built in 2011. The prototype hull produced from Mould 11 was completed on 30 June 2011 and measured by then Etchells Class Chief Measurer, Mr Denis Heywood, on 29 July 2011. It subsequently became the first Etchells from Mould 11 and was issued with an ISAF Plaque and number 1399. Mr Heywood also witnessed the construction of; and measured the plug, which subsequently was used to construct Mould 11. I note from communications you have had with former International Etchells Class Association President, Mr Jim Cunningham and more recently with Mr Edwards, that World Sailing has not readily found any records of granting approval to Mould 11 or the prototype hull produced from it. As I have briefly touched on in the past, there is a complicated history surrounding the origins of 1 Email of 21 January 2021 (attachment 1) 2 Mould 11, which commences with how it came to be built. Having an understanding of that is important. You will be familiar with the International Etchells Class Building Licence agreement between the IYRU and Pacesetter Yachts dated 17 July 1995, which I attach.2 It is this document that authorises Pacesetter Yachts to build International Etchells Class yachts in Australia. At the commencement of the Building Licence, in 1995, Pacesetter Yachts began producing boats from Mould 9, which had been built in 1992 by Bashford. Like Mould 8 (used by Ontario Yachts) and Mould 10 (used by Heritage and Peticrows), Mould 9 was built from a common plug (referred to as Plug 2). Through use and age, Plug 2 became dilapidated and is no longer useful as a tooling template. It is widely understood and documented that the three moulds produced boats which were not identical. This was most likely the result of the age and condition of the plug, and it being faired prior to each time it was used. When it arrived from the United States in Australia in 1992 to build Mould 9, it was faired by the then builder, Bashford, and again when it was subsequently used by Peticrows in the UK to build Mould 10. This information is readily available in the Class Records.3 In 2010, the International Etchells Class Association granted permission to the International Etchells Class Association of Australia to build a new mould (to be owned by the Australian Association and licenced to Pacesetter Yachts). As you are aware, clause 2(a) of the Building Licence pertains to moulds. It provides that: “All boats shall be built from registered moulds and plugs supplied to the Builder by a supplier authorised by the IYRU. The Builder will be notified of the name and address of the authorised supplier and of any change therein.” Rather than building the new Australian mould from a dilapidated Plug 2 that had been used to build moulds 8, 9 and 10, it was resolved by the International Etchells Class Association to not send Plug 2 to Australia. On 24 May 2010, with the support of Etchells Class Chief Measurer, Mr Heywood, the International Etchells Class Association of Australia sought approval to produce a new hull mould from Mould 10 (used by Heritage and Peticrows). The International Etchells Class Association was specifically requested: 1. To determine and adopt a hull shape on which future International Etchells Class hull moulds are to be based.4 2. Adopt the shape that is produced by Mould 10 (used by Heritage and Peticrows). 3. Agree that all future moulds are to conform rigidly to this adopted hull shape. 4. Review and tighten tolerances where necessary. 2 Building Licence (attachment 2) 3 Much of the history can also be gleaned from attachment 6 4 By reason of the documented differences in the boats produced from the three moulds then in existence. See attachment 8 3 The request went on to observe: "If it is agreed to adopt the Heritage Mould 10 as the standard International Etchells shape for future moulds, we are heading towards having three identical moulds and a more uniform one design hull which at present the scanning indicates we do not have. The class would have the current Heritage mould which appears to have a lot of life left in it, a new Australian mould replicating the Heritage mould and when it comes time for Ontario to replace its mould at some future time it would also be required to replicate the Heritage mould, as would any other new licenced builder."5 The Australian Etchells Association position was not adopted at a meeting of International Etchells Class Association on 21 August 2010. Instead, the International Etchells Class Association decided to permit the construction of a mould from a 'virtual' plug derived from a digital file containing point cloud data.6 This data originated from a scan of three actual hulls produced by each builder; an Ontario hull (USA 1342 built in 2006), a Peticrows/Heritage hull (GBR 1302 built in 2002) and a Bashford hull (AUS 926 built in 1992). The scans were acquired during a hull comparison project undertaken by the International Etchells Class Association between 2005 and 2008.7 The International Etchells Class Association of Australia was approved to build a hull mould from the supplied data file. Albeit that the data was very important as it was to be the basis of the shape of the new mould, the data was not in a form nor sufficient enough to fully describe a surfaced model that could be used to machine a plug using CNC technology as intended by all parties. Examples of deficiencies subsequently reported to the International Etchells Class Association on 21 April 20118 and on 13 August 2011, included incomplete data at the sheer line, the skeg, the area of the garboard, as well as the stem and gunwale radii. To overcome this, further scanning from existing hulls - an Ontario (mould 8) and a Bashford (mould 9) - was carried out by a company known as Wysiwyg 3D under instruction from the Australian Etchells Association in respect of the deficient areas and a full and definitive surface model was derived for the purpose of CNC programming.9 Subsequently, a CNC machined plug was produced in late 2010 for the Australian Etchells Association by a company known as mouldCAM and this was measured by Mr Heywood in December 2010 prior to use in construction of a mould. Thereafter a mould was built by Innovation Composites for Pacesetter Yachts from the physical plug in early 2011. Pacesetter Yachts, using Innovation Composites as a subcontractor, then produced a prototype hull which was measured by Mr Heywood on 29 July 2011. That measurement process is recorded on the respective certified Measurement Form of boat number 1399. The process was completed in 2011. Mould 9 was thereafter retired and scrapped. As previously advised, the first boat from the mould was completed by 30 June 2011. The second boat from Mould 11 was AUS 1401. This boat was completed by 6 October 2011 and measured by Mr 5 Email 24 May 2010 (attachment 3) 6 Email Christopher Clark, One Design Technical Committee Chairman, 30 September 2020 (attachment 4) 7 See attachments 6 and 8 8 Australian Mould 11 report, 21 April 2011 (attachment 5) 9 Australian Mould 11 report, 21 April 2011 4 Heywood on 24 October 2011. Subsequently, concerns were expressed within the One Design Technical Committee regarding a scan taken from that boat and provided to the One Design Technical Committee by the Australian Etchells Class. This issue was however resolved, in 2012, within the International Etchells Class Association after a report produced by Mr Heywood on 12 May 2012 which concluded that: "The Etchells made from Mould 11 are in every way an Etchells in accordance with the Etchells Class Rules, Tolerances and Specifications." 10 A total of 25 boats have been built from Mould 11, including the 2019 Etchells World Champion. It is noteworthy that despite being in existence for some 10 years, the present concern in relation to Mould 11 only arose following the 2019 Worlds. On 21 August 2019, however, then International Etchells Class Association President, Jim Cunningham, provided an informative analysis of the performance of M11 boats since inception. The analysis was widely circulated. It clearly revealed that much of the hype being generated after the 2019 Worlds was unfounded scuttlebutt. Mr Cunningham's analysis, which was accepted by then One Design Technical Committee Chairman, Mr Bruce Nelson, is attached.11 Putting that to one side, there remain a number of unanswered questions, particularly the extent to which ISAF was consulted and approved the building of Mould 11 from scanned data from other boats (as distinct from the plug used to build the other moulds); and whether the formality of the processes contemplated by the Builder’s Licence were fully met.