[/FONT]The other replica parts that are available could in no way be considered consumable items unlike a sail.
[FONT="]Just my 2p (or 2c)...[/FONT]
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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.
No it doesn't - there are many ways to burn through cash, not to mention that LP has to have the largest product line of any boat builder that I can recall, and perhaps profits from Lasers are propping up some of the other products..
Not everyone agrees with that point of view. The builder/dealers who are holding inventory would, but any sailor who only has an older rag (I guess we can say anything more then 4 regattas old) it shouldn't matter one bit
In a way, that thinking just keeps us stuck in the 1970's
Sailorchick, radial sails are significantly more robust then the standard sails.
The sails do not wear out as quickly as lots on here would try to make us all believe.
My sails usually last me about 4 years before I bin them. 2 years regatta use and the another 2 years club/training use. Yes they are absolutely knackered by the end of this but I don't expect any sail to last longer than that the amount I use them.
We should explain why it's so different.
I suspect it's from the way the panels are cut and sown together. The way the threads run allows the loads to be transferred better which decreases the amount of deformation that occurs to them over a period of time. In addition, the radial sail requires less cunningham, vang and mainsheet tension than the standard sail to obtain a good sail shape. It's probably part of the reason why a least one of the prototype standard sails has a radial cut.
I saw the full sized radial cut prototype and really liked it! Can anyone estimate how much longer it's gonna be until the class gets to vote on a new sail?
Isn't it amazin how some of those who ahve posted above just brush off "nothing until after the Olympics" as though there is more than one sailor in every country who is impacted by the shape of the Olympic sail??
isn't it amazin how some of those who ahve posted above just brush off "nothing until after the olympics" as though there is more than one sailor in every country who is impacted by the shape of the olympic sail??
Gues what fellow laserforum readers...
You are not invited to sial in the olympics!!!
And
you never will be invited.
The olympics is one regatta and that one regatta is not even open for our laser class members
the olympic committees decide who goes...not us.
The olympic committee restricts entry to one per country and only for those countries that qualify to participate.
Laser sailing is for everybody.
Screw that olympic crap.
Let's worry about our game!!!
If the olympic guys want to have an event in the same kind of boats we sail..fine. But let's not, for the sake of their one stinkin' regatta with limited entries, held only every 1460 days, let them have any control over our game.
Never, it's not an issue that the class votes on, we only vote on changes to the class rules and not changes to the technical specifications. As long as the technical committee / World Council (and now ISAF) approve it, the builders can change the sails when ever they wish from my understanding. It's doubtful that any change will occur until after the next Olympics, but I don't think a change would have a significant impact even 12 months out.