JuanCH
Member
Hi all Ive heard that a new Standard sail is in the works and a new carbon top section ?? That´s gonna be expensive man!! Will those changes come into action soon??.
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That's not how the 'system' works, fortunately; please read up on how ILCA approves changes.yeah or the carbon mast top section will not be class aproved until enough people have it that its mandatory for a race
I mailed the tech dept of the international laserclass. This is their answer: We are awaiting approval from some of the members of the Laser agreement to approve its release. ILCA have done everything to encourage cooperation on this and we are hopeful that agreement will be reached soon. Having said that, it is difficult to predict when that will occur. (mailed September, 16)
So we all have to be patient. My guess: after the Olympics.
If they bring in a carbon top section surely that defeats the point of it being a one design class, because not everyone will be able to afford that making it unfair ?
FYI.. some more info and feedback surfacing about the new sail and composite top section. Read the blog post (about midway down the page)
http://www.claysails.com/node/392
When this top section becomes approved, you will no longer see people trying to straighten their mast after a windy day
Reading that article is looks like the 'radial cut' full size sail is the one that has been taken forward. I am pleased as the North 'effort' looked like someone had done it in their tea break and just made the exisiting panels smaller.
The change to a heavier cloth is interesting, you may need a more flxible rig to compensate for this.
I don't believe the carbon top section is coming, but the radial cut standard sail is, buy that shit, its gonna be fast!
COMMON SENSESpeculation!
Reading that article is looks like the 'radial cut' full size sail is the one that has been taken forward. I am pleased as the North 'effort' looked like someone had done it in their tea break and just made the exisiting panels smaller.
The change to a heavier cloth is interesting, you may need a more flxible rig to compensate for this.
Time will tell.
Whatever happens there will be a period of short term pain as the new sails (and top section) are introduced, this is unavoidable but the class will br stronger for it and, as long as the new sail is as good as it is reputed to be and priced correctly, then the debate for 'replica' or 'training' sails will be put to bed.
I am not so sure on the composite top section though, I would need to see more details. Composite implies that it may not be carbon. I am pretty sure they are still having breakage issues though. You will probably find that most bent top sections have been caused by a heavy capsize or 3 and not as a result of pulling the controls on too hard.
I recently 'end for ended' my top section (after straightening it Fred) and have used it in some pretty heavy weather and it has stayed straight so perhaps then 'bendy' top sections are more as a result of the tube not being quite the right specification? The comments about bent top section do tend to come more from the NA side of things than the UK or Australian. Perhaps others from those areas would care to comment?
Jeffers, I can't keep a top section straight for more than a days sailing at the moment! Bottom sections (radial) are not much better, I seem to get a few months out of them tops before they bend.
The top sections I've had recently just seem really weak. It doesn't have to be particularly windy for them to bend. At the moment I straighten my mast (I have 2 top sections at present, one has been end for ended, one hasn't yet) before every sail and its bent after every sail.
Australia has significant problems with radial bottom sections bending (less so since we started importing European sections), but typically most top sections don't bend during their life times unless it's a bad batch. It seems the north America / Europe has problems with top sections but less so the radial bottom sections. Whilst the spares are within tolerance it's a case that some are at the top end of the tolerance and others at the bottom end. It could be a case that those tolerances need to be re-specified or tightened, so that no-one world world wide has issues.
Australia has significant problems with radial bottom sections bending (less so since we started importing European sections), but typically most top sections don't bend during their life times unless it's a bad batch. It seems the north America / Europe has problems with top sections but less so the radial bottom sections. Whilst the spares are within tolerance it's a case that some are at the top end of the tolerance and others at the bottom end. It could be a case that those tolerances need to be re-specified or tightened, so that no-one world world wide has issues.
There are some advantages of a composite top mast section and a new radial cut sail that are not necessarily performance related.
- We don't know the weight of the experimental composite top section, but if it is lighter, the righting moment will be increased. My guess though is they will be trying to make it the same weight as the aluminium section, so there will be no righting moment advantage.
Again, the radial cut standard sail has been cut so that it's performance matches the existing the standard sail, as they don't want to make the current sail obsolete.
Isn't the complaint about the current sail that it immediately becomes obsolete after a few days of stiff breeze? In other words, if the new radial sail is the same in performance as the current sail when new, it shouldn't really change anything except allow people to keep their sails longer (for competitive purposes).