Class Politics legal sail?

have you ever heard of Haarstick sailmakers making a laser sail? Must a sail have the red button to make it class legal for major regattas?
 
Haarstick made the Laser sail a long time ago for North America, back when the cloth was 3.0 oz.
 
Hi,
in addition to Greg M, here is a long text form the 20th aniversary of Haarsticksails in 1994:

http://haarsticksailmakers.com/tech/20th Anniversary of Gerber Cutter.html

The Gerber-cutter was the computer-steered-machine that cutted out the sail pieces also for the Lasersails. In that text Mr. Haarstick reports that they made 180.000 Lasersails.
In our times, I think, the Lasersails are made by North (not in Europe!!- here we can not get the North in our Laserstores) in Sri Lanka or Hyde at their loft at the Philipins-Islands. All are hand made (not compu-cutted, I guess).
On the red rectangular Laser-sticker on that old Haarstick-sails often "compucut" was written, where you can recognize a `Haarstick´ of the last years of their production. I have also such sails.
In our times this sailsare not the ones you should use for a major-regatta, although I´m the opinion they are allowed (See "fundamental rule" in "Part one" of the Bylaws of the Laserclassrules)- theoretical, of course. Most of this sails went already out of form (maybe not that ones, that where "forgotton" under somewheres roof-floor and where not sailed a lot). So I guess, the measurers at major-regattas will have a very sharp look to such an old sail about its conformity to the measurement-diagramms.

The first 3.8 oz Lasersails didn´t had a red button, if I rememer right. This button came a bit later. So I think the red button is not THE thing that makes a Lasersail Classlegal but at major-regattas it makes no sense to use old sails, that most times went out of form ("are slow").
Ciao
LooserLu
 
LooserLu you seem pretty well imformed, what is the purpose of the red button?

i have a full, radial and 4.7. rig, all of which have old sails so none of them have the red button
 
Hi Jon,
sorry for answering with a timelag, but I tried to break my legs while doing a bit skiing for a few days in our local mountains... ;)
All I know is, that the red button came first in 1996. This means there were/are also legal-3.8oz-sails in use that have no red button, but they are old. If they are "original builder supplied", they are legal (with the restriction that this old sails are conform to the ILCA-measurement-diagrams, of course).
This button is created to authenticate the sail as a legal sail. Since 1992, the North made the Lasersail (first in Canada), but the Haarstick-Laser-sail is sold(-out) until 1994. I don´t know when Hyde started to make sails for the Laser, but maybe someone other remember. The Hyde sail is the one that is sold in Europe for the Laser usually. I don´t know any 1st-level-Laserstore here in GER, that offer the North Sails for Laser.
Ciao
LooserLu
 

Back
Top