Contribution to Sri Lanka Sailmakers

Eric

Eric

New Member
Having consulted with Fleet Captain Tim Maier and our NA's Regatta Chair
Halsey Bullen, I am please to inform you that I have just mailed a check
for $500- from the Cedar Point YC Laser Fleet to the North Sails Sri Lanka
Tsunami Relief Fund.

Due to robust attendance at the NA's, the fleet had a modest surplus this
year and we were able to make this donation. Credit should go to Tim and
Halsey for the efficacy with which they have run both the regatta and the
Frostbite Series.

It is my hope that the North Sails fund will allow aid to go where it is
most needed and to people with whom we have a connection. If they do not
need all funds collected, I believe that they will be in the best position
to redirect donations.


Andy Hoffman
Fleet Treasurer
 
Seeing that North Sails shifted production from North America to take advantage of cheap labour yet still price the product at the same rate and keeping to themselves the cost differences, I feel that North Sails should be cracking open THEIR wallet. The already hosed us and probably pay the workers there less than 50 cents an hour.


The Tsunami is a tragic event don't get me wrong. I would feel better that North Sails would take the leadership position that $200 from every sail purchase in 2005 would go directly to the people in Sri Lanka. At over $450US per sail, I am sure they are making a hefty profit, when labour is cheap, the material in the sail is lo-tech and you are in a monopoly situation for the product.

The fact that North Sails has done very little or none what so ever as a corporate donation for the people in their sweat shops will lead me to buy a Hyde sail instead.
 
Steven said:
Seeing that North Sails shifted production from North America to take advantage of cheap labour yet still price the product at the same rate and keeping to themselves the cost differences, I feel that North Sails should be cracking open THEIR wallet. The already hosed us and probably pay the workers there less than 50 cents an hour.


The Tsunami is a tragic event don't get me wrong. I would feel better that North Sails would take the leadership position that $200 from every sail purchase in 2005 would go directly to the people in Sri Lanka. At over $450US per sail, I am sure they are making a hefty profit, when labour is cheap, the material in the sail is lo-tech and you are in a monopoly situation for the product.

The fact that North Sails has done very little or none what so ever as a corporate donation for the people in their sweat shops will lead me to buy a Hyde sail instead.
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Steven,

You call yourself a master sailor, that usually implies wisdom along with the advanced age, but your post makes me question that.

It's obvious that you have no idea what North Sails as a company and it's individual employees throughout the world are doing for their employees in Sri Lanka or for any other victims of the tsunami. If you had bothered to check with anyone employeed by North, you would know that from the company owners right down to the sailmakers on the loft floor everyone is devestated by the events occurring and have opened their wallets to help and help not just the employees of North in Sri Lanka, but all those that were effected.

It's also obvious that you don't know much about the way the Laser sails are sold and who determines the price, it's been discussed at length here on this forum, take the time to educate yourself so the next time you post you don't sound quite as ignorant.

If you had taken the time to read this forum, you would also see where Vanguard, the NA builder of the Laser has also made a generous donation to help as well, not to mention Cedar Point YC.
 
49208 said:
...If you had taken the time to read this forum, you would also see where Vanguard, the NA builder of the Laser has also made a generous donation to help as well, not to mention Cedar Point YC...
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Greg, the Laserclass is primary a class of sailors round our globe (and not only of some builders and Yachtclubs etc.) and I cannot imagine, there is anyone who doesn´t want to do something to help.
I think there are also a lot of unnamed sailors here and there, that already did something - not only Vanguard+and fellows. So, discussion like that above is realy displaced in the moment.
Don´t discuss - DO something! is the action that is nessecary. Spend some or much money, spend help, spend what you can.
F.e. think about this: 1 tablet for cleaning 5 Liter contaminated water costs 50 Cent. Spend 1 US-$ and help a family in Sumatra (or Thailand or Sri-Lanka or India or Somalia...) to get water for a day. No one of the Lasersailors and all other sailors etc. can tell me, she/he has not a $ and the time to spend it.
And that is that.
LooserLu
 
Greg, you must be either a worker at North or a shareholder in your support of North.

Lets get a couple of things right, North makes sails in Sri Lanka because labour is cheap no and's if's or but's, they did not close the loft in Canada and open one over there for the good of the people and spread the wealth, they did it because it helps the bottom line. Sri Lanka has one of the cheapest labour costs around.

Perhaps you find value in a sail that is overpriced and lasts only 2 seasons, I do not. It is also not like it is rare boat or has exotic materials in it. Fact is the sail been made for 35 years with only one change from 3.2oz to 3.8oz, and there are some 180,000 boats made which means even more sails than that has been made.

Calling someone ignorant is pretty strong. Had you taken time to read may second paragraph of an idea that helps support the area and gives North a leadership role you would have agreed that it is a good idea. I quote "I would feel better that North Sails would take the leadership position that $200 from every sail purchase in 2005 would go directly to the people in Sri Lanka." We all go through these sails and rather than delaying our purchase to next year or the following we would buy them this year if North said that half the costs of the sail would go directly to the country, i'd even buy an extra one.

Also Greg, I looked at both North's website as well as Vanguards, unless it is well hidden there is no mention of any support or donation that these companies are doing. So unless you are in the know, they are certainly not making any noise about it.


I think that everone should donate to a charity of their choice and the Cedar Point club did a honourable thing. Mine was a suggestion that North should take.
 
