torrid
Just sailing
Maybe one strange aspect is that (to me) there appears to have been no involvement of the membership about this change. I can appreciate that some changes might be required by the builder (e.g. is some materials become banned or unavailable, new regulations, etc. - they have to keep making boats). But it sounds like this change is a choice they have made on their own. I can appreciate that they must be allowed to make commercial decisions but I would have expected that to be to different suppliers providing identical product (same material, same construction, etc.). Maybe I missed the vote on this by the membership.
Ian
From a sailor's point of view, they need blades that are "builder supplied" to be legal. Said blades obviously meet certain measurement tolerances and weight.
When it comes to the material required, I don't know how specific the rules are. Obvioiusly wood is no longer an option. They may have enough wiggle room, something like "fiberglass" or "composite", to allow the bulder to make an independent commerical decision as you describe.