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Showing posts from April, 2019

Aussie Lasers: Damaging ILCA Emails Released

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"It shall be the policy of the Association to maintain the Laser as the epitome of a strict one-design class of sailboat." -- International Laser Class Association Constitution. LaserPerformance provided an updated statement on the so called Aussie Lasers on April 27 2019, with 2 supporting emails from the International Laser Class Association (ILCA). Defect Notice The first email is dated March 18 2015. The email / letter is a « Defect Notice, » addressed to the Chairman of Performance Sailcraft Australia Pty, Ltd. It states that there were 2,280 boats, produced between 2006 and 2015, that are known not to comply with the manufacturing specifications of the Laser Construction Manual. «  Appendix 1 to this letter identifies the ISAF Plaque numbers of the Laser class sailboats produced by Performance Sailcraft Australia Pty, Ltd. (« PSA ») known not to comply with the manufacturing specifications of the Laser Construction Manual (« LCM »). The 2,280 boats identifi

Laser Name Change: No World Sailing Approval Yet

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« Olympic One-Person Sailing Dinghy Completes Name Change » announced the International Laser Class Association (ILCA) this Friday April 25. "After recent discussions with World Sailing leadership, we’re assured that we have their full support with this changeover, especially since we now have the opportunity to comply fully with World Sailing’s fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory licensing requirements for Olympic equipment. We’ve already had serious interest from well-funded and highly respected builders who are committed to building to the exacting one-design standards of our construction manual and the ILCA Rules," states ILCA’s Executive Secretary. Not so fast … World Sailing responded in a statement in the evening of Saturday 27 (London time) that it « has not endorsed or pre-approved the proposed name change. » « World Sailing's Board of Directors and Senior Management Team have continuously maintained a position that World Sailing will deal with any

The Siebel Youth Sailing Initiative Should be Replicated in Canada

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US Sailing announced on April 22nd a ground breaking initiative supported by the Thomas and Stacey Siebel Foundation aimed at advancing youth sailing. The Program’s purpose is to increase opportunity and diversity in the sport of sailing by providing resources and support to youth sailors at public access sailing centers across the country. The Siebel initiative fills several key gaps, which can also be found in youth sailing in Canada. The identified gaps are: - a concentration of  coaching expertise in mostly private clubs where access by youth sailors from less-affluent families is often problematic; - a lack of well-established development pathways for youth sailors in community clubs, beyond the learn to sail and learn to race levels; - a near exclusive reliance on single-handed dinghies, mostly the Optimist, in youth sailing up to the age of 15, while double-handed sailing is more popular with many youth sailors, particularly the youngest ones; - limitations of the cur

Laser Change Name: Photoshopping is the Easy Part

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As we predicted, the Laser class is changing the name of the Laser to the "ILCA." Contrary to what is implicitly suggested in the ILCA (class) media release , it is NOT just a consequence of the decertification of LaserPerformance as a builder. The name change was planned well before. See our articles: April 28 2019 (update) Laser Name Change: No World Sailing Approval Yet April 8 2019:  And the Future Name of the Laser is … April 10 2019: Laser Name Change: What the ILCA Trademark Tells Us And several others: https://optimist-openbic-sailing.blogspot.com/ Now, how has the ILCA (the class) decided how your Laser - I mean your new ILCA (the boat) - should look like? Yes, same picture ... just the logo is changed ... Photoshopping is the easy part ...

It’s High Time to Slash the Price of the Class Laser Sails

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The are lots of changes upcoming with the Laser. It will change name shortly . There are likely legal changes that will be made to the international and national class associations, which will not be allowed to use the Laser name any longer. And there will be new builders as, following the recent decertification of LaserPerfomance, the world supply of hulls is now in the hands of only two relatively small builders in Australia and Japan. And there are completely new rigs that the officials of the international class are looking at introducing. On top of that, the Olympic future of the Laser will be decided later this year, possibly in May, by World Sailing. There are lots of changes indeed in the making! But what about the sails? The recent introduction by LaserPerformance of « Club Edition » non-class Lasers has sent a bit of a global shock wave  in the Laser world. Indeed, exactly the same boat, less the hull plaque and the sail button, are now available for a substan

Le Top 10 de la Voile de Course au Québec en 2019

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Quels sont les principaux événements en voile au Québec en 2019? La liste contient des régates tant au niveau provincial que national et international, en dériveur, multicoque et quillard. Aurait-on manqué un évènement intéressant? N’hésitez pas à nous en informer! Pour toute question ou discussion, rejoignez nous via notre Groupe Facebook . 1. Coupe Femina Lévis. Le 6 Juillet. Coupe Femina, c’est le plus grand rassemblement de navigatrices et la seule course amateur à la voile 100% au féminin au Québec. Elle fait partie des trois seuls événements francophones du genre recensés, dont deux se déroulent en France. C’est le seul évènement réellement médiatisé. Il en est à sa cinquième édition. https://www.coupe-femina.com video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsmXSGJApO8 2. Régate Jeunesse TRY - TRY Youth Regatta Pointe-Claire, Montréal. Du 4 ou 7 Juillet. La régate TRY - pour Training Regatta for Youth - est la régate jeunesse la plus populaire au Québec, et ceci depuis de

