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That's old news. ILCA showed a picture of the new plaque in the summer newsletter. You must not be a class member.
Several 1000 boats have been made that have this plaque. So who is going to explain that you can sail this boat but not that boat beacuse of the plaque...?Correct like probably 90% of Laser sailors I am not a personal member of ILCA, your point is what exactly?
It was posted here so the general population can see what they are like and know to think twice about buying a boat with this plaque as if BKI win they have already stated boats carrying this plaque will not be considered class legal in any resulting class (I would guess you could always offer to pay a royalty directly to BKI but who wants the hassle of that).
Several 1000 boats have been made that have this plaque. So who is going to explain that you can sail this boat but not that boat beacuse of the plaque...?
ILCA can decide that bathtubs can be legally sailed in their events. Same with ISAF and the olympics. Bruce will HAVE to accept ALL lasers as class legal.
... although it would be interesting to know what PSA are putting on their boats as they have a valid agreement and are still paying royalties to BKI (or were when there was last any news about this).
There is a brand new boat with such a plaque that I know of that is for sale at a very good price and has not sold whereas older boats have.
The sticker says, for better or worse, it is ISAF approved. Most racing falls under the domain of the ISAF via national associations, class associations, and local sailing clubs. ....
No way. If ISAF want they can kick Lasers out of the olympics. How many europe dinghys wheres sold last year? Ynglings? FDs..?But the ISAF are also being taken to court - and the courts might find against them. And should that happen they might not be able to act just as they want and might be obliged/forced to .... who knows what but under such circumstances they might not have the freedom to carry on "business as usual" with regards to the Laser/Torch.
And even if the courts don't find against the ISAF, they can still find in favour of Kirby and that would mean the end of the Laser class as nobody could build any. So the ISAF could still recognise the few Lasers built with the new plaque, but most racing would be with Torches - and it sounds like the few Lasers would not be legal Torches. And that would put things beyond the control of the ISAF (except the few hundred ? "new" Lasers distributed around the world could race against each other - if the owners could find each other and loved travelling to race against a couple of other boats).
Ian
No way. If ISAF want they can kick Lasers out of the olympics. How many europe dinghys wheres sold last year? Ynglings? FDs..?
The best thing that could happen to the class is being kicked out of the Olympics, it doing the class more harm than good. Better still, kick sailing out of the Olympics and we might get sailing going again at the grass roots level.No way. If ISAF want they can kick Lasers out of the olympics. How many europe dinghys wheres sold last year? Ynglings? FDs..?
OK, lets say this happens. Bruce is then going to say:"those who bought a boat with the wrong sticker now own a worthless boat..... losers!" People who do not even know there was a court case or the boat had a sticker... OR is he going to say that everybody is welcome as long as the new boats get stickers.. Lets say 2000 boats @ 5000 dollar each have been made in the meantime. 10 mill worth of new boats to landfill because of a sticker..? Come on. Not going to happen.To clarify what I meant, if Kirby wins I have the impression that he may get ownership of the moulds, builders manual, etc.. He will have sacked the builder (and, if the courts find in his favour,) nobody can build a Laser unless that are approved by Kirby, etc. So ISAF might not be able to get any Lasers to be sailed in the Olympics.
Of course they might opt to sail a boat that looks just like a Laser, but it could not be one and could not be built to the Laser design (so it would not be a Laser). They would have to change the definition of what a Laser is and thus it would be a different boat (with different rules) so they would in effect be changing the class shortly before the Olympics ...
At least that is how I understand thing (which might be wrong) and so much depends on the detailed outcome of the court case.
Ian
To clarify what I meant, if Kirby wins I have the impression that he may get ownership of the moulds, builders manual, etc.. He will have sacked the builder (and, if the courts find in his favour,) nobody can build a Laser unless that are approved by Kirby, etc. So ISAF might not be able to get any Lasers to be sailed in the Olympics.
Ian
I wonder who has physical possession of the master moulds? Clearly, there are builders who are aligned with Kirby who have builder moulds, but the moulds required to make new tooling?
...But, going back to the master moulds, I don't recall Kirby asking the court to grant him ownership of these, so he either has them now, or the court case will not affect who has the moulds.
I would agree. But, I can't see Kirby being very happy with LPE as a builder so suspect that, subject to the detailed court decision(s), if atall possible LPE will be removed as a builder (but I can't remember the exact conditions for sacking a builder in the various LPE/Kirby contracts).I don't think you should think in terms of one side or the other "winning" the court case. More likely, any judgement will be much more nuanced, with each side winning some points and losing others.
