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I was just wundering wheither there was any where else to buy accessories from apart from the laser center, and a bit cheaper for example sails or battens
You should come along to the Nationals where you have the opportunity to vote for just what you want! However, at the moment you have no option but to go to the Laser Centre.
Elliot,
The Nationals is a great thing to do in any case. It is good to meet the fleet who are a friendly crowd. You will get some good sailing and if needed get tips on how to sail faster, where to get spares, etc.
A lot of the smaller bits can be bought from chandlers but Dave is right - the sails and battens can at present only be bought from the Laser Centre. The subject is due to be discussed at the AGM at the Nationals and there are moves afoot to seriously consider alternatives.
Cheers
bob
Unfortunately I can't make it to the Nationals due to my present location.....and it would cost me a bit of excess baggage getting my one piece mast over...anyway.....
Sounds like there's going to be a vote (or discussion at least) on the use of 'pattern' parts.
The big ticket items are sails....right
For what it's worth (and this relates only to experiences with Dart 18's in HK)the club I sail from have allowed 18's with non-original sails to race against the real thing. UK sails for example, though not that cheap, make very good copies. I suppose the argument is that copy sails may be faster....depends...there's one guy with a radial cut, which was pretty experimental and doesn't set that well, but the general copies I would not have said were and better or worse.
Some of the big boat classes (Mumm 30's etc.) have a restricted list of sail makers, who are well enough matched to make imperceptable differences in performance.
Maybe it's about time the 'one design' was relaxed enough to make it easier for people to start out....sails made in Thailand and China are as good as an original set.....the originals were designed with the technology and cloths of 20 years ago anyway.....look at the state of laser sails...and how much they cost. We as a class make the decision that sails can be 'open', relieving ourselves of our ties to the overpriced 'real thing'.
As for the other bits and pieces that go to make a dart...most are off the shelf from chandlers....so we're stuck with that anyway.
Just as I thought.........looking at the excercise that the 18 boys at Rutland carried out....how different would it be we have different sail makers. If we set up a proper measurement committee (i.e. every sail made is measured and stamped before use) we can police consistancy better than the 'original' manufacturers...I've always noticed that the 18's at our club have wildly varying tack positions, which of course I've put down to tired sails and downhaul tension...not so it seems. Also boats with apparently equal mast rake, downhaul and mainsheet tension (when viewed from behind up the beat....not too far behind in the 15 though!) all have varying leach twist.
And another thing.....is it right that you can't race with a compass....heard it from an 18 boy in our club....but what about a GPS?
Anyway...lets vote to get a resticted list of sailmakers, and re-define the measurement criteria to suit the classes needs.
This almost happened. When I was working at Cee Vee I was thinking about designing Cee Vee rudder stocks for catamarans. Currently they don't make catamaran stocks but if I had designed them then they would. If there was a vote to extend the range supliers for the boat bit then this would have been a great oppotunity for D15 sailors to get their hands on some of the best rudder stocks in the world. The dream went a bit sour when Cee Vee made me redundant with no thanks to British nuclear energy
But all is not lost. All is needed is for the vote to go through in favor of a more open parts policy on the rules and somebody to sell the design to Cee Vee. Alternativly you could build your own high quality rudder stocks.
As it stands at the moment they currently don't make stocks for cats but if the designs were sent to them and an order made then they might consider making them. They are small company in Bexhill and the former chief exec is a member of the local sailing club.
The Web url is http://www.ceevee.co.uk details in what they do are on the site.
Good luck,
Matt