Non-Class Lasers Hit the Market in the UK

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LaserPerformance "Club Edition" Laser at Discounted Price in the UK The UK Laser Association has announced on its website that a « Club Edition » of the Laser has been introduced by LaserPerformance. This is presented as a « training boat  » that does not bear the World Sailing Building Plaque or a Sail Button. (read also: It’s High Time to Slash the Price of the Class Laser Sails ) The statement reads: « This is fine as a training boat but we feel it is important to clarify that these boats are not Class legal based on the Fundamental Rule within the Laser Class Rules. These boats will be ineligible to compete in any UKLA sanctioned events, broadly speaking but not exclusively, those advertised on the UKLA website. » Adding: « Whilst the UKLA would like all Laser racing to be conducted strictly in accordance with the Class Rules, it does not consider it should dictate to sailing clubs throughout the UK over their adoption, though they would be subject to protest by c

Feva v. 29er: A Few Elements of Comparison

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The Feva and the 29er are mostly complementary boats, as the Feva can be sailed from say age 10 to age 17 or so, while the 29er is typically sailed say from around age 15 to age 19 or so. More and more, in a number of countries where both boats are present, sailors learn sailing and racing in the Feva, and then move to the 29er, or even the 49er FX. So for say a period of about 2 years, there is an overlap between the two boats. And actually this great. The Feva is a boat suitable from beginners to advance racers, while the 29er is only suitable for advance racers. Having such overlap is allowing to bring into the sport adolescents, who get into sailing say at age 12, 13 or 14, and still fit in the Feva (but not in an Opti) and obviously don’t have the skills to jump into a 29er. So there is a bit of overlap between the two boats, and the question of cost arises. There, there is a big difference between the two boats. And that can be a critical element. The difference in cos

LaserPerformance Responds to ILCA by Publishing its Own FAQs

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See below a statement issued today by LaserPerformance. To be noted is the explanations offered for refusing access to the facilities, including: "ILCA has not inspected LP manufacturing since June 2015" and "LP has refused access to ILCA for inspection in May 2019 given the expiry of the ILCA license from 31 August 2019." There is obviously an error here - it's probably in March 2019! The date of August 31 2019 is explained as follows, and is a consquence of LaserPerformance's restructing: "In 2016 LaserPerformance group was re-organized globally. Consequently, LPEU ceased to operate effective 31 December 2016 and will cease to exist from 31 August 2019." Laser Performance maintains that "Without a new like license, ILCA will not be able to hold events or use the Laser mark in connection with its authorized activities from 31 August 2019." This may explain why the Laser class is seeking a new name for the boat - which m

Laser Name Change: What the ILCA Trademark Tells Us

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The Laser class announced on April 4th that « In order to avoid trade mark issues and to comply with the requirements of European competition law, all current and future ILCA-approved builders will sell boats under a new brand name. » The name change for the Laser appeared like a consequence of the decertification, announced on March 27,  of LaserPerformance as a Laser builder. But in reality, the plan by the Laser class to change the name of the Laser can be traced back much earlier on, in June 2018. Indeed, according to the official records of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), the application for a EU Trademark was made on June 8 2018. This application is not for organizing events but for the boat, sails etc. More precisely: "12 - Sailing vessels; sailboats; boats; masts for boats; booms for boats; rudders for boats; sailboats and structural parts therefor, namely, hulls and hull sections; hull fittings, namely, drain plugs, cleats, bailers, coa

An Explanation to the Fast Aussie Lasers?

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LaserPerformance has posted today this communiqué, alleging that not only did ILCA tolerate infringements to the Laser Construction Manual by Performance Sailcraft Australia, but also agreed for some infringement to become part of the new construction methods by the 3 builders. The mast rake was also allegedly adjusted to the sailor's demands! According to LaserPerformance, this made "all previous Lasers technically obsolete" and "no notification of the breach in protocol was reported to ISAF/WS or the Laser community at large." This clearly provides a taste of what is to come in the expected legal / trademark battle between ILCA and LaserPerformance, the world’s dominant Laser builder, recently decertified by ILCA. See April 28 related article:  Aussie Lasers: Damaging ILCA Emails Released This also comes in the midst of ILCA expected to rename the Laser within weeks as ... the ILCA! See the articles " And the Name of the Future Laser is ... "

And the Future Name of the Laser is …

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This was a day of speculation over the Internet, following the revelation on a discussion forum that the Website http://gammaclass.org was pointing towards the international Laser class http://laserinternational.org This redirection was soon removed. Yet, this was enough to feed the speculation that the new name for the boat would be the « Gamma » With a possible new logo looking like a gamma from the greek alphabet (see picture). A query into the trademark application database from the United States Patent and Trademark Office indicates indeed that an application for « Gamma » was filed on Nov 29 2018 by a Delaware registered corporation named … Weather Helm Inc.! The application covers a wide range of goods and services, including sailboats, booms, rudders, sails and arranging, conducting and organizing events and competitions in the sport of sailing. The latest activity on this application is Feb 28 2019. There are several issues regarding this application, and the applican

European Laser Class, ILCA and LaserPerformance Announcements

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ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE EUROPEAN LASER CLASS (EURILCA) EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE  (April 3 2019) Last Monday International Laser Class Association - ILCA has removed Laser Performance England (LPE) as approved builder, it was a surprise for a lot of sailors, class officers and Laser dealers. The EurILCA executives and the European representatives at the World Council (Alexandra Behrens, Heini Wellmann and myself) regret that decision and have pushed for negotiation. We have proposed to be the mediators between ILCA and LPE for a few months. Europe represents almost 70 % of the sailors of the Laser class members and big European districts like Germany or Italy have almost the same number of members as North American region (USA and Canada together). We are sorry about the situation and regret that our proposal for mediation, which we believe would have been in the best interest of the European sailors, was rejected. The official reason to remove Laser Performance England as a builder was t