Xmas Lasers - questionable marketing

Interesting (to put it mildly) offer from the official UK dealer for LP: http://www.sailboats.co.uk/festive-red-coloured-christmas-lasers

Check out some of the "Details"...
> Lighter weight hull
> Optimum mast rake - decided by the top sailors
> Selden spars

What is going on? Is this a joke? (I hope it is.)

(Might someone in the UK call "Dan" and ask...?)

 

Looks to me like a dealer is cherry-picking hulls.

 

Or the builder is building to tighter tolerances.

 

Either way, the ILCA / UKLA should be all over it like a bad rash. Even if the differences are perceived, then it's still bad for the class. I'm hoping the ILCA gets real vocal about this.

 

The ad is below.

Sailboats and LP are owned by the same person I am told by a reliable source....go figure!

 

Sailboats' website says they're still owned by their founders, Tony and Antony Lincoln.

 

I am told companies house tells a different story. If I had the time and inclination I would look it up myself. As I said this came from a reliable source, does not mean it is accurate though.

It is marketing bull worthy of another major UK dinghy company though.

 

"Sailboats Limited" shows as recently dissolved.
According to the registration of sailboats.co.uk, the domain name is owned by: "A.T Lincoln & A.W Lincoln t/a Northampton Sail Boats". "Northampton Sailboats Limited". was dissolved in 1991.

So it looks like the business is owned by the two brothers individually, but perhaps the records don't tell the whole story. Northampton Sailboats used to be an awesome store for dinghy equipment -- especially for anyone sailing in the east Midlands.

 

I can't find the same add with description on the sailboats.co.uk website. The pages and descriptions on the website seem fine. Reading the yachts and yachting forum ( http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/fo...ID=1376566&title=nice-new-laser-for-christmas ) it sound like the image came from a e-mail sent out by sailboats.co.uk.

I do think the lighter weight hull and mast rack stuff do go against the one design ideal. Wonder if anybody who received this e-mail will forward to ILCA / UKLA.

There always has to be tolerances, so technically if you go down to the nth degree each boat is different, BUT using these tolerances to sell one boat over another boat - seems wrong.

 

They've deleted all the controversial stuff now! And added, "Note: This is the correct promotion details. All Lasers are strict One Design, produced to one exacting specification worldwide!"

Interesting. What was this all about?

 

I just wonder if someone was having a laugh at our expense.

 

Not everyone gets British humour.

 

Sailboats are now saying they messed up the advertising texts for the Xmas Laser and the Z420: http://www.sailboats.co.uk/media/es...=emailCampaign&utm_medium=email&utm_content= 

Not convincing - isn't mast rake adjustable in 420s of all types? Is the Z420 really marketed in Britain- isn't it developed exclusively for US college sailing? And what happened to "Selden spars"?

 

Glad to know they're still making the same ol' crappy hulls. However I must admit, the red hull looks pretty sweet.

 

LP(EU) actually intends to import the Z420 Omega built by LP(NA), and you can probably buy one from Sailboats in the foreseeable future. The Omega is apparently some 7 kg lighter than the "regular" Z420 (but still more than 10 kg heavier than the International 420). However, LP doesn't mention anything about mast rake... except it's a "control led to the helm": http://shopeu.laserperformance.com/420-omega/

Sailboats on the other hand features the "optimum rake" nonsense on its Z420 page in boldface: http://www.sailboats.co.uk/laserperformance-420-omega-13705

Conclusion (I think): this whole thing was some stupid Sailboats inside joke which got out of hand and which they now try to get rid of by sticking its literal contents on to another boat they're selling.

Nothing significant. Hopefully.

 

By the way, here is what the "optimal mast rake" looks like:

 

Is that boat in the background 212699? If so, it seems that there are more than expected new Lasers being built.

 

Yes, and the boat with the ultimately optimum rake is 212701. The largest numbers in recent international regattas have been in the 207000s. Also, there's no national code "SP". And the background looks like Greenland.

Weird picture. Torrid, where is it from?

 

Just something I found with an image search. I had to do a little digging, but you seem to have a good eye. It is from an event called the "Grand Bank Cup". Best I can tell, it is Newfoundland.