Questions & Answers

When a boat changes ownership

When a boat changes ownership the certificate ceases to be valid.

In most cases you can obtain a valid certificate by following the procedure described on the bottom of the certificate where you, as owner, sign to declare that you will maintain the boat in compliance with the class rules. Send the certificate to the class registrar – here.

Where the certificate does not contain this declaration you should use the change of ownership form available below. Send the certificate and completed change of ownership form to the class registrar – here.

When buying a boat that does not have a certificate

If the boat has been previously issued with a certificate but where it has been lost you may be able to obtain a replacement certificate. Send the completed change of ownership form to the class registrar.

If the boat has not been previously issued with a certificate you can obtain one by following the procedure given here – here.

An owner wants to put some kind of identifying mark on his IOM sails to help identify his boat during close racing.   Is there is anything in the rules preventing him doing this?

Yes.

The IOM class rules are closed class rules – to quote:

The class rules for the International One Metre Class are closed class rules in which anything not specifically permitted by the class rules is prohibited. Individual rules may require, limit, or permit as necessary.

Of the Section G rules (applicable to sails) the only clauses relating to the construction of the sails are G.3 and G.4. None of those rules permits marks or decorations on the sails other than sail shape indicator stripes which are limited in number and width.

When a boat is supplied with certified sails but where no other equipment is certified, what is the Official Measurer required to do?

Where the sails are sourced from outside the UK it may be advisable to check that the measurer who certified the sails is properly authorised to do so by his country’s World Sailing Member National Authority.

IOM Class

The Official Measurer completes the certification control forms as usual except for the sections relating to sail certification. Endorsing the forms to the effect that the sails are already certified will add clarity for the class registrar.

Marblehead, Ten Rater and A Classes

Where the sails are supplied with correctly completed certification control forms for the sails, the Official Measurer completes the other certification control forms as usual. All the forms are then sent to the class registrar. Note that for A Class sails the relevant measurements B and J would be marked on the sails.

For the IOM the minimum weight of the complete boat, and the maximum weights of the keel and the rudder are specified in Section C of the class rules. Section C rules are those which apply to the competitor and boat at an event. Other Section C rules control the draught, hull depth and hull length.

All these measurements are inter-related and are affected by the competitor’s freedom to replace radio control equipment weights and positions as well as alter the placement and weight of the keel and rudder without having to have each minor change certified by an Official Measurer. In this way the class rules give complete freedom to the owner to work on his boat BUT with the responsibility that he shall ensure the weight and flotation is correct before racing.

Put another way, if the weight of boat, keel and rudder were certified the owner would be unable to alter any of them without having the equipment re-certified. History tells us that this restriction was too onerous for owners to tolerate. The current rules give the owners freedom to do what they were doing anyway, but within the class rules. However, they need to be aware that they remain responsible for checking the weight of the boat, keel and rudder.

It follows that, as weighing these items is not a certification matter, it is not necessary for an Official Measurer to carry it out. Owners often rely on the Official Measurer to carry out these checks for them as they will usually have access to suitable weighing equipment. Alternatively owners may invest in equipment accurate enough to do this for themselves or find someone else able to provide the service for them. Some clubs buy and maintain equipment suitable for their members to use and which can be used for equipment inspection at open events when competitors’ boats are checked for compliance.

If you cannot find your boat’s certificate when preparing to travel for an international, MYA or major open event, all is not lost.

Assuming your boat has been issued with a certificate and it remains valid (the international and MYA Adopted class certificates have no expiry date) you will be able to invoke RRS 78.2 which allows you to give the race committee a signed statement saying that the certificate exists.

At world and European Championships you will need to produce the certificate or verify its existence before the end of the event.

At MYA events and any event using the MYA Standard Sailing Instructions you have 7 days to deliver the certificate or a copy to the race committee.

If no certificate is produced then disqualification from all races at the event follows.

For MYA events the same will apply to the Personal Number Certificate.

If an Official Measurer you are bound by ERS H.1.2 which, where you are in any doubt, requires you to consult with the certification authority before signing a certification control form or signing an affected sail.

The certification authority in the UK for the MYA Adopted classes (FS and RC) is the MYA – please contact the MYA’s Technical Officer.

If an owner, builder or designer you can in the first instance check with a local Official Measurer. He should be able to guide you but cannot provide any official ruling or interpretation. This can only be provided by the relevant authority (IOMICA for the IOM, IMCA for the M, ITCA for the 10R, IRSA for the A Class, and the MYA for the MYA Adopted classes and FS variants of the international classes).

