I must take issue with Tracy Usher’s note to district secretaries in the Summer ’09 issue of The Laser Sailor. First, the easy part: Tracy characterized gear that was not Laser class legal as “counterfeit”. Webster’s defines “counterfeit” in adjective form as “made in imitation of something else with intent to deceive”. In my humble experience, I have yet to see any vendor market a piece of “replica” gear with any intent to deceive! In fact they seem to go out of their way to note that said gear is NOT class legal and is meant for practice or local fleet use only! Nor have I ever received a piece of replica gear marked as class legal. In fact, they simply don’t need to do so to have a compelling value proposition for their customers. Given the extreme cost savings from the use of replica gear and the fact that most Laser sailors don’t compete at the championship level, the replica gear sells itself as is without need to deceive! So call it “replica” or “practice” if you wish but not the “C” word as that gear and the vendor’s intent is anything but deceptive! Tracy, I would ask that you either prove an “intent to deceive” or quit using the written word to both “position” the reader and malign folks who are helping to keep Laser sailing affordable! Not to mention shooting the same folks in the face who regularly spend a significant portion of their advertising budget in support of Laser Class publications and websites!!
Now for the REAL Issue! Why is it that a vendor like Intensity Sailing or I-Sails can make a profit on literally identical gear, particularly sails, spars and blades, at a price point that is anywhere from 50% to as little as 30% of the cost of class legal gear? If you want to rant about replica gear, then perhaps it’s time to make a true value proposition on the efficacy of the extra cost involved in purchasing class legal gear? I challenge you to spell out in detail, with the numbers laid out as well, why we should happily take as much as an almost $500US face shot when purchasing a sail from an approved vendor versus a virtually identical sail, made to class standards, by another vendor.
I can see that there could be some legitimate challenges to overcome when trying to deal with quality control, consistency, etc… Measuring at regattas numbering in the hundreds of boats could be daunting. All valid challenges to overcome when your class numbers in the hundreds of thousands of boats! Similarly, it could simply too expensive for a small operation like Intensity or I-Sails to absorb the cost of becoming a licensed builder. However, the alternative we live with is an artificial monopoly that stifles competition and therefore artificially increases costs of “major consumable” parts (sails, spars & blades) to a level that is two to three times what it should otherwise cost. In the end, the only people getting a class legal spar in their nether regions are those same people we are trying to protect, the sailors themselves!
So rather than ranting about how awful that spar feels back there or that all the class officers are somehow imitating a New Jersey politician and must somehow in bed with the vendors, I simply ask you to explain in clear and compelling fashion the reasoning behind this seeming conundrum so that we, the membership, can write our checks with if not a smile on our faces then at least an intact backside so that we are not faced with adding the cost of both class legal gear and a multiple cases of Depends to our sailing budgets year after year!!
Sincerely,
Leon Garber, Laser #168317
Now for the REAL Issue! Why is it that a vendor like Intensity Sailing or I-Sails can make a profit on literally identical gear, particularly sails, spars and blades, at a price point that is anywhere from 50% to as little as 30% of the cost of class legal gear? If you want to rant about replica gear, then perhaps it’s time to make a true value proposition on the efficacy of the extra cost involved in purchasing class legal gear? I challenge you to spell out in detail, with the numbers laid out as well, why we should happily take as much as an almost $500US face shot when purchasing a sail from an approved vendor versus a virtually identical sail, made to class standards, by another vendor.
I can see that there could be some legitimate challenges to overcome when trying to deal with quality control, consistency, etc… Measuring at regattas numbering in the hundreds of boats could be daunting. All valid challenges to overcome when your class numbers in the hundreds of thousands of boats! Similarly, it could simply too expensive for a small operation like Intensity or I-Sails to absorb the cost of becoming a licensed builder. However, the alternative we live with is an artificial monopoly that stifles competition and therefore artificially increases costs of “major consumable” parts (sails, spars & blades) to a level that is two to three times what it should otherwise cost. In the end, the only people getting a class legal spar in their nether regions are those same people we are trying to protect, the sailors themselves!
So rather than ranting about how awful that spar feels back there or that all the class officers are somehow imitating a New Jersey politician and must somehow in bed with the vendors, I simply ask you to explain in clear and compelling fashion the reasoning behind this seeming conundrum so that we, the membership, can write our checks with if not a smile on our faces then at least an intact backside so that we are not faced with adding the cost of both class legal gear and a multiple cases of Depends to our sailing budgets year after year!!
Sincerely,
Leon Garber, Laser #168317