Laser Class Dumps Builder LaserPerformance

Update: LaserPerformance, or as I prefer to think of them, Lazy Performance, is not going quietly. Here’s their apparent response to the ILCA terminating the contract: “ILCA statements are falsehoods and defamatory. We will fully protect and enforce our intellectual rights property, including Laser intellectual property. ILCA offices, now located in Austin, Texas, USA, should be moved back to the UK or EU, where over 75% of active Laser class members and sailors reside, managed by a full-time professional team paid for by the builders through increased plaque fees. LaserPerformance is proud and determined to continue to support Laser sailors and community around the world.”

Their suggestion that the ILCA offices be financed by the builders is as transparent as Trump lies. They seem to want full product control and want to marginalize the sailors and the association. It appears they enjoy fighting with Laser sailors a lot more than buckling down and just building a good boat. I’ve said it before, the Laser has a habit of surviving even if it appears dead. I anticipate this will be no different.

Shhhh. Listen very carefully and you’ll hear the sound of carbon fiber tiller extensions tapping lightly on fiberglass decks, making that reassuringly hollow sound the Laser hull makes when used as a drum. It’s the sound of happy Laser sailors, kind of like clapping.

The International Laser Class Association (ILCA) just told Laser Performance Europe (LPE) that it can no longer build Lasers. This decision ostensibly came because LPE did not allow a factory inspection. In reality, this was a long time coming. In fact, LP has stymied inspections for several years.

Here’s the relevant press release from the ILCA.

(Full disclosure, I’m the ILCA District Secretary for D-22 (WA, MT, OR, ID) I also own an LP built Laser that literally came apart at the seams. It’s fixed now and sails just fine.)

I believe it when ILCA class president Tracy Usher tells me it was about the contractual inspection, but in the meantime here are some of the things leading up to the ILCA’s move.

First and foremost, parts were becoming scarce. Dealers were having a hard time keeping vital parts in stock, or finding them at all. There’s not much to break on a Laser, but everything is vital. Rumor has it suppliers weren’t getting paid.

There were quality issues. Serious competitors tended to go for the Aussie-built (non-LP) boats. It’s a bit like 1984 – some Lasers were “more equal” than others. To many of us who’ve sailed Lasers for decades, we didn’t give this too much thought; there always seemed to be ebbs and flows in quality, and the differences weren’t so great as to make a huge difference for the casual racer.

But the most public LP atrocity, and one that stabbed the heart of Laser sailors, was the feud with designer Bruce Kirby. LP decided it just wasn’t going to pay Kirby for the design any more. The resultant court battle legally allowed them to do this. But the entire sport will always owe a debt of gratitude to Bruce Kirby, Ian Bruce and Hans Fogh for coming up with the boat that has put so many people on (and in!) the water. Most of us associate the Laser with racing, but I’d venture they’ve been sailed as much just for fun.

Anyway – going after Kirby the way they did was going after something sacred. It showed zero respect for the sailors, the class and its history.

More recently, Julian Bethwaite and the class were developing, with LP’s knowledge, a new rig called the C5. Other rigs were in the works. The development wasn’t fast enough for LP, so they came up with the ARC rigs in the last few months and leapfrogged the ILCA’s 4-year development. They put out a video and social media blitz that basically screamed out to the world – “Hey, look at what WE did. Don’t look at what the class is doing.” It muddied the waters for the future of the class, and it happened right before the singlehanded Olympic Boat trials so anybody paying attention could see some other really fine boats without that kind of class/builder confusion.

LP was the tail trying to wag the dog. They also undermined the Sunfish class, trying to replace the existing International Sunfish Class Association with its own International Sunfish Class Organization. The ILCA had to be aware of this apparently calculated plan to marginalize an existing class structure.

It comes down to this. The sailors are taking back control of the Laser, wresting it from the grip of a company that probably shouldn’t even be building strollers. They never appreciated what they had, namely a strong class and a history. They saw it simply as a product to squeeze as much short-term profit from as it could. LP did just enough to keep the Laser in the World Sailing, Olympic and national authority good graces.

That’s not to say the ILCA can’t learn from all this. If a manufacturer isn’t doing the job, don’t wait – find one that can. You’re the dog and they’re the tail. Secondly – this debacle has changed the seascape entirely. The Laser is a great boat, but it’s certainly no longer the one and only any more. It’s not as fast as the RS Aero, Devoti or Melges, but there’s a lot going for it already.

All the changes over the years – new hardware, new sail cloth and design, new boards, new top section have made the boat better. The sailors accepted them, and the boat is better than ever. We can promote the boat with renewed energy. And if there are changes forthcoming, we can move forward with confidence.

The Laser may or may not be the Olympic class for 2024 and beyond. But with the class back in control, I have confidence there will be great Laser racing for the foreseeable future.

This also screams loudly to builders of one design boats. You may make the money off this game, but it’s in your interest to work with the dog, not try to wag it.