I'm with Rhody. There are two ways to spin this thing;

1)A manufacturer has created an agreement to exclude other competitors from their technology.
2) A group of sailors and a manufacturer struck an agreement in order to share costs and resources in order to develop something new.

I believe the latter is what's happening here - there's no motivation for some huge conspiracy. Why would this sail maker NOT want to sell the other sails to other competitors? Only if you look at the other plausible facts does it make sense; It would make sense for that manufacturer to strike a time limited deal with a group of sailors to test the new sail material since they don't have the expertise on the water. It would also make sense to ask those sailors to contribute to the development in return for early access to the technology. It also makes sense that they would want to temporarily strike the agreement with teams that are reliable, have talent, and resources and as such, restrict the development (i.e. 'test control sample') to a select few in order to gain reliable feedback.

It seems that the Tornado folks to easily consider this class a single manufacturer one design - but is a box rule, and although a bit more strict, very similar to the newer F18 class. Development is important and no rule says that everyone has to share their sail shape development right? Why should the fabric from which it is made be any different - as long as it lies within the rules?