Optimist, Open Skiff, Youth & Olympic Sailing Blog

One of the first things we learn with sailing is how to rig our boat. Unfortunately, we may also learn about questionable voting processes! The international Laser class ILCA launched earlier this month a vote to modifiy one of its internal regulations to allow builders to produce boats under another name, such as the ILCA dinghy, or under the form of generic boats. This vote has potentially huge commercial implications, as it would in theory allow the two remaining builders - Performance Sailcraft Japan, and Performance Sailcraft Australia - to export boats through dealers in all the regions where LaserPerformance / Velum currently holds the Laser trademarks (Europe, North America, South America, most of Asia, Africa). With the termination of LaserPerformance as a builder, there is an annual multi-million dollar market at stake for new boats, sails and parts, as LaserPerformance had over a 80% market share globally, prior to its March 2019 termination by the Laser class. Whil

It’s all official. Or at least nearly official. The membership of the Laser sailboat class just needs to vote yes to a change in its internal rules, and we may see fake Laser sailboats at the Paris 2024 Olympics. At least that’s what the Laser class wants us to believe. Fake Lasers are not Fake News. This is a scenario that is contemplated not only by the organization governing the Laser class but also by World Sailing – the international governing body of the sport of sailing, that oversees the sport globally and reports to the International Olympic Committee when it comes to the sailing competitions for the 2024 Olympics. The story goes like this. The change in the Laser class regulations will allow new companies to build the boat and to sell them with an alternate name and logo of their choosing, or even as generic boats without a name or logo – as a way to circumvent the existing Laser trademarks held by Velum – a sister company to the UK-based LaserPerformance corporation.

Des "ILCAs" exportés d'Australie ont débarqué à Kingston au Canada ce 19 Juillet pour un championnat mondial. Les auto-collants ont depuis été changés, de sorte que ces bateaux sont redevenus des Lasers ... C'est tout officiel. Ou du moins presque officiel. Les membres de la classe des voiliers Laser doivent simplement voter pour un changement de règlement interne, et nous verrons peut-être de faux voiliers Laser - en anglais, des Fake Lasers - aux Jeux olympiques de Paris en 2024. C’est du moins ce que l’association internationale de la classe Laser veut nous faire croire. Les faux lasers ne sont pas de fausses nouvelles - fake Lasers are not fake news! C’est un scénario qui est envisagé très sérieusement non seulement par l’organisation gouvernant la classe Laser, mais également par World Sailing - l’instance dirigeante internationale du sport de la voile, qui supervise le sport au niveau mondial et fait rapport au Comité International Olympique pour les com

A Surprisingly French Scene in Toronto: Techno 293 Windsurfs & a Diam 24. Here is a quick post following a 10 day stay in Toronto, which enabled me to have a look at the sailing scene, and now to contrast it with the situation in Montreal. First impression was that, in addition to the youth sailing, which is pretty strong in several clubs, I saw two active fleets: (master) Lasers and Albacores. The latter was pretty impressive, sailing most evenings during the week. Many boats are apparently in good condition and have quality sails. The quality of sailing was pretty good. Lots of the sailing takes place on club-owned boats. For their part, the Laser master sailors form an amazing group, sailing mostly from the Water Rats club. The club has as members several of the best Laser master sailors in Csnada and the world, and they train regularly.  Albacores mostly sail from another nearby community sailing club. In Toronto, big clubs such as the Royal Canadian Yacht Club and

Caption: Marco Gradoni after Winning his First World Title in 2017. Last year, after the qualifying series at the 2018 Optimist Worlds in Cyprus, we looked at which countries were particularly present in the gold fleet. The Optimist class allows for 5 competitors per country at the worlds. So this compilation provides a good idea of the level / quality of Optimist sailing in the various countries. Last year, the three dominant countries were Italy, Israel and Thailand. So let’s look at what are the numbers for this year. No country placed its 5 boats in the gold fleet. Placing 4 boats this year Italy, with USA and Spain. This is big improvement for Spain. Last year, USA had 3 boats in the gold fleet, and its 4 boats this year indicates a continued strengthening of the Opti class in the US. It's a notable decline for both Thailand and Israel. Italy remains at the top of Optimist sailing with its substantial presence in the Gold Fleet -- 4 boats in 2019, 5 boats

The European branch of the Laser class issued today a call to vote No to a Laser class rule change put forward by the international Laser class ILCA. The EurILCA’s circular #574 titled EC « ILCA vote on rule change - It’s about a name change, » reads as follows: « Dear District Officer,  You all have received yesterday morning the 2nd of July an announcement of ILCA to kick off the vote for a rule change … EurILCA is recommending to vote NO. » The contemplated move by the international class came at the very last minute, and maybe even too late, as the class rules require one month for the vote to take place (assuming it’s ok to leave the Laser constitution intact - which requires a 6 months vote for any change to be made). The announcement of this vote came just after LaserPerformance and the Laser class ILCA announced this June 30 they had reached a new trademark agreement for the use of the name Laser and the Laser logo at regattas. Many observers thought it was a greatly