Have to tell you that has always gone on. A clique of sailors discover a faster way and the those not in the clique are left out.
Happened for the 1976 trials. A group got together and had boats built of West System. While the boats measured in (sort of) they were a different design. They would build the hull to minimum specs in one spot, and maximum in another.
The end result was a boat that was not really a Tornado. They had more bow buoyancy, etc.
The boats were finished just before the trials and no one else was privy to the new design. The newly designed hulls and the light-weight and stiffness of the boats gave them superior speed.
The hulls should not have been approved into the class, but then again those in the clique were also strong polically in the class as well.
At the trials, the first seven (only seven made in time for the trials) took the first seven spots.
Not very fair, if you were not in that clique.
Rick