I agree that the current sail is over priced and too short lived, but I don't think it's anywhere near as bad as many of you are saying.
Of course a more durable sail for much the same price is a great idea, but there will always be (a lot) of sailors who expect their sails to be bullet proof and wil complain if their ten season old sail isn't as fast as a new one - the Laser class seems to have more than it's fair share of these sailors.
I do a lot of sailing. I tend to buy one new sail for the biggest regatta I'm sailing each year, and most people I sail with do the same. This is then my regatta sail for the next twelve months. Then it becomes my club racing sail for a season. By this time it will have done over 100 races, and is still good enough for another year as a training sail. It probably costs about $2-$3 for each time I go sailing, which is hardly excessive.
The top level olympic aspirants go through a lot more sails, but the cost of this is insignificant compared to the overall cost of their campaigns. Other sailors who think they need to buy a sail more often than every 12-18 months are kidding themselves. The sailors who sail a couple of times a month at their local club and rarely travel anywhere should be getting three or four years life from a sail easily.
Of course if the builders dropped the price of a sail I would be happy. But if the builders are making such huge profits from the sails, why are they allegedly having trouble paying their bills? It has to be one or the other.
Of course a more durable sail for much the same price is a great idea, but there will always be (a lot) of sailors who expect their sails to be bullet proof and wil complain if their ten season old sail isn't as fast as a new one - the Laser class seems to have more than it's fair share of these sailors.
I do a lot of sailing. I tend to buy one new sail for the biggest regatta I'm sailing each year, and most people I sail with do the same. This is then my regatta sail for the next twelve months. Then it becomes my club racing sail for a season. By this time it will have done over 100 races, and is still good enough for another year as a training sail. It probably costs about $2-$3 for each time I go sailing, which is hardly excessive.
The top level olympic aspirants go through a lot more sails, but the cost of this is insignificant compared to the overall cost of their campaigns. Other sailors who think they need to buy a sail more often than every 12-18 months are kidding themselves. The sailors who sail a couple of times a month at their local club and rarely travel anywhere should be getting three or four years life from a sail easily.
Of course if the builders dropped the price of a sail I would be happy. But if the builders are making such huge profits from the sails, why are they allegedly having trouble paying their bills? It has to be one or the other.