Bids invited to be 49er Class sailmaker

The International 49er Class Association, in which its 49er and 49erFX boats are the Olympic equipment for the Men’s and Women’s Skiff events, is inviting expressions of interest to design and build 49er and/or 49erFX sails for the 2021-2024 Olympic quadrennial.

The Class Association welcomes world leading sail designers and manufacturers to bid on being its class sailmaker(s), with the selected sailmaker(s) to have the opportunity to build sails for at least the four year period leading to the Paris 2024 Olympics, with the possibility to extend for further quadrennials.

The current 49er sails have been used since 2009 while the 49erFX sails have been used since 2012. The 49er class has had 3 different designs of sails over its history, while the 49erFX is coming off the original set of sails.

The class is seeking to improve consistency and longevity of the sails, to keep the costs of campaigning as manageable as possible.

Each of the two rigs, 49er and 49erFX, has been updated for 2021 already, with CST being the new mast maker for the classes. The new masts are of the same geometry and bend characteristics as the previous generation of masts. The existing class masts are expected to remain class legal for the foreseeable future.

Expressions of interest are due by March 28th, 2020. Interested parties can get the full technical requirements via email: john.clinton@mackayboats.com