Heavy stuff, you guys. How do we measure when someone, or some company has done enough? How do we judge the heart of any person when they make a decision to give, or a decision to relocate their business? Who knows what the leaders of North really think? The only thoughts and motives we can really know are our own. The only question we can really ask is, have I done enough?
 
I have a suggestion that might make me buy a North sail (I always buy Hyde because of the sri lankan worker's wage thing) how about North donate the profit from all sails made in Sri Lanka for the next couple of weeks. then I might consiter buying a lower quality slave made sail.

Dylan
 
ascella_dylan said:
I have a suggestion that might make me buy a North sail (I always buy Hyde because of the sri lankan worker's wage thing) how about North donate the profit from all sails made in Sri Lanka for the next couple of weeks. then I might consiter buying a lower quality slave made sail.

Dylan
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I think the Sri Lankans would really take exception to being called slaves, and to the implication that they make inferior sails. You are being extremely insulting to them, when I think you actually intend to insult North Sails.

No one has asked you to buy a North Sail. They've asked you to contribute to a Tsunami relief fund administered by North Sails. If you don't trust them to properly send the money to where it is needed, then don't contribute.

You sound really sour grapes and basically cold hearted, against the Sri Lankan people.

Perhaps what you really want to do is start another thread about the quality and ethics of North Sails, stop the knee jerk reactions, and leave Tsunami victims out of it. These comments about North Sails on a thread in which someone suggests a contribution are completely inappropriate.

not so Merrily,
Janet Rupert
 
North Laser sails used to be manufactured in Toronto at the North Loft. I would be very surprised to hear if North pays the workers in Sri Lanka the same hourly wage that they paid their workers in Toronto.

Lets face it, North moved production because labour is cheaper off shore, and if you can lower costs in manufacturing while still charging the same amount you help the bottom line. While I would not call the workers "slaves" they may perhaps make better wages than the rest of the people there like $2 a day versus $1 a day, I hardly think that they earn a Canadian min wage of $7.20/hr.

I made my donation today to the Red Cross and Unisef to help the people of the quake and Tsunami, I am not however sending in trust with North and that is my choice. However, I need to buy a new sail this year and if North Steps up and says that half the cost will be donated to the people of Sri Lanka then I would purchase a North Sail but they have been pretty quiet...ie nothing mentioned in their website or on Vanguards. Like I said earlier, if it is then it is well hidden.

I am sure that the people that work for North there are well treated and perform in good working conditions. I would like to think it not a sweat shop, though the same could not be said about some of the Nike plants world-wide. Not able to witness first-hand I will have to assume best unless otherwise told.

Hey North, how about taking a leadership position and give half of the purchase price of the sails or the profits from the sails made there to the people of Sri Lanka, I am sure you will find a huge up tick in sail purchases this year.
 
Steven said:
... However, I need to buy a new sail this year and if North Steps up and says that half the cost will be donated to the people of Sri Lanka then I would purchase a North Sail but they have been pretty quiet...ie nothing mentioned in their website or on Vanguards. Like I said earlier, if it is then it is well hidden....
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Steven, Mr. Johns the CEO of Vanguard did reported about that what´s going on in Sri Lanka already at Mo 27th December 2004 at the ILCA-NA Email-list [see this page: http://cerebus.winsite.com/laser/archives/2001/msg07175.html ]. So, I think, you are not right in that point above, Steven. The ILCA-NA Email-list is not a well hidden place, or something like that, for a Laserite in NA. I´m personally not the opinion, Mr. Johns did his words to self-praise Vanguards and North´s activities. I think he only wanted to go forward as a good example. I´m not a friend of the monopoly out- of-the-box-boat-builders, but in this point I trust him.

The rest of the discussion, I´m not going to comment in reason of great pain the millions of people at the coasts of the North-Indian-Ocean have. I have too much respect for that always friendly people there and I do not want to offneser their dignité.

PS.: I have to excuse my self to Greg. I it was not my intention to insinuate that he thinks, only the out-of-the-boxboatbuilders do something. He doesn´t and I did him wrong. Sorry Greg.
LooserLu
 
Why don't we all just sell our boats and give the proceeds to the relief effort? We don't because life is a lot more complex than that. As a Canadian, I am glad to give up the jobs lost if it means someone in a third world country doesn't have to live off a garbage dump. I am not glad to do it if the move is motivated by greed. I am glad to do it if it means North can continue to survive in an increasingly competitive world. I am not if competition had nothing to do with it. I just don't know, and neither do you. "Judge not lest you be judged". "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone". "First take the beam out of your own eye. Then you will see clearly to take the splinter out of your neighbour's eye." See the drift here? On my way to work, I passed -- again -- a girl who sleeps on the same grate every night, winter and summer. Her blanket was covered in ice from the freezing rain. I am about to spend a lot of money traveling to the midwinters in Clearwater. How do I get to judge the motives and intentions of a company thousands of miles away?
 
I'm not sour grapes man i did the polar bear swim for the Tsunami releif effort...and raised alot of money for it
true my anger is not directed at the Sri Lankans but at North who i beleive could more than afford to pay them a better wage (seeing as they moved the production without changing the price of the sail)

Dylan
 
ascella_dylan said:
i did the polar bear swim for the Tsunami releif effort...and raised alot of money for it Dylan
Click to expand...

That is really cool that you did that.

My point is that it's harsh to open a site that you think is about donating to a cause, then see a bunch of criticism. Corporate ethics belongs in a different thread.

Janet
 
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