The cloth makers are not paying any attention to the F18 class meeting schedule, much less the technical committee. They make and market their new formulations all the time...

The cuben fiber material was superior/faster... but 4x more expensive and lasted a regatta or two. Good enough for a Silver in the 3 ring circus.... (IT was proprietary though and available to only three teams at the time) The T class joined with the F18 class (the much bigger market) to regulate materials after that and cuben fiber was banned.

I could see a small sail maker saying... the new material complies with the spirt of the rule (unlike the cuben fiber)... It will be approved by the F18 technical committee when it is considered. This will be our marketing edge and the F18 worlds are now.... so we will use it. Did the sailors who bought the sails know this ahead of time?... Was one sailor promoting the sails and did know?

Looking at the date deadlines on the paperwork, I assume the technical committee bought the minor variation story and did not DSQ the boats. Hopefully they had a way to sanction the sailmaker.... at least he should have submitted the material to the technical committee before the worlds.