Currently there is no IRSA,, ITCA or IOMICA prescribed system for calibration of weighing equipment. Please use the MYA approved system which describes the equipment required in detail and how it shall be used to calibrate the weighing equipment and take readings.

For use with IOM, 10R, 6M and A Class certification control and equipment inspection.

It can be accessed here

The system adopted by the Royal Yachting Association (RYA, UK Member National Authority of World Sailing) is that in order to become appointed as an official measurer as defined in the Equipment Rules of Sailing (ERS), a candidate attends and passes the RYA’s course on sail measurement. At this point he/she is an official measurer known as a Sail Measurer and may certify the sails of any class that uses the Standard Class Rules format and terminology. There is no obligation to do so; it is a permission.

The RYA’s policy is that classes are responsible for training and appointing their own class measurers and this naturally applies to the MYA and its classes. As the class rules of the 36*, IOM, M, 10R, 6M and A Class all require boats and equipment to be certified by an official measurer, it follows that our class measurers shall be appointed as Sail Measurers. This requirement will not apply until end of 2022 at the earliest and quite likely not until the end of 2024. Relevant costs for initial training and qualification may be claimed from the MYA. Ongoing costs may be covered by the MYA, clubs, COGs, measurer fees – TBA.

*   The current (March 2022) 36 Class rules require an official measurer to be used. The proposed draft class rule with the Class Captain has removed this requirement as sails are not part of certification.

Can the sailmaker supply certified Ten Rater sails either for a certified boat (where the existing sail dimensions are matched) or before the boat is certified (where the official measurer supplies the necessary sail certification)?

Yes.

In the first case the sailmaker and his official measurer requires sight of the existing certificate. Sail sizes are checked against the certificate and the official measurer certifies the sails are required by the class rules.

In the second case the certified rig area, and the area of each sail of the certified rig, are found by entering measurements of the sails into the sail and spar calculation parts of the Ten Rater Certificate and Measurement Forms. The Rating of the boat is dependent on knowing the waterline length in addition to the certified rig area. However, the area of a sail of the certified rig which is to be marked on the sail (and on any smaller additional sail) by the official measurer is dependent on the sail dimensions only and is not, in any way, dependent on the waterline length.

In the IOM class, he can. The IOM class rules permit one or more persons at a sailmaker to certify the sails that they make. This process is called In-House Certification (IHC) and a special licence, issued by the Royal Yachting Association, has to be obtained in order to do this. The licence is granted in accordance with the World Sailing IHC programme.

However, obtaining the licence itself is not a simple process – and there are onerous contractual requirements that have to be satisfied. For example, should sails be found to be non-compliant at a later stage it may be necessary to recall them and re-supply compliant sails. The contract and relationship between the RYA and the sail maker is designed to protect the customers. There are not many sailmakers that go down this route – most prefer to hire the services of a local Official Measurer to carry out the task.

IHC is not considered appropriate unless sails are essentially ‘One Design’ in nature so, while IHC is possible for IOM sails, the other IRSA classes do not permit IHC of sails. However, nothing prevents a sailmaker from engaging an Official Measurer to check sails against the owner’s certificate and certify them before he supplies them to the owner. Note that in the A Class it is not necessary to have sight of the certificate before the Official Measurer can certify the sails as sail certification is independent of the boat.

The MYA runs a scheme whereby, for a small fee, you can choose the number on your sail (00-99) and use this on the sails of all the IRSA and MYA class boats that you sail. This is restricted to 100 numbers in each district to avoid repetition. It does not give the skipper any preference at events or when booking to enter a Ranking or National Championships. The normal procedure for this is a first come basis.

To ask which numbers are available in your district please contact the Personal Sail Number Registrar. Contact details are in the Members Area or our officer contact page here

The certification service is provided FREE to all MYA members by the MYA, which is the certification authority for Model Yachting in the UK.

The certification procedure for a boat and it’s equipment in the international classes is well documented in Section A of the class rules, and your local official measurer will be able to provide guidance if you don’t already have a copy of these rules and related documents.

MYA members can find official measurers in the Members Area of our website here

More detailed information is available in our Knowledge Base here

If it concerns the IOM class please look at the IOM Q&As – here.

If it concerns any of the IRSA classes please look at the IRSA Q&As – here.

If you still find no answer please contact our Technical Officer here.