Thanks to Tim Zimmerman for an excellent article over on the Sailing World website about The Great Laser Practice-Sail Brouhaha. Apparently some obscure blogger has been writing about this issue lately on his obscure little blog and Tim even links to a few of the obscure old geezer blogger's posts. (None of these links seem to work properly right now but I have reported it so I assume it will be fixed some time soon, or at least before North and Hyde start selling Laser sails at the same price as Intensity and APS.)
Before you ask what today's photo has to do with Laser sails... I have no idea. I found it on a Google Image search for Brouhaha and I thought Joe would like it. Apparently there has been a Boob Brouhaha too.
14 comments:
My kind of post. Well done!
Thought you would like it! I know how interested you are in Laser class rules.
I've been trying to sort out just which is more significant - the sail brouhaha or the boob brouhaha - and I realize both require further study.
There are parallels, of course. Both issues hinge upon what is to be considered class legal, and how that is to be determined. Both situations have long demanded a simple way to distinguish what is authentic from what is not.
The Laser solution of displaying a simple authentication button may not work for the other situation, though.
And without the button, both situations demand closer analysis and measurement - often time-consuming, but necessary.
The irony is, of course, that with age, what is authentic sags, loses shape, and becomes less competitive, while the fakes have a much longer useful life.
OMG! Well done OD. I never even thought of those similarities.
I agree with you. The whole topic requires much more exploration and study.
It's quite amazing that those straps can maintain their integrity in response to such prodigious "natural" force.
Given that I'm not a sailor, I am willing to fall on my sword and volunteer for the tedious and time consuming business of conducting the exacting measurements to ensure class legality in the "other situation."
Where do I report to examine the contestants?
Mojo, I fear you may be too late. That Boob Brouhaha article was from March last year and was about a casting call for a movie to be shot last summer in Hawaii. However if you want to examine the end-product the movie is due for release in May of this year. It will be the fourth release in the Pirates of the Caribbean series - Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
O Docker said "Button"!
Yeah, Button....Button!!!
Just to get serious again for one moment. It's not just the Laser class that is suffering a Brouhaha over sails at the moment.
There is an extremely lively (verging on fisty cuffs) debate going on here in good old blighty. A Merlin Rocket used an experimental sail during a major Winter handicap series in the UK.
http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7556&title=when-is-a-merlin-not-a-merlin
The crew concerned have just announced their retirement from the series.
Interesting Tim.
And that's exactly the kind of thing that the Laser class is trying to avoid. There is really no argument about what is a legal class Laser sail. It's made by North or Hyde and has an official sail button. Everyone knows anything else is not a legal Laser sail.
We don't need sail measurement. We don't need confusing debates about the meaning of the rules. We are not a development class, or a restricted class; we are a strict one-design class.
It's also important not to lose sight of the fact that people are using replica sails in Laser races principally because they are cheaper and more durable, not because they are faster. But then a new, crisp replica sail is faster than a worn-out old legal sail...
She's got a balcony you could do Shakespeare from.
Why do you think they called it the Globe Theatre?
I say:
1. One-design sails for everyone under 60.
2. Open sails for everyone over 60.
Anyone against that would have to be a Boob.
Good idea Doc. But it's often the kids at the club who want to buy replica sails because they can't afford the legal ones.
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