Italian Laser Sailor Speaks Out

Today, long time Italian Laser sailor Alessandro Castelli sent this letter to all the European districts. The letter was also published in Sailing Anarchy and, in Italian, on Saily.it.

To all the European Laser Districts 

Dear Laser District representative, 

In its statement released on December 1, 2019 after the Annual General Meeting Eurilca wrote “EurILCA has scheduled an extraordinary EAGM for mid January to make any decision we believe necessary to protect the interests of our sailors, should significant progress on the above points not be apparent.” 

This extraordinary General Meeting is now scheduled for March 7, 2020 and I think it’s important that all the district representatives attending the meeting know what their members think about it, because the decisions to be taken will have a fundamental impact on the future of our class. For this reason I propose that every district has a referendum (electronically it’s quick, every member has an email address or a mobile phone where to write a message) on how to proceed. There are 2 realistic options: 

1) To continue the class activity with the rules imposed by ILCA’s actual governance, with boats and gear ILCA Dinghy built in many different boatyards in competition with each other.

2) Split form ILCA with a new class that gathers all Laser owners, keeps the original spirit from the 1970’s, remains as strict one-design as equal as possible and built by a limited amount of builders. 

I take the opportunity of this letter to express and justify my vote.  I will vote option 2, for the following reasons: 

The main reason why I’ve been sailing Laser for many years instead of another boat is its strict one design. I do not want issues with boats and gear with different performances, that take unavoidably to pursue the fastest product. ILCA Dinghies will for sure have different performances and will for sure end up being more expensive. Who denies that is either stupid or in bad faith. 

The second reason why I sail Laser is its simplicity and durability. 

I’m not interested in having innovative rigs with innovative sails that make me sail half a knot faster. There are many other boats on the market to achieve much higher speeds. – The third reason is that I’m in total disagreement with ILCA’s actual governance,  whose actions taken in the last 10 months are totally against my vision. 

I felt the need to write this letter because I have the feeling that a group of people is destroying our beloved Laser and we Laser sailors are not doing anything to defend it. 

Regards,
 
Alessandro Castelli

Source: https://sailinganarchy.com/2020/01/31/its-pretty-simple/

http://saily.it/it/article/lettera-aperta-laseristi-sveglia

Popular posts from this blog

Green, White, Blue & Red Fleets: What is it all about?

Image
If you were present at a prize giving ceremony for the Optimist class, you may have been puzzled by the number of categories and prizes that are involved. The reason is simple: the Optimist class is big, and there are kids sailing from age 5 or 6 to age 15, and there are some kids new to the class, and other kids with years of experience  So it's normal to recognize the efforts of everyone according to age and experience. So here is how it is organized. Green Fleet : when your kid starts mastering the boat and do short races at your club, (s)he may be ready for doing a regatta in the Green Fleet. This is a regatta where advice can be provided by the coaches during the race. And it is typically a shorter course than the white/blue/red fleets. The importance in the green fleet is to participate. So there is typically no ranking announced at the prize giving. But when your kid starts performing well in the Green Fleet, it's then ... time to move on and join the White, Blue o
Read more

20 Reasons to Choose the Laser 4.7 (part 1)

Image
A frequently asked question is: « Why the Laser 4.7? » While the 4.7 rig is very well known in Europe, it is less so in some places elsewhere, particularly in the United States and Canada. The reality is that there are many reasons to choose this rig, which entails a sail of 4.7 square meters (1 square meter less than the Radial sail) and a slightly shorter mast. This rig is especially suitable for youth sailing. Let's take a look at the reasons - and there are many of them - why the Laser 4.7 is an excellent choice. Below are 10 first reasons. The second part of the article, presents 10 additional reasons to choose the Laser 4.7, and can be found at this link . Note: this article is available in French . Also, don't miss our upcoming webinar on Nov. 13 " The Laser 4.7 for Youth Sailing: All You Need to Know! " 1. A Considerable International Success The Laser 4.7, launched only twenty years ago, has achieved a considerable international success. For exampl
Read more

Laser or ILCA Dinghy: Which One is Fastest?

Image
A Mix of Lasers and ILCA Dinghies at the Laser 4.7 Worlds in Kingston "There's no such thing as bad publicity." -- Phineas T. Barnum The Laser is usually referred to as a single manufacturer one design boat (SMOD). But in reality, there are 3 builders (assuming LaserPerformance will be reinstated) and possibly more to come. The ILCA Dinghies are actual PSA Lasers, rebranded to circumvent the Laser trademarks. Boats from the third, Japanese, builder are much less common, except in Japan and South Korea. So, are the PSA and LaserPerformance boats the same? As indicated earlier, only one supplier of charter boats - PSA - was promoted by the Laser class at the Youth Worlds, so that many sailors did not sail by choice on the Aussie ILCA Dinghies. The fact that many of the top competitors used ILCA Dinghies for those championships is not necessarily an indicator that these are better boats. Most of the top international competitors were sailing the ILCA Dinghies
Read more