was allocated a distance allowance that the Class had to give away to the next lower Class. This was equivalent to a Class 1 having to sail more distance than a Class 4 yacht during a race. In 1834 handicapping by distance was changed to handicapping by time. As yacht racing in particular became more and more popular designers started to look for and found loopholes in the measurement rules to enable a design to get a better rating. Whilst this encouraged designers it discouraged owners from participating in handicap racing because designs were being outdated almost before the yacht was launched. In order to restore the equilibrium, work began on new formulas, which resulted, in the Thames Measurement which was the first formula defined for yachts. The adoption of the British Thames Measurement by the Yacht Club of France in 1870 may mark the beginning of international rating rules. In 1893, the Germano-Scandinavian Union was formed and it developed its "Union Rule". Starting in 1902, under the leadership of the New York Yacht Club, U.S. yacht clubs agreed to a "Universal Rule" in 1905 which was based on a formula developed by Nathanael Herreshoff. Development of the International rule Initial Impetus By the early 20th Century yacht racing had spread across Europe but each country had its own different rating rules but they all typically used similar principles. International competition was always subject to various forms of handicapping which was often subjective and certainly open to protest What was needed was a common rating or an agreed International rule, which would enable yachts from one country to race competitively in a different country. The leading yacht racing countries came together and laid down a system that calculated the rating of yachts, measurement rules, construction regulations (scantlings) and rules for racing. This was largely driven by the United Kingdom. The then Secretary of the YRA (now called the Royal Yachting Association), Brooke Heckstall-Smith had been in discussion with Scandinavians German and French yacht clubs and a conference was held at the Langham Hotel in London in July 1906. Representatives from eleven countries attended, together with an observer from the United States, plus several respected nautical engineers and designers and they started to formulate the International rule. A committee met again in October 1906 in Berlin to elaborate on the application of the Rule. The conference delegates met finally again in