RYA shares ideas on In-House Certification at ISAF Conference 

Briefing peers from around the world

RYA Technical Co-ordinator, Andy Wibroe, has been briefing his peers from around the world at the ISAF Conference in Dublin, IRL, this week, on the development of the RYA’s In-House Certification Scheme.  

The ISAF In-House Certification scheme enables sail manufacturers to self-certify their sails before selling them onto the end customer, meaning more equipment is available to purchase “ready to use” without the need for further measurement.  

Andy outlined how the RYA has developed the ISAF documentation to enable a wider variety of lofts, of differing sizes and operating profiles, to become involved in the scheme and sell to the general public.    

The RYA has been running the scheme since 2008 and in that time has issued over 9,000 certification marks to its 19 registered lofts and was able to offer tips to other countries looking to set up their own scheme as well as exchanging ideas.    

“It’s been great to come and meet up with other countries and share ideas on how to develop IHC around the world. The RYA along with ISAF share the common goal that sailing equipment should be available as simply as possible to sailors and IHC is great tool to achieve this”, commented Andy.  

The seminar also looked at how to develop the scheme beyond sails and look at self-certification of rigs, appendages and hulls; all of which the RYA are keen to start working on to further enhance the benefits to its sailors and members.