Class Politics Laser Class Fiasco

I've tried reading up on the LP/Maclaren mess today for the first time, so please forgive if this has been addressed already.

What would it take for the Class to change its name, keep the boat with a new name and choose a builder or two to build the boats?
 
What is necessary to start a boat business??
a whole lot of capital, management skill, general business knowledge, and specific boat business knowledge that no one affilated with the class has.

The only hope for the continuation of Laser sailing as the game we have known it is for someone ( even the current copyright owners) to decide to focus on promoting their product by promoting the game we love to play.
The good news is there are lots of folks who have Lasers who live near most every one of us and individually, any one of us, with minimal effort, can organize a fun event of some sort.

The game was once huge and the memories provide the game that remains with some resiliency. Nobody has been organizing and promoting North American Events for a decade and we still have some of those fun events we all enjoy.

You can foget about seeing huge sailing events and growing local enthusiastic fleets until someone with sufficient financial backing decides to grab on to a profitable business plan that happens to include sailboats and racing of sailboats and leap into full on action.


The Laser is still the only game positioned with remnants of a once vibrant and effective organization in place and actual part time dealers in place and an Olympic berth and is still in the best position for a simple and effective promotion but it has a builder with a few years of history indicating no interest in doing so and an organization that ceased to promote and organize the game a decade ago.

It is insanity to repeatedly watch the same thing happening while expecting a different result. Until the people in charge but not running the class and the people who own the copyrights who don't promote and sell boats go away, rational people know nothing will change.

You can, however, control your own life.

Invite your friends with Laser sailing toys out to play with you. You will not only have a great time, it is the only available great time to be had in Lasers.
 
I'm not saying start a boat business. Lightnings and Snipes don't have a boat business. Boat builders build their boats according to their specs.

Waiting for someone else to be motivated to take care of building and promoting doesn't seem to be working.
 
What is necessary to start a boat business??
a whole lot of capital, management skill, general business knowledge, and specific boat business knowledge that no one affilated with the class has.

The only hope for the continuation of Laser sailing as the game we have known it is for someone ( even the current copyright owners) to decide to focus on promoting their product by promoting the game we love to play.
The good news is there are lots of folks who have Lasers who live near most every one of us and individually, any one of us, with minimal effort, can organize a fun event of some sort.

The game was once huge and the memories provide the game that remains with some resiliency. Nobody has been organizing and promoting North American Events for a decade and we still have some of those fun events we all enjoy.

You can foget about seeing huge sailing events and growing local enthusiastic fleets until someone with sufficient financial backing decides to grab on to a profitable business plan that happens to include sailboats and racing of sailboats and leap into full on action.


The Laser is still the only game positioned with remnants of a once vibrant and effective organization in place and actual part time dealers in place and an Olympic berth and is still in the best position for a simple and effective promotion but it has a builder with a few years of history indicating no interest in doing so and an organization that ceased to promote and organize the game a decade ago.

It is insanity to repeatedly watch the same thing happening while expecting a different result. Until the people in charge but not running the class and the people who own the copyrights who don't promote and sell boats go away, rational people know nothing will change.

You can, however, control your own life.

Invite your friends with Laser sailing toys out to play with you. You will not only have a great time, it is the only available great time to be had in Lasers.

Gouv ... What's the status of your 100 boat regatta at Easter next year?
 
My business has been overwhelming my time and finances since a few months ago and I have haqd zero time to focus on my hobbies. I hope to get on top of the Pedicab and Circraft businesses by Christmas and still have time to go nuts promoting the 2013 ELR.
 
Question. Is single letter enough to get around a registered trademark?

http://csparnz.com/c-laser/

It keeps getting worse and worse. And with the loss of being a strict one design (where it is about skill of the person more that gear purchased), so the popularity of the class will fade. And I believe the main cause of that trend is the overpriced parts and their lack of availability. So the longer the farce remains unresolved, the worse it will get and the class will continue to lose its popularity, boat 2nd hand values will drop, etc., racing will become more like being part of a handicap fleet ...

It is way beyond time the builder situation was resolved yet little seems to be even underway.
 
Question. Is single letter enough to get around a registered trademark?

http://csparnz.com/c-laser/

Fight, fight, fight!

If you search the trademark records, there are bunches of LASER trademarks out there. The associated products are all different. I certainly like the distinction of the C Laser ... it's a buy once, non-disposable part. A step in the right direction on quality. It will be interesting to see if LP or PSA view it as a threat and respond by legal means or by improving their product. Probably neither. But then there is the whole ILCA approval thing. I expect silence.
 
FYI: C-Laser produces carbon composite masts (in NZ); not whole boats.
It would be nice if our NZ friends would comment on this development.

These carbon composites don't come cheap; $700 for the upper + lower after currency conversion (and not considering freight issues). The legal ones total $515 at the moment in the USA (APS).

These 'carbons' won't be on my Santa list...
 
The Goose That Laid the Golden Egg
An Aesop Fable

A man and his wife owned a very special goose. Every day the goose would lay a golden egg, which made the couple very rich.
"Just think," said the man's wife, "If we could have all the golden eggs that are inside the goose, we could be richer much faster."
"You're right," said her husband, "We wouldn't have to wait for the goose to lay her egg every day."
So, the couple killed the goose and cut her open, only to find that she was just like every other goose. She had no golden eggs inside of her at all, and they had no more golden eggs.
 
Wow, Rastegar (LP), Kirby (the designer), Crane (LP) and Hedge (PSA) all in the same room.
Are we finally getting some progress? Or, more politically:

"The World Council is optimistic that a continued dialogue will result in improved relations among all parties".
 
It would have been wonderful to be there..

"OH you assholes. You had this wonderful set up for decades where you got to name your price and sell a whole lot of cheap toys for a nice reliable profit. Then this new foprm of excessive greed shit stepped in. Now, here's the deal. Either go back to doing that or get the hell 0ut of the way so somebody who actually likes money can take your place."
 

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