I agree. My thoughts were more that if Kirby "wins", there will be no Laser class (as Kirby can't use the name Laser and LPE can't build boats to the design/builders manual).Also, Kirby has not asked the court to force the ISAF to recognize the Torch class, so what gets sailed in future Torch regattas is likely to be largely out of his control. Also, as others have pointed out, banning Lasers will get him a lot of bad will from sailors who are caught in the middle of a dispute over which they have no control.
I think ISAF have plenty of arm-twisting power. They "own" the class association as well as the Olympic status. Both give the possibility to say to BK: "OK you won the court case, but now we have to make this work, if not the olympic status is gone" And for those who think that losing olympic status is good for the class... forget it. Look at Europe Dinghy, FD, Yngling, Soling. All those boats have lost or are close to losing their international class status. Few if any new boats are being built. A design competition for a mens/womens singlehander olympic class such as with Nacra and FX would be quite attractive to e.g. RS.From "Demand For Jury Trial" (original complaint court document from Kirby - I remembered reading it)
E. That Defendants immediately forfeit and return to Kirby all copies of the Construction Manual, along with all production tooling, moulds, and plugs associated with the manufacture of Kirby Sailboats;
I would agree. But, I can't see Kirby being very happy with LPE as a builder so suspect that, subject to the detailed court decision(s), if atall possible LPE will be removed as a builder (but I can't remember the exact conditions for sacking a builder in the various LPE/Kirby contracts).
I agree. My thoughts were more that if Kirby "wins", there will be no Laser class (as Kirby can't use the name Laser and LPE can't build boats to the design/builders manual).
Somebody above posted that Kirby has apparently said that Lasers with the "new" plaques will not be considered as meeting the Torch class rules [Jeffers] "If Bruce wins and the new Kirby Torch class comes into existence then he has already publicly stated boats with these plaques will not be class legal."
I don't know how much power/control the ISAF have in the matter, particularly should Kirby "win".
Ian
The best thing that could happen to the class is being kicked out of the Olympics, it doing the class more harm than good. Better still, kick sailing out of the Olympics and we might get sailing going again at the grass roots level.
From Australian perspective, you would be lucky to be able to put together a national fleet of 20 boats in any of the existing Olympic classes, other than the Laser. No one here sails 470's, Finns, RS:X and 49's unless they are doing an Olympic campaign. Whilst it appears Stars have been dropped, there would be lucky to be 5 in country. Olympic status has been well known as being a death nail to a class, which is why the ILCA resisted Olympic status for 2 decades.I think ISAF have plenty of arm-twisting power. They "own" the class association as well as the Olympic status. Both give the possibility to say to BK: "OK you won the court case, but now we have to make this work, if not the olympic status is gone" And for those who think that losing olympic status is good for the class... forget it. Look at Europe Dinghy, FD, Yngling, Soling. All those boats have lost or are close to losing their international class status. Few if any new boats are being built. A design competition for a mens/womens singlehander olympic class such as with Nacra and FX would be quite attractive to e.g. RS.
From Australian perspective, you would be lucky to be able to put together a national fleet of 20 boats in any of the existing Olympic classes, other than the Laser. No one here sails 470's, Finns, RS:X and 49's unless they are doing an Olympic campaign. Whilst it appears Stars have been dropped, there would be lucky to be 5 in country. Olympic status has been well known as being a death nail to a class, which is why the ILCA resisted Olympic status for 2 decades.
The strength of the Laser class comes from club level sailors and not the 20-30 elite sailors which the ILCA, ISAF and our national Laser Class associations and national sailing bodies dote over at our expense.
As to the comments by others of boats/plaques not being recognized, I suppose anything is possible but this seems a bit chicken little the sky is falling to me. I would not hesitate to buy a boat with the current ISAF plaque on it. My guess is that whomever wins and whatever class prevails will recognize and include all boats Laser and Torches should they ever be built and sold. Even if BKI wins on all counts I would bet the Laser class continues.
As someone said earlier, hopefully it all gets resolved in 2014 but even if not the dispute does not seem to be having any significant effect on the sailors/fleets which is good news and a credit to those running the class association.
If Kirby "wins" (it turns out that the royalties have not been paid), I think that it is very likely Kirby would sell Torch plaques to owners of Lasers that have the new ISAF/ICLA plaques.