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The International Etchells Class is
one-design One-design racing is a racing method which may be adopted in sports using complex equipment, whereby all vehicles have identical or very similar designs or models, avoiding the need for a Handicapping, handicap system. Motorsport One-make racing ...
sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminology ...
racing class, designed by American Skip Etchells.


Production

The first 36 boats were built by Skip Etchells and the Old Greenwich Boat Company between 1967 and 1969. In the early 1970s Skip Etchells finished hulls which were moulded for him by Tillotson-Pearson. Since being established as a one-design class, boats have been built by numerous other manufacturers, including Bashford Boat Builders (later known as Sydney Yachts), Pamcraft and Phil Smidmore (trading as Pacesetter Etchells PTY.) in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
, Ontario Yachts in
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
, and Robertson and Sons Ltd., David Heritage Racing Yachts and Petticrows Limited, all in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
.


Mold 11 controversy

In 2010, the International Etchells Class Association of Australia was granted permission to build a new mold for the production of Etchells hulls. At the time there were three other molds being used - mold #8 was used by Ontario Yachts; mold #9 by Bashford and then Smidmore; Heritage and Petticrows used mold #10. The three existing molds were made from the same plug, but 3D scans made by the One Design Technical Committee (ODTC) between 2005 and 2008 showed variations between the hulls they produced, and ODTC had since expressed the desire to standardise on a single hull form which would be used in the production of all future molds. The Australian Association proposed basing the new mold on the Heritage one - this would ensure hull conformity between the two manufacturers, and supposed that Ontario Yachts would adopt the same shape when replacing their mold in the future. Instead permission was granted to produce a mold based on the ODTC's 3D scanning data, an average or composite of the three existing hull forms that made up the majority of the worldwide racing fleets; the existent data was not complete enough for this, and further scanning was required. The mold was licensed to Pacesetter Yachts and used to manufacture 24 or 25 hulls over a period of about a decade. Although the ODTC expressed concern about a scan of the second hull produced by the new mold, a report by the Etchells Class Chief Measurer stated "The Etchells made from Mould 11 are in every way an Etchells in accordance with the Etchells Class Rules, Tolerances and Specifications." It was not until Australian success at the 2019 Etchells World Championship that questions were raised about the hulls produced by mold #11, and in 2021 the newly elected International Governing Committee (IGC) of the International Etchells Class Association (IECA) declared that boats built with it were "effectively not Etchells Class yachts" and ineligible to compete in the class. The justification for this decision was that mold #11 had never been approved by
World Sailing World Sailing is the international sports governing body for sailing (sport), sailing; it is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC). History The creation of the International Yac ...
, but it also claimed "It has … been discovered by scans and floatation tests of boats from all three moulds that M11 produces boats which have a longer water line, less rocker, are flatter in the middle and fuller in the ends. The differences are material, far greater than can be explained away by minor variances due to manufacturing tolerances." The IGC statement implied that the Australian Association were responsible for the differences, that mold #11 was "produced … by massaging scan data which came from the official plug, obviating the need to ship the plug to Australia", that "the method approved by the IGC" had not been followed, and that it was a "deviation" from the class rules. The president of the International Etchells Class Association of Australia called this "a distorted, misleading and biased view of the facts… in many material respects grossly wrong." It emerged that the class association and World Sailing had no records of approval of molds #8, #9 and #10, thus calling into doubt the entitlement of other boats to compete in the class - boats from all current Etchells builders would be affected, including those from Ontario Yachts and David Heritage. On 30 September, owners of mold #11 boats wrote to the International Etchells Class Association demanding they reverse their decision or apply it equally to the other boats. On 9 October 2021 World Sailing CEO David Graham, in a letter to the International Etchells Class Association, stated that there are clear issues with Mould 11, that World Sailing has no record of any approval of Mould 11, that measurement alone does not make a boat an Etchells, that it appears Mould 11 is materially different from other moulds and plugs, and that all hulls from Mould 11 have in fact been produced by Innovation Composites, rather than Pacesetter Yachts, which means they have been built by an unauthorised builder. Graham also noted that if Pacesetter Yachts had subcontracted the building of the boats, or transferred tooling, to another party, then Pacesetter Yachts was in breach of its licence.


