I participate in racing fleet #700. For a 2009 Christmas present I asked for a new racing sail. I received a gift card from Irish Boat Works in Harbor Springs, MI. I waited until early summer to call to ask about purchashing a new race sail. I still do not have a new sail.
I was told that the "class North South" race sail was on backorder with no available date for delivery. I was also informed tha there is an alternate race sail made by someone else(FX" maybe) that would work well but would not be class legal but that nobdy would likely call me on the class legality of the sail.
Anybody know what is up with the North South "class legal sail"? Seems really odd that you try to order a sail prior to July 4th 2010 and can't get a delivery date.
Seems odd but in these days, nothing is odd, it is predetermined.
Hoosier,
I don't have an answer to question, but what I don't understand is why only one manufacturer can make class legal parts. I get the idea that it maintains value of the boat, but it seems that the value wouldn't diminsh if they allow multiple manufactures to produce parts if they are required to adhear to exacting standards and materials determined by the class. This may eliminate shortages in much needed parts.
Sunfish blasphemy question
First... a disclaimer. I am the President of the US Sunfish Class. What is said here is my personal opinion, based on my recollection of history. It does not represent the opinion of the Sunfish Class, LaserPerformance or any of the prior manufacturers of Sunfish. This is a hypothesis, with some factual basis to it.
As Gail has pointed out, one of the big differences between the Sunfish (boat), its class and competitors in the sailing market is that the design and name Sunfish are owned exclusively by the manufacturer (LP). Sunfish is trademarked, which I believe means you cannot use the name without permission of the owner of the trademark. So, the class cannot ask another company to create sails or other parts without the permission of the current manufacturer. Similarly, I do not think the class can even exist without the permission of the manufacturer. This makes the Sunfish Class different from the Laser Class because the Laser class owns its design and the associated trademarks, and licenses them to the manufacturer.
Given that, the changes to the boat that are often complained about can be looked at and analyzed more clearly.
A major change to the hull occurred around 1990. That design change led to the reduction on the weight of the boat that Wayne mentioned, added a hiking strap, made the cockpit bigger and introduced the rolled edge. These changes were the exclusive decision of the manufacturer Pearson and had nothing to do with the class's influence (or lack there of).
As was already mentioned, there was wide variation in the sails during the late 70s and 80s that resulted from different weight fabrics, colors and sail makers. The sails stretched very differently. Some people had HUGE, legal sails that could easily reach the ends of the spars, while others had much smaller sails. There was always chatter about a person not being able to compete because they had a particular sail. It was desirable to improve the one-design characteristics of the boat because the Sunfish was a major international class and competed directly with the Laser. At the time, I believe the Sunfish Class was bigger than the Laser Class in the US). The new racing sail accomplished its goal and leveled the playing field among racers.
The decision to have a single sail maker build the sails was made by the manufacturer - they own the rights to the design. Although I might be wrong, I believe North (as we know it today) became the manufacturer of the racing sail in the early 90s, when Sunfish Laser Inc purchased the rights to the Sunfish from Pearson Sailboats. If my memory serves me correctly, North had some ties to SLI as a partner, owner, investor or some other business relationship.
In the early 90s it was announced that the Laser would be an Olympic Class for the 1996 games in Atlanta. Around the same time, there was consolidation of the dinghy market in North America. This was the first time the Sunfish and Laser were manufactured by the same company. Prior to that, the boats and classes were direct competitors. Under the same roof, the manufacturer thought it would be more profitable to not have their products directly compete in the same market. By leveraging each products' strengths, they focused on attracting a different market segment to each boat. The relative performance characteristics of the two boats made it a logical business decision to focus the Sunfish on the recreational market and the Laser on the performance and racing market.
So why is there a racing and recreational Sunfish? Think about it from the manufacturer's point of view. First of all, you have a large, established population that races Sunfish. It is in the manufacturer's interest to support the class because they help promote your product. Second, for the sake of discussion and understanding why there is a racing and recreation Sunfish, imagine a scenario were there was only a recreational Sunfish and no racing class. How would this impact the transition from recreational sailing to racing?
Many people have used the recreational Sunfish as a gateway into racing. If there were no racing class, a recreational sailor (consumer) who is interested in trying to race would probably have no option but to buy a brand new boat - a Laser. The difference in performance, and extra cost, would discourage many people from trying to race. The manufacturer wants to profit from the recreational sailors that are interested in venturing into the racing world. So, they lower the cost of entry by offering the Sunfish racing upgrade.
If the class had its choice, I suspect there would be no recreational sails sold today. There would probably be only white or colored racing sails (similar to the colored sails found at the World Championship). This might help the class grow because the recreational sailors would have almost no cost of entry to try racing. However, this scenario would probably not be as profitable for the manufacturer. And since the Sunfish is a manufacturer's class, the class has minimal power to influence this business decision.
When the Sunfish and Laser were first built under the same roof, the manufacturer's decision to continue to support the Sunfish's Racing Class obviously kept the relatively large population of existing class members happy. Offering the "racing sunfish" brand helps further the class's efforts to grow. The Sunfish Class is extremely fortunate, and grateful, to have a manufacturer that supports us so much.
That's interesting. The implication would be that LaserPerformance subsidizes the price of each class legal sail. Or, LPI's sail orders for new boats are the only real volume for North and North won't bother making a trickle of sails for the aftermarket. If not, there would be no connection between LaserPerformance's outstanding bills and North's sail selling business.
The rumor is that LaserPerformance USA hasn't paid its bills to North Sails. Because North isn't a charity, there is now a shortage of Laser and Sunfish legal sails in the USA. Obviously, this is not only bad for customers wanting to stimulate the economy, but especially for the dealers who make a (very) decent profit selling these sails.
That may relate to the information pipeline out to dealers and retail customers, but part availability is tied to purchasing, inventory management, and accounting/financial management.Laser Performance is currently looking for someone to fill the following spot :
Customer Service Rep/Technical Rep Parts and Seitech
Maybe this may relate to the delayed/no reponse you've gotten from Laser Performance???
...the new boat market is pretty small, and the aftermarket is tiny compared to their new boat market, so they have trouble getting the third party manufacturers to fill their small production orders, never mind aftermarket, so they have to piggyback aftermarket parts onto a "few times a year" production run order...