Who was this man and where do I meet him
His name's Phil, from NSW Australia. These days you may be able to meet him in Tasars, where he occasionally sails and can still beat world champs using old gear, and where he still tries to tell those he's coaching to stop worrying about the gear and look at their sailing and adjusting to the conditions and gear; ie - your draft has blown aft? Cool, just more cunningham, then maybe less sheet to firm up the leach, and move to a groove that's a degree or so lower.
Is it perfect? No - but how many of us are so good that we are extracting the best from our gear?
I can personally attest that three regattas in 20+ blew out an almost-new sail.
I'm not against new materials and I agree the sails are overpriced, but isn't it going overboard to say that sails only last one regatta?
I think I already put this further up the thread, but it may bear repeating. Some time ago, one guy I know owned just one new sail in his entire Laser career. His other sail was an old borrowed rag.
He ended up champ of what it arguably the world's toughest district (that year's world champ was about 7th in the districts); national Youth champ; won selection to the Worlds, and finished top 25 in the Open Worlds. He sailed in windy places.
You can also be 100% competitive in masters racing with the recent and current world champs, with a sail that's been used (and flogged) for a year or so. That's a matter of fact.
If you can get into the world's top 25 and only ever own ONE sail in your entire career, then how much of a problem is the sail for the average sailor?
About cloth and sails and etc?? 90% or more of the price we pay for Laser sails has zero to do with the cost of materials... The materials in the cloth?? Who cares??
agreed. therefore let's experiment with today's materials and come up with a sail that lasts!
There's just not a good way of protecting that new design other than an extension of the existing contractual sailmaking monopoly to the new designer.If the class association decides your design is better for teh game of Laser racing than the sail supplied by the builders, the class association can decide to allow its use in Laser regatas.
If the builders decide it would be more profitable in the long term to supply boats with sails designed and sold by you, they will purchase sails from you and supply those sails with the new boats.
I have heard rumors that the design of the Laser hull is copyrighted. This is possible, but it would be a weak copyright because it would only cover the non-functional aesthetic design of the boat, i.e. the exact "look" of the hull, not the idea of a 14-foot fiberglass boat with an unstayed mast.
I don't think the sail design is copyrighted.
If you go to the US Copyright Office - Records site at http://www.copyright.gov/records/ and search for copyrights held by Bruce Kirby you will see that copyright VA-298-296 was registered by Bruce in 1988 for the technical drawing of the Laser that appears on page 6 of The New Laser Sailing by Dick Tillman.
It might however, last longer, but would probably not be cheaper.
If you believe you can make a god durable inexpensive sail that would serve Laser sailors well.
BUILD A FEW HUNDRED!!!
Invest every penny yopu have and work your ass off to make the new sail succeed.
You may make a few hundred thousand.
Or you may lose your entire fortune.
---snip--- Remember though, the whole reason the sail is made of light, stretchy cloth is because the sail has to be able to handle a rather astonishing amount of adjustability. Can a mylar sail handle a mast that regularly flexes one to two feet (or more)out of column and a cunningham adjustment that when pulled tight actually stretches the sail several inches and doesn't just take up slack?
Show me this sail, and I will forego college to build it for you.
Yes, a polyester/mylar sail can handle the bendy rig, as well as a aramid/mylar sail (Finns use both)
Follow the first linky in response 110 in this thread - don't want you to forego college, but it's not a big deal to do it for a Laser either.
You can tell how long most of the Olympic class sails last by checking the classifieds at their respective class websites, a season at most? and these people are sailing more then all of us desk jockeys.
Whine all you want, but you're sailing an olympic class boat you can get used for cheaper than most of the flat screen TV's that are on your wall. And still be competitive in most fleets.
(Modified)
If you can find ANY sail that lasts 2-3 years and hasn't lost it's competitive edge after summers and winters of regattas (regattas where you are constantly racing against the top singlehanded sailors in the world), you're one lucky cat.
this thread totally makes sense, oh wait:
Byte Sail: $525.40 plus shipping, dacron
Radial: $500
Byte CII sail: $625.40 new mylar
Full Rig: $530
Topper: $375 (approx.)
Optimist: $495 (quantum sails)
29er main: $995
Europe Main: 725 euros (Green Sails in Germany) around a grand converted
I am doing it right now!