March 1, 2018 - IM24CA - At the 2017 IM24CA Annual General Meeting a proposal to move to the permanent bow numbers was approved and World Sailing has accepted this change in Melges 24 new Class Rules. Here's practical information how the process is going to be step by step.

Please note the changes to the class rules for 2017 as listed in the attached World Sailing document 2017 Class Rule Changes.

Major change in the new class rules is the move to permanent bow numbers. There are several reasons why the class has been discussing this to be a necessary step and the World Council at the Annual General Meeting 2017 voted in favour of this proposal. The system presents several advantages to the class, boat owners, regatta management and the environment, listed in the description of the Permanent Bow Numbering System.

Here's practical information how the process is going to be step by step.

- Bow Numbers shall correspond to the number on the ISAF / World Sailing building plaques. Boats with sail numbers prior to 350 shall carry the number as issued by Melges Performance Boatworks;

- To preserve uniformity, the graphic art creation of numbers with spaces kerned, was performed by a class approved graphic technician;

- IM24CA has all pdf-files up to 855+ boats both for port and starboard;

- National Melges 24 classes (NCA) shall request the files for their class members sending a list of the sail numbers to piret@melges24.com

- The cost of files per boat (two files – different for port and starboard) will be 5 (five) Euros;

- The cost of the files according to the total number of boats getting the files in NCA, will be invoiced together with IM24CA membership fee;

- COLOR of the number: On a white Hull, Number colour shall be RED. On a red hull, Number colour shall be WHITE. On other colours of hulls, number shall be RED, unless it is an insufficient contrast to provide immediate identity, in which case it shall be WHITE;

-  MATERIAL of the sticker: Stickers produced locally need to be made from the material requested in the class rules as follows:

• Material shall be of a high quality, exterior grade graphic vinyl, of pressure sensitive adherence, similar, or equal to; 3M 180C Controltac Graphic Film or 3M IJ35 Scotchcal Graphic Film

• Material shall have a life span rating that is 5 years or greater.

• Red material shall be; a solid colour matching to 3M 180C in #53 Cardinal Red, or Pantone PMS 186 Red.

• White material shall be; a solid colour matching to 3M 180C in #10 White, or a solid white colour with no tint or hue.

• Black material shall be; a solid colour matching to 3M 180C in #12 Black, or a solid pure black colour with no tint or hue.

• The material shall be of a quality that can be removed without damage or undue effort or maintenance to the hull.

-  The stickers shall be Die-Cut.

• Die-Cut, or Decal Cut is a process whereby a solid color material cuts the numbers out by a digitally driven knife. The backing carrier material is left in place and the wastage material in between the numbers is weeded out. What is left over is just the numbers themselves, mounted on the carrier backing sheet. This applies to the boat with greater ease and perfection; also it is believed to be more durable in staying on the boat. The solid color material has greater UV resistance to fading, then a print. Lastly, this material can be specified both as supplier quality and color insuring exact class uniformity.

- The instruction and description for installation of the numbers on the bow will be available on IM24CA website in March. 

IM24CA special thanks goes to Paul Krak Arntson at Arntson Design Inc (Nikita USA379), Cary Siegler at GT3 Creative and Andres Rohtla at DAK (Lenny EST790) for their huge help in this project!

In case of questions, please do not hesitate to contact our IM24CA staff: 
Antonio Cardona Espin – Chief International Measurer & Technical Advisor - a.car.espin@gmail.com 
Peter Göckel – Acting Chairman of the Technical Committee - p.goeckel@t-online.de 
Piret Salmistu – Administrator – piret@melges24.com