Private Sunfish at Worlds?

phish133

Sunfish sailor
I just noticed that manufacturer is not supplying boats for Worlds. When was the last time that happened? Just curious.
Is current manufacturer providing other types of support for Sunfish worlds? Do they provide boats for their other class (Laser,etc... ) worlds?
 
I think the manufacturer pulled out of all sponsorships this year. For example, the O'Days were supposed to be in Lasers but are now in some sort of souped-up Byte. They also pulled out of some college sponsorships. They supplied 40 boats of 160 to the Laser Worlds - the other 120 were private. I know dealers are having trouble gettng spare parts to sell, so something is going on with the manufacturer.
 
A lot of discussion on LP in the Laser forum. Some reports that they never charged enough charter fees for the Sunfish class and so probably lost money on selling the World's boats. Also some errors in business strategy like when they put a company store in St. Petersburg where the Worlds will be held when there was already a dealer in the area. Shows little support for the dealer when you do that. The store has since closed.
 
Some bad luck to go with the bad strategic decisions too. For example, the original LP bought Vanguard (and probably took on significant debt to do so) right before the global economy tanked, which greatly reduced discretionary purchases of things like sailboats. BB
 
I just noticed that manufacturer is not supplying boats for Worlds. When was the last time that happened? Just curious.
Is current manufacturer providing other types of support for Sunfish worlds? Do they provide boats for their other class (Laser,etc... ) worlds?
It seems odd that LP, or LP dealers, wouldn't be able to sell 72 almost new Worlds boats after the event (and make a profit), considering that the site (St Petersburg) is in Florida, a Sunfish 'hotbed'. Such boats used to be rather sought after, I thought.
 
Perhaps they don't have the cash to pay the vendors for the sails, tillers, boards, etc. There is a big parts shortage at US dealers right now. It could also be they have made a bad business decision. Who knows??
 
I went by the factory store about two weeks ago and while I was there I peeked in the window at the LP factory next door. It appeared that the lines were set up to build 420's. The usually open warehouse windows were all covered in paper, so I couldn't see what was in stock. The only things on the on the outside display racks were used boats. There were display boats in the store, but only a limited supply of parts. I've also heard through the grapevine that suppliers are insisting on cash up front because LP's has a long history of not paying invoices for delivered goods.
 
Some bad luck to go with the bad strategic decisions too. For example, the original LP bought Vanguard (and probably took on significant debt to do so) right before the global economy tanked, which greatly reduced discretionary purchases of things like sailboats. BB

I am surprised anyone would pay nearly $5,000 for a new Sunfish even back when the esonomy was good.
 
In short, Laser Performance has stopped sponsoring anything, but it's sister company, MacLaren, a baby carriage manufacturer, is going to be doing the sponsoring.
A baby carriage manufacturer should be able to make a nice dolly for my "baby". :D
 

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