Design

In 1965, Yachting Magazine launched a competition to select a new three-man Olympic
keelboat A keelboat is a riverine cargo-capable working boat, or a small- to mid-sized recreational sailing yacht. The boats in the first category have shallow structural keels, and are nearly flat-bottomed and often used leeboards if forced in open w ...
. E. W. "Skip" Etchells, a boat designer, builder and sailor, was interested in the competition, but refrained from producing a design until the trials were announced. However, once the details became available, he built the wooden Shillalah, taking her to
Kiel Kiel ( ; ) is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein. With a population of around 250,000, it is Germany's largest city on the Baltic Sea. It is located on the Kieler Förde inlet of the Ba ...
,
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
, where the trials were to be held in the fall of 1966. Shillalah performed well at the trials, winning eight of the ten races. Nevertheless, the judges were unable to agree on a winner, and thus a second set of trials were held in
Travemünde Travemünde () is a borough of Lübeck, Germany, located at the mouth of the river Trave in Bay of Lübeck, Lübeck Bay. It began life as a fortress built by Henry the Lion, Duke of Saxony, in the 12th century to guard the mouth of the Trave, an ...
the following year. For these trials Etchells rebuilt the boat in fiberglass, using the original Shillalah as a plug. As with the first trials, Shillalah II (as the new boat was named) dominated the races, winning ten out of the thirteen that were held, and only just missing out on an eleventh. At the completion of the trials the judges chose the
Soling The Soling is an Keelboat, open keelboat that holds the World Sailing "International class" status. The class was used from the Sailing at the 1972 Summer Olympics, 1972 Olympics until the Sailing at the 2000 Summer Olympics, 2000 Olympics as "Sa ...
over Shillalah II, in spite of her success in the races. However, the boat's performance had won converts, and shortly thereafter the boat entered production with orders for an initial 12 boats. With the formation of a new association the class became known as the E22, and 32 boats were built by Etchells' company by the end of 1969. The E22 was recognised as an International class by the International Yacht Racing Union in 1974, and the name was changed to "International Etchells" in 1990. The Etchells is a
racing In sports, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific g ...
keelboat A keelboat is a riverine cargo-capable working boat, or a small- to mid-sized recreational sailing yacht. The boats in the first category have shallow structural keels, and are nearly flat-bottomed and often used leeboards if forced in open w ...
, built predominantly of
fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) is a common type of fibre-reinforced plastic, fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened i ...
. It has a fractional sloop rig, a spooned
raked stem The stem is the most forward part of a boat or ship's bow and is an extension of the keel itself. It is often found on wooden boats or ships, but not exclusively. Description The stem is the curved edge stretching from the keel below, up to ...
, a raised counter reverse transom, a
skeg A skeg (or skegg or skag) is a sternward extension of the keel of boats and ships which have a rudder mounted on the centre line. The term also applies to the lowest point on an outboard motor or the outdrive of an inboard/outboard."A small fin f ...
-mounted
rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...
controlled by a
tiller A tiller or till is a lever used to steer a vehicle. The mechanism is primarily used in watercraft, where it is attached to an outboard motor, rudder post, rudder post or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn ...
and a fixed fin
keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element of a watercraft, important for stability. On some sailboats, it may have a fluid dynamics, hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose as well. The keel laying, laying of the keel is often ...
. It displaces and carries of lead ballast. The boat has a draft of with the standard keel. Designed for racer and day sailing, the boat has a small
cuddy cabin A cuddy is a small room or cupboard, particularly on a boat. Sometimes a cuddy refers to a small but cosy hut. The origin of the term is not clear. Cuddy was in use in colonial America as early as 1655. The term may derive from the Dutch ''kaj ...
without bunks, designed for stowage only.Sherwood, Richard M.: ''A Field Guide to Sailboats of North America, Second Edition'', pages 134-135.
Houghton Mifflin Company Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Company ( ; HMH) is an American publisher of textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, and reference works. The company is based in the Boston Financial District. It was formerly known as the Houghto ...
, 1994.
For sailing the boat has a central control console that gathers many of the sail controls. These include the 8:1
mechanical advantage Mechanical advantage is a measure of the force amplification achieved by using a tool, mechanical device or machine system. The device trades off input forces against movement to obtain a desired amplification in the output force. The model for ...
jib
halyard In sailing, a halyard or halliard is a line (rope) that is used to hoist a ladder, sail, flag or yard. The term "halyard" derives from the Middle English ''halier'' ("rope to haul with"), with the last syllable altered by association with the E ...
, 4:1 Cunningham, 4:1 mainsheet, foreguy and the topping lift. Other controls are led to the cuddy cabin's aft bulkhead, including the 2:1 course jib sheet, 6:1 fine jib tuner, 2:1 barber hauler and the
spinnaker A spinnaker is a sail designed specifically for sailing off the wind on courses between a Point of sail#Reaching, reach (wind at 90° to the course) to Point of sail#Running downwind, downwind (course in the same direction as the wind). Spinna ...
halyard. There is also a 6:1 adjustable
backstay A backstay is a piece of standing rigging on a sailing vessel that runs from the mast to either its transom or rear quarter, counteracting the forestay and jib. It is an important sail trim control and has a direct effect on the shape of the ma ...
and a mainsheet traveler.


Operational history


World Championships


Famous Etchells sailors

* Steve Benjamin * John Bertrand * Dennis Conner *
Peter Coleman William Peter Coleman (15 December 1928 – 31 March 2019) was an Australian writer and politician. A widely published journalist for over 60 years, he was editor of '' The Bulletin'' (1964–1967) and of '' Quadrant'' for 20 years, and publi ...
*
Russell Coutts Sir Russell Coutts (born 1 March 1962) is a world champion New Zealand yachtsman. He won an Olympic gold medal and skippered three Americas Cup victories in 1995, 2000, and 2003. Early life Coutts was educated at Otago Boys' High School ...
* Dave Curtis * Gary Jobson * Poul Richard Høj Jensen * Timothea Larr


References


External links

* {{Ontario Yachts Etchells