You give the impression of somebody willfully misinterpreting and spinning other people's statements in order to discredit their opinion. What Gouvernail said and what many here are saying is perfectly reasonable and not at all what you make of it. It's not about allowing one sailmaker for each country, not about changing the class rules to define specs only and allowing any sailmaker or anything the like. It's only about one slightly different dacron design - nobody here suggested kevlar or mylar or the like - with a decent quality for a reasonable price by one or a few class approved sail makers. That's all. No need to paint it black and predict the end of the Laser class as we know it. The new control lines might prove to be a greater perfomance boost than the new sail design.
I can't see why we would need more time and effort for measuring boats than we need presently either. LP would simply have to buy a different sail, maybe from different sail makers than the present suppliers. Or, if LP cannot meet the needs of the class, we could buy directly from one sail maker who would guarantee sustained and equal quality.
Most of us worldwide would probably have to pay something for shipping - just like we are paying for shipping and other distribution costs right now when buying a class legal sail from LP and it's affiliates. Those costs are included in the price of very many consumer goods presently. You pay for shipping costs when you buy pretty much any T-shirt, sock or tie worldwide. Most consumer products are made in Asia, India or Central America.
If Intensity can make a profit by making a similar and more durable sail that sells for 200 Dollars roughly, plus extras, there's a lot one can afford to pay for shipping until you reach even half of the price of the current official sail.
I don't think I'm misrepresenting Gouvernail's comments. I think you are just misunderstanding what I've said, so I'll repeat in a different manner.
I do not see why if we're opening up the sail market, why one company should be given a monopoly to supply "replica" sails, particularly as they are not the manufacturer and do not have a supply chain outside North America. There are already it seems at least 10 different suppliers of replica sails and more suppliers are likely if there is any official or unofficial opening up of the sail market.
Setting up a distribution network and getting sails manufactured in China and other countries is pretty simple. There is no reason why anyone in any country can't do it. If this was to occur, then companies like Intensity would be likely to be unable to compete with local suppliers, who can ship locally for free, compared to costs of shipping internationally, this is partially why Rooster have offices in Australia and New Zealand who distribute Rooster Products.
Most people realise that these sails are being manufactured in China and not by the companies supplying them. There is nothing that prevents the Chinese directly supplying these sails over the internet and cutting Intensity, APC, Rooster, i Sails, Insails, Bitz, MSB, Dynamic Sails et al out of the market, supplying sails for probably for significantly less than the existing companies are charging.
So what happens when you get to a regatta and there are 20 or 50 different replica sails, most from brands you've never seen or heard of? Either you have to measure them or force people to use only replica sails from brands you recognise.