Get rid of old gear and help the class

I had a thought as I am getting rid of some old gear. For years I've been a "horder" sp? of Laser gear. Everytime I've upgraded something I've held onto the old stuff.

Finally, I decided to unload the old stuff, (some hardly used). The main reason is to fund my upgrade into the Zhik hiker systems.

Over the weekend a guy came to my house to look through what I had. As we are talking
I find out he's been away from sailing for some time and has an old 1973 laser that he picked up some years ago for almost nothing and is finally in a position to try and get back on the water again.

After he left it hit me. By getting rid of the old stuff I'm helping new laser sailors get on the water. They may not be class members yet, but it's a matter of time. They will either love it like the rest of us or they won't and then will most likely have a better prepared boat to sell to someone who might like it much better.

I've been amazed by how fast my items have been snapped up. There's a market out there for laser sailors wanting good older gear at a fair price. Maybe I have not charged enough, but I feel good that it's going to be put to use.

What's my point? If you have gear you don't use give others the opportunity to do so! In the end you may be putting another boat on the water and help grow our class.

Hoarder.

The fair price is the key, might I suggest that one should consider selling used class legal gear, for around the price of "club" gear available from Rooster and Intensity and others. As one who has spent quite a bit to rehab one 80 laser and keep an 81 laser afloat, it would be nice to have cheaper sources to get my kids into class legal races, with radial and 4.7 pieces parts, I know the 4.7 is fairly new but at the price of class sails it is hard to justify supporting junior class legal racing. It would be nice to see an organized effort to get 4.7 and radial gear into the hands of kids who want to move up as they grow. Maybe clubs could have radial and 4.7 sails shipped around between regatta's that kids could charter at low rates so they could compete. I know there are some active club's like Merrily's that "allow" non standard sails at non - class sanctioned events which provides some opportunities, but to truly get a circuit of 4.7's out there we need to make it more affodable for parents to get their kids into the class.

Tracy, I disavow any knowledge of what the poster is talking about.

drwatershed said:

The fair price is the key, might I suggest that one should consider selling used class legal gear, for around the price of "club" gear available from Rooster and Intensity and others. As one who has spent quite a bit to rehab one 80 laser and keep an 81 laser afloat, it would be nice to have cheaper sources to get my kids into class legal races, with radial and 4.7 pieces parts, I know the 4.7 is fairly new but at the price of class sails it is hard to justify supporting junior class legal racing. It would be nice to see an organized effort to get 4.7 and radial gear into the hands of kids who want to move up as they grow. Maybe clubs could have radial and 4.7 sails shipped around between regatta's that kids could charter at low rates so they could compete. I know there are some active club's like Merrily's that "allow" non standard sails at non - class sanctioned events which provides some opportunities, but to truly get a circuit of 4.7's out there we need to make it more affodable for parents to get their kids into the class.

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I Needd A New Radiasl Sail;

In the past I have donated my 'old' Laser kit to my club. They have 2 club owned boats that need all the help they can get!

Most other memebers seem more than willing to do the same, we just need to persaude the club to splash out a bit on the new vang assemblies to make them sailable.

drwatershed said:

I know there are some active club's like Merrily's that "allow" non standard sails at non - class sanctioned events which provides some opportunities, but to truly get a circuit of 4.7's out there we need to make it more affodable for parents to get their kids into the class.

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There are a lots of clubs that do this (sorry Merrily I know your club has been mentioned). In the UK the numbers are growing fast. Although there is a caveat that for any open events and class events you must use a class legal sail.

As for the juniors we have a series that runs between 4 local clubs. it is designed to get the kids on the water and enjoying their racing. Class legality is a definitely second consideration in all the classes that sail (Optimists, Topper, Laser). the parents are gernally not well off so it is anything that helsp cost wise as long as they are not gaining an advantage (which if they are on a tight budget is unlikely anyway).

Our local club also allows non-class legal stuff to be used for non-class sanctioned club racing, (this is how we save our class sails). However, before a class regatta we do use older class legal sails for practice because the Intensity sail does trim differently with the outhaul and cunningham settings than the class sail does. So,it takes a few times out with the class sail to get back into the groove of trimming it.

Perhaps we could put a "swap meet" section on this forum. Like many, I have some Laser stuff that is not worth selling (i.e. numbers, battens, old hiking strap, etc) However, I would list or even donate if there was a fun type of section like that. I've always wanted to swap three battens and some numbers for a bottom cover!

monkey_feet said:

Perhaps we could put a "swap meet" section on this forum. Like many, I have some Laser stuff that is not worth selling (i.e. numbers, battens, old hiking strap, etc) However, I would list or even donate if there was a fun type of section like that. I've always wanted to swap three battens and some numbers for a bottom cover!

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That's a great idea IMO