JimC
Not actually an anarchist.
Sailing should be exciting and sailing politics should be dull. If its the other way round you have problems.
Lasers - Applying a Blow Torch
- Thread starter Otterbox
- Start date
tillerman
Super Anarchist
Class administration should be dull. We should elect class leaders who manage the class affairs with a healthy mix of vision and competence, and everything runs smoothly.
But when things go wrong, and the builder doesn't pay the designer, and the class leadership tries to change a class rule to deal with the issue, and the designer sues the builder and the class, it's natural that we sailors have strong opinions on the best way forward, and that some of us want a place to argue for our views. And some sailors get into the minutiae of the legal language in contracts and class rules, and most of them have no idea what they are talking about, so other sailors feel compelled to correct all their errors, and then the people who play at being lawyers on the internet get upset and it all gets personal........etc. and none of the above makes any of us sail any faster so why do we bother?
Last edited:
Wess
Super Anarchist
ILCA leadership still sucks!
tillerman
Super Anarchist
On the contrary, ILCA leadership have done a superb job. They managed to keep the Laser in the Olympics even though the RS Aero won the Trials in a landslide. They have managed to find a way forward when the old builder stopped co-operating with the class and now have approved builders all over the world. They even found a way around losing the rights to use the Laser trademark when the old builder got fired. And now they have developed a new constitution to catch up with all the changes in recent years and provide more fair representation on the World Council.
ILCA leadership still sucks!
Gouvernail
Lottsa people don’t know I’m famous
tillerman
Super Anarchist
There is no truth in the rumor that this song is about the Kirby lawsuits...
Bill5
Right now
Welcome back, Wess! I missed correcting you on every post! I see T-man beat me to the punch.
ILCA leadership still sucks!
Wavedancer II
Anarchist
- 740
- 195
I agree with Tillerman that the current ILCA leadership has guided the average Laser/ILCA sailor through some very rough weather.
Gouvernail
Lottsa people don’t know I’m famous
Not sure what you mean by that.
I will agree the ILCA management has successfully caused a transition in its role from attempting to control a game played in a certain kind of sailing toy to controlling the manufacture of the toys used in the games.
Bill5
Right now
Kind of. ILCA were put in a difficult position thanks to a nightmare non-sailor owned manufacturer who didn’t give a shit about the class and was dragging it down into oblivion. So ILCA punted them and salvaged the class by opening the door for multiple builders.
Wess
Super Anarchist
Naw, they still suck.
Bill5
Right now
The class is growing and prospering with fantastic world championships for all 3 rigs. Stronger than ever! All while feeding other classes with sailors who wanted a different experience. Perfect result!
Bored Stiff
Member
This is the most accurate and pertinent point in nearly 5,000 posts. I am uncomfortable with ILCA management’s new self-defined scope and the way they went about this coup. The argument that it is for the greater good is not justifiable, after all even Hitler made the trains run on time. Or, to step back from Godwin’s law, it is a little reminiscent of the renaming of JK Rowling’s Quidditch to Quadball.
Gouvernail
Lottsa people don’t know I’m famous
You do realize the class once had over 7000 members in North America??
CORK regularly saw over 400 boats with Lasers, Radials, and Laser >> as recently as shortly after Vanguard discontinued the Laser >>
But…. After twenty years of north American decline ( largely due to the class total inability to find a way to team up with its only toy supplier ) new toys are finally trickling into North America and being d sold in almost the same numbers as individual dealers like Tackle Shack sold boats in the nineties.
If We can get a well funded builder who eagerly supports dealers and the resulting game, the Laser game still has a fantastic root system of Geezers.
tillerman
Super Anarchist
This is the most accurate and pertinent point in nearly 5,000 posts. Give up the iconic name in order to separate the game from an entity that had become toxic to the game
Gouvernail
Lottsa people don’t know I’m famous
His seems like a good place to drop this question:
The plug fell out of the top end of my new black plastic top section this evening.
No idea shy it took well over two years as it slides in and out with no noticeable resistance.
Is there supposed to be a rivet??
The plug fell out of the top end of my new black plastic top section this evening.
No idea shy it took well over two years as it slides in and out with no noticeable resistance.
Is there supposed to be a rivet??
WestCoast
Super Anarchist
Message received, help is on the way.
Foredeck Shuffle
More of a Stoic Cynic, Anarchy Sounds Exhausting
Never saw anyone put that so bluntly. Smells of corruption. If the IOC doesn't have its hand in your pockets, you must be pushing them into theirs, full of cash.
tillerman
Super Anarchist
I was certainly not suggesting corruption. I listened online to the whole of the World Sailing meeting where the decision to keep the Laser in the Olympics was made. It was clear that many small World Sailing nations had Laser youth/development programs aimed at qualifying for the Olympics and felt that making a wholesale switch of those programs to the RS Aero was too costly a step for them.
Actually I don't know for sure if ILCA did any lobbying to keep the Laser in the Olympics for another 8 years, but I am giving them the credit for doing so anyway.
