The International 49er Class Association, together with the copyright holder Bethwaite Design, invites qualified boatbuilders to apply to become licensed builders of the 49er.
The 49er is the men’s and women’s two-person skiff at the Olympic Games, and is raced by national teams and club sailors on every continent. It is currently built by Mackay Boats in New Zealand and Ovington Boats in the United Kingdom. As the class grows in Asia, the Americas and the Middle East, we want sailors in those regions to have access to boats built close to home, to the same standard and from the same tooling as the rest of the fleet.
The cornerstone of the class is that every 49er is the same. Sailors compete on skill, not on equipment, and a boat bought from any licensed builder is a boat that can win a world championship. Any new builder will be expected to build to that standard: from tooling derived from the class master tooling, with the same materials and construction practice as the existing builders, and under the class builders manual, World Sailing’s Manufacturer Certification System and the class’s inspection regime. Applicants should read the Common Builders Philosophy, which forms part of the application, before applying.
Applications are assessed in stages. A preliminary application is reviewed against published criteria covering the applicant’s location, financial capacity, manufacturing experience, key personnel and quality systems. Successful applicants are invited to submit a detailed formal application, followed by a pre-production approval in which prototype hulls, wings and foils are built and checked by the class, the copyright holder and World Sailing before any licence is issued. All applications are treated on a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory basis, and the timing of any new builder’s entry to racing is set in line with the Olympic cycle.
Preliminary applications for this round close on 31 October 2026.
Interested parties should write to the Class Manager, Ben Remocker, at ben@porttackracing.com for the application overview and form. Questions about the process are welcome at the same address.
