That and rub the sailors noses in poop with
ie We charge you the sailor extra $$$ on your boat so that we can pay ourselves $$$ to continue to operate independently of and in opposition to the Class Association that is run by & for you the sailor.
Well now, that’s not true. Maybe ILCA wanted LPE to pay their inspection expenses (from Texas) and LPE declined. Maybe the proposed date was inconvenient. Maybe the ILCA rep didn’t have the necessary PPE to get to the factory floor. Maybe the shop was full of commercially sensitive ARC rigs and ILCA were wanting to spy. Who knows?
None of what sosoomi said would be in any way remarkable if ILCA and lpe had a decent functional relationship.
i try not to paint anyone as incompetent or complacent as a default argument about their actions. this stuff is always more complicated than it appears on the surface. While people see LP as making counterintuitive or inexplicable choices, they may have a very good reason for doing such in terms of their own business priorities. I'm not defending LPs actions - they have made things very difficult for laser sailors, issues which seem to have resolved (somewhat) lately.
What was the Easter Islander saying, or thinking, while he chopped down the last tree?
You seem to be involved with the Laser at a club and grass roots level so your comment is interesting to me. The Laser was always my favorite boat to race. So accessible, pure and simple. But the builders, and class is focused more on the high level sailors and not the club/grass roots. I don't mean that as a criticism. The class should represent its dues paying members and the numbers clearly tell a story that grass roots and club level sailors are not there (joining ILCA). Now I don't know which came first, the chicken or the egg... ie if club sailors don't join because the class focus is at sailors above them or if the focus is there because club level sailors never joined in large numbers (I suspect this). All that said if you take away the Olympics the class would be forced to focus more at the club and grass roots level and that might be good. Or not; YMMV!!
My point was that from an Olympics standpoint, it would make sense to have the most accessible boat be the Olympic boat. This falls within the general understanding of Olympic Spirit, which might be defined as "The important thing is not to win, but to take part". In that sense, the more opportunity you have for people to get to the Olympics, the better.
And you actually believe that the members of the IOC believe this? Their actual credo is more akin to, "Money Talks, Bullshit Walks".
Nowhere in there did I assert what I think the IOC believes. I said what I thought regarding the Olympic equipment selection. What the IOC values will be evident when they make their choice. I thought it was pretty clear that it was my opinion on the matter, not what I think the IOC believes.
You're assuming a rational explanation. Nothing I've read or heard about LPE makes me think you should expect that. :-(
LP has granted ILCA certain rights to use the Laser Trademark for its activities pursuant to an intellectual property license dated February 1998 (the “1998 Agreement”). LP has been seeking a renewal of the 1998 Agreement which expires after multiple extensions on 31 August 2019. ILCA has steadfastly refused to enter into a renewal agreement of like substance and has refused to have any meetings with LP on the matter. LP refused to have ILCA undertake an inspection of LP’s facilities five months before expiry of 1998 Agreement and after three years of ILCA refusing to renew its license under the 1998 Agreement. LP does not and has not refused inspection of its manufacturing facility or its products by other legitimate regulatory bodies. Indeed, LP has formally requested World Sailing to inspect LP’s facility given that they are the ultimate authority for compliance and the issuance of the boats’ plaques. ILCA has not shared any of this with the sailors nor have they proposed how it would operate without a valid license from LP after August 2019. ILCA is not legally able to seek new manufacturers for Laser products in LP territory without LP’s consent. LP territory covers the world excluding Australia, New Zealand (PSA) and Japan, Korea (PSJ). This is a simple matter of ownership of intellectual property and LP will enforce against any party who attempts to violate LP’s intellectual property rights. ILCA can indeed appoint new builders in Performance Sailcraft Australia (PSA) and Performance Sailcraft Japan (PSJ) limited territory; however, neither of them can supply boats into LP territory without LP’s consent. PSA has tried in the past to import illegally into LP territory by a variety of schemes. LP has successfully enforced its property rights against PSA and will continue to enforce its rights against PSA and any collaborating dealers or persons. The last of such legal action was in Belgium and it was adjudicated in favor of LP with the dealer involved filing for bankruptcy to avoid payment of award pursuant to the court judgment. PSA is unable to supply LP’s output even if they could legally sell into LP territories. Indeed, the last time PSA agreed to support a class event – also a World event – was the Youth Worlds 2016 in New Zealand with 105 boats which ended up in PSA withdrawing its support three months before the event. PSA’s withdrawal meant cancellation of the event except for WS reaching out to LP to step in both to save the event and to prevent the adverse effects a major cancellation impacting the Olympics standing of Laser. The 2024 Olympic is in Paris, France – an LP territory and LP can be the only authorized supplier of Laser boats at such event. ILCA decertifying the most established and the original manufacturer of Laser sailboats will not end the supply of LP Lasers to our markets. However, it will signal to the Olympic authorities that the most popular Olympic sailing event has poor governance and leadership, leading to unpredictable supply. LP, in partnership with its outstanding dealership network, has consistently shown that it is the only supplier that can consistently provide support to events and sailors at a global level.It's also a fairly common reason to repudiate a manufacturing contracts.
One wonders if LPE were trying to pull a similar stunt on the ILCA. I don't speak lawyerese, but the phrase "agreement of like substance" doesn't seem to me to quite mean "identical to the previous agreement".
It's hard to feel that LP has any credibility since they have all but destroyed the Laser class in the US. What retailers are left, and they've diminished greatly because LP wants to go direct to the consumer, can't get parts from the supplier because LP doesn't pay their bills. When I talked to somebody in the know here in the US it sounded like LP was down to one employee. There was some surprise as to who that person was and the position that they had found themself. I don't know how the Sunfish class thinks that they can work with this format. I applaud the decision to leave LP. I work on a lot of Lasers to promote our fleet and I have had to go to "practice parts" too many times because you can't get the "legal" parts. Quite literally, there would be no "practice part" industry if it wasn't for the missteps of LP.
Thanks for posting that VWAP. That is one hell of a statement. This is gonna be messy.LASERPERFORMANCE RESPONSE TO ILCA
STATEMENT OF 27 MARCH 2019 2 April 2019
LASERPERFORMANCE (“LP”) finds the recent events deplorable as well as potentially catastrophic for the Laser sailors and the class organization as configured today. It is important to know the background to the current dispute.
The falsehoods and misrepresentations contained in the official ILCA announcement are disturbing since they reflect on the class organization and bear on the credibility of governance of the class.
LP makes the following statements and responds to ILCA’s misleading statements:
LP proposes the following to prevent the implosion of the Laser class organization:
A. ILCA sign the renewal agreement to the 1998 Agreement in order to continue to use the granted trademark rights.
B. ILCA move back to Europe where 75% of Laser sailors live and sail.
C. ILCA appoint a professional executive team to run the class operations paid for by increased plaque fees charged to the builders.
LASERPERFORMANCE
2 April 2019
[email protected]
