From sailing 125s as a boy in Perth Shaun Ritson has worked in the America’s Cup since 2000. Shaun tells us his story.

My first introduction to the America’s Cup was in 2000. I was working with Ken McAlpine in his naval architecture consultancy in Fremantle. At the time Ken was the AC technical director. The Cup organisers wanted to introduce some new measurers to the class and Ken asked if I wanted to be involved. Being a keen sailor I leapt at the opportunity. That first regatta each of the trainees spent a couple of weeks at the venue during the Louis Vuitton following the measurers around and assisting.

This lead onto me being appointed to the measurement committee for the 31st cup in 2003 and the 32nd cup in 2007. Through those events, I was also invited to serve on the measurement teams for the 2005-06, 2008-09 and 2011-12 Volvo Ocean races, the last as chief measurer. In 2013 I served on the measurement committee for the 34th Americas Cup in San Francisco and have been appointed the Measurement Committee coordinator for the 36th cup.

By profession I am a naval architect. I graduated from the Australian Maritime College at the end of 1994 with a Bachelor of Engineering in Naval Architecture. Being an engineer is not essential for the role of measurer but it certainly helps, as does a proficiency in reading and interpreting documentation and a masters in international diplomacy. One measurer I have worked with a lot has a background in journalism. More than once we have deferred to his expertise in the English language, even with its hint of American.

Historically we measured boats with tape measures, optical levels and scales. This is still the case for the Moths and the Etchells. With the introduction of canting keels into the Volvo race we started having to develop and adapt specific equipment. The Volvo rule placed maximum cant angles on the keels. The measurers commissioned a set of inclinometers which we used to measure the movement of the keel head relative to the yacht. With the catamarans in the 34th America’s Cup we used full size templates on the hulls and wings to confirm the hull matched the declared hull and the wings were symmetrical. We also started taking some measurements off their declared hull models.

Currently three things set America’s Cup measurement apart;

1. Measurement technology. We are no longer measuring the boats in the traditional sense. The teams now lodge an electronic model of the hull and all of the physical measurements are taken off that model on a computer. The hulls are then scanned to confirm they comply with the submitted model.
2. System complexity. The yachts are full of electronic, hydraulic, and control systems. The rule stipulates what each of these systems can and can’t do. The measurement committee hires in specialist consultants to advise us in these areas because they are way outside of our expertise.
3. Professional rules teams. Each America’s Cup team has full time experts that specialise in each area of the yachts. Whilst the measurers have to deal with every clause of the rule we are dealing with team ninjas who have PHD’s in each individual chapter. There is a lot of pressure on us to establish effective controls because the teams know a lot more about these yachts than we ever will.

In the cup we are fortunate in that we work alongside very professional officials. The jury, race officers and umpires are all highly regarded and we have historically enjoyed a good relationship with them.