Re: Boats names on sails

["Daniel Brown" <convict_at_large (at) yahoo.com>]

Hi Fred,

1. Advertising Rules do not apply as its the name of the boat.
2. It would need to be voted in then.
3. Would a decal have that big an effect on sail shape? surely it would only
cause concern if it was not properly applied.  I mean country flags and
initials are used on the Olympic lasers so surely it would be ok to use it
on private it ones.
4. Why hide on the start line? there can't be any good reasons to hide...

I'd love to see boat names on the sails as I believe it makes it allot more
interesting for the spectators (general public) to watch "Glasgow kiss" vs.
"Girl Crazy" rather than Unicorn No 1245 vs. laser No. 125092 etc..

As it would make identifying boats allot easier and would allow people to
spectator and follow "their" boats progress better not to mention it would
make things allot easier for the officials and sailors as it would allow
them to identify boats quicker.  In the case of having two boats with the
same name in the same class the boats will still have different numbers on
their sails so they could still be told apart.

Even the ISAF's President seems to dislike the fad for clear sails and small
flags at the Olympics which made identifying boats difficult for the public
we said in last months Yachts & Yachting:

    "Yeah, they'd be good to look at. I think the boards are just foolish to
have these clear sails- you can't see them, so board sailing
    is boring to watch. You've no idea who's in what place.  What the 49ers
did was that they really got everybody off there behinds.
    The Solings where so worried, so they did something, and the 470 did
something, so now we've got to make it even... I mean, I don't
    like white boats."
                            Paul Henderson President ISAF in Yachts &
Yachting December 8th 2000

I find that the above comment makes allot of sense and I believe that laser
sailing in general could be made a more public spectacle by the use of boat
names on sails to make it easier for people to pick out individual boats in
a pack of identical dinghies.  To use sail numbers is just too hard
especially now that sail numbers are getting so big with the number of
lasers now in existence.  I personally find it allot easier to read words
from a sail of a moving dinghy at any distance than to try and read a 6
digit sail number!

Cheers,

Daniel


-----Original Message-----
From: Keeldude@aol.com [mailto:Keeldude (at) aol.com]
Sent: 28 December 2000 18:37
To: Daniel@therealitydysfunction.com; laser@laser.org
Subject: Re: Boat names on sails


In a message dated 12/28/00 8:57:07 AM Central Standard Time,
convict_at_large@yahoo.com writes:



what the rules are on putting your boat name on your
sail?


1. There is a consideration with advertising. It cannot be large and
commercial, but otherwise size is not an issue.
2.  The Laser rules do not allow anything unless it is written in the Laser
rules.  So, by the same logic that prevents draft stripes, the class would
have to vote in a rule  to allow it.
3. If we did write such a rule we would have to consider the effect on the
sail shape.  Example:  As North American Measurer I have not been allowing
big stick on  advertisements that also reinforce the leech of the sail.
4.  The sailors who love to hide on the starting line aren't likely to try
to
win the" most conspicuous name award."  The only reason a sailor would want
to hide is to be able to be over and not get caught.


But...I like the idea of boat names on sails just because it would be fun
and
add to the game.  So, maybe it is time to propose a rule to allow it.

Fred Schroth
Executive Secretary
North American Laser Class
5205 Beacon Drive
Austin, Texas 78734
NA Laser Website www.laser.org
Join the class and come sail with us

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