If that upsets the apple cart too much, how would people feel about just making the hull last longer with more modern construction and materials at the same weight as the current hulls ?
And I'm sure you're going to volunteer to measurer them. Or are you just wanting someone else to spend their time doing an unpaid service, sacrificing their time of actually sailing the boat?
Do you know Ed Adams? What he's done? How hard he is to catch and how GOOD of a laser sailor he is?
Quick compasrison between two very succesful "one design" classes:
My son sails an Optimist. One design, many manufacturers. He had a new boat recently so foils, sails, spars etc had to be measured and signed by a class trained measurer, all the forms filled out and countersigned on the makers booklet then the whole document package was sent to the RYA technical dept for a class measurement certificate to be issued. I've just got that back so I now have to change the numbers on his existing sails, get them remeasured and then transfered and countersigned onto the new certificate. The "suggested" rate for a measurer is £18 per hour, most of the guys I know will do it for a bottle of scotch. I should have this ready dor the Inland Championships next week where, on registration, all documentation will be scrutinised. (i must remember to get the buoyancy endorsment filled in by the class captain as well). His new sail was carefully chosen fron a range of 7 or 8 makers (so lots of competition) and cost £420.
My Son freind has just moved out of Oppies into the Laser 4.7 . Next weekend he has a national selection event. His dad has bought him a new sail(£360 no angonising choice and sales waffle to fight through....just oder the only one available) and as long as all the other bits have genuine Laser stickers on...everthings fine.
I wish the Optimist was only made by one company....it would make everything so much simpler and i would save a load of time and cash.
So do you volunteer and assist? Or do you leave it up to others?
First off the builder(s) are never going to allow their cash cow to leave their hands (ie, allow us to purchase direct from the sailmaker)
IMHO our best hope is to get the sail design changed so it lasts at least twice as long as the current design, and keep the price within $50 of the current cost. That's realistic and easily achievable (if the builders wanted to do it ! (cut their yearly profits on sails in half))
For those that keep suggesting allowing multiple sailmakers in open competition with each other, selling direct, please point out some other large classes with that model where the prices of sails relative to the Laser sail are so much less expsensive. It's certainly not ANY of the other Olympic classes, nor the Opti, Thistle, Lightning, Etchells
F-18
https://www.northorder.com/securenew/f18.php
Main $1645
Jib $650
Spin $1235
I think those prices come close to matching once you account for size and material differences...
Doyle , Ullman and Quantum don't even list them on their sites which usually means they don't consider the market big enough to go after or don't have competitive designs. I don't think I have left out any other "Big" lofts in the US - all the rest would be local/regional who get marketshare first on price
PS - When did they allow Aramid (Kevlar,Twaron) in the sails ?