More Video Tips - Taking Videos While Sailing

By Doug

Tillerman has asked for more tips when taking videos while sailing, so here are two more.

When I was coaching last year at Cabarete, I took videos of my students so they would have something to enjoy after they returned home. I used a Kodak PlaySport and held it in my right hand while holding the main sheet and tiller with my left - something that is easy to do on starboard tack and harder to do on port. In light air this is pretty simple, but it's difficult to see the little screen in the sunlight. So, my first tip when taking hand-held videos is practicing pointing and shooting without looking at the camera.

Sailing videos can be pretty boring and it's best to be close to the action. So, at 1:30 in this video you can see my second tip - learn to sail close to another boat, with your wrong hand, facing backwards, going down waves. What could be simpler?

LaserPerformance United Unions

by Pam

After my Kirby Sailboat post, I ended up talking with Bruce Kirby and also with the ILCA. Bruce pointed left and the ILCA pointed right but they weren’t pointing at each other or even at the exact same thing.  But to my surprise, they were more in alignment with each other than I would have thought.  Performance Sailcraft Australia seems to be getting along with everyone.  LaserPerformance (“LP” for short), however, doesn’t appear to be aligned with anyone except its sister company, Maclaren.  Together they appear to be posturing to sweep the table and take over everything associated with the Laser.  Someone, please tell me I’m wrong.

First, the ILCA told us this:  LPE informed the ILCA that it intends to form its own “Laser” class.

Then, LP announced its new unions:  The objective of LaserPerformance United and its unions is to support and unite the global sailing community.

So far, we haven’t been given any explanation from LP as to what this really means.  Doesn’t this sound familiar?  We’re being encouraged to do something and not being given enough information to make an intelligent decision.  Well, I’m not falling for that twice.

So, I started trying to learn more about LP and Maclaren and it somehow left me feeling like I needed to do some laundry.  I talked with a couple of FBI agents that came to my house (for another matter) and I described the seemingly complicated business structures that I had found and they assured me that many businesses with these types of complicated structures are completely legitimate ... and some are not.

In the end, I had more questions than answers and as a result, I've decided that I won’t be abandoning the ILCA and joining any LP union without alot more disclosure.

Here, is a summary of my findings, which I hope leaves you with questions of your own.

LP/Maclaren Connection

So what does Maclaren (baby stroller manufacturer) have to do with LP (sailboat manufacturer)?  LP says they are part of the same business group.  What is commonly understood is that both companies are ultimately owned by Farzad Rastegar, an Iranian born venture capitalist who resides in Connecticut.  Virtually all of the Rastegar entities that I could find are privately owned limited liability companies except for the Maclaren entities in the US which are corporations.  So why have the corporations (not the LLCs) provide the sailing sponsorships?  Tax reasons?  Public relations campaign after Maclaren’s baby stroller recall? Other reasons?

Maclaren Amputations/Bankruptcy/Fraud

Maclaren USA, Inc. now known as American Baby Products, Inc. filed for bankruptcy on December 29, 2011.  This was following several lawsuits from families whose children were among the 20 children who had their fingers horrifically amputated in the strollers prior to a recall that some say was delayed too long.  There are lots of questions and speculation surrounding Maclaren.

Bankruptcy Trustee Demands Answers

Scam Bankruptcy

Maclaren Fraud Lawsuit

Related Entities

Trying to figure out how everything is connected was the most frustrating part of my research.  Multiple companies with the same addresses, officers or owners.  It was difficult to a draw direct relationship line from one company to the next since alot of information was not available to the public but the addresses and officers were intermingled in varying degrees which seemed to confirm that the entire jumble of companies were interconnected. 

300 Highpoint Avenue, Portsmouth, RI 02871

LaserPerformance LLC

200 Highpoint Avenue, Portsmouth, RI 02871

SailLaser LLC

LaserPerformance Sail & Sport LLC

Quarter Moon, Incorporation

Vanguard Sailing Center

Vanguard Sailboats

Vanguard Racing Sailboats

Garda Company LLC

4 Testa Place, S. Norwalk, CT 06854

American Baby Products, Inc. f/k/a Maclaren USA, Inc. (in bankruptcy)
Excelsior Testa LLC

Excelsior Property Holdings LLC

25 Van Zant Street, Norwalk, CT 06854

Maclaren N.A., Inc.

Maclaren Services, Inc.

Dory Ventures LLC

Station Works

Station Road, Long Buckby, Northampton, Northamptonshire NN6 7PF

LaserPerformance (Europe) Limited

SailLaser Limited

Maclaren Europe Limited

Ronson Limited

Ronson International Limited
Full Moon Holdings Limited
Sina Holdco Limited

Richard M. Gauvin

Attention of - SailLaser LLC

Senior Corporate Paralegal - LaserPerformance LLC

VP Legal Affairs - LaserPerformance Sail & Sport LLC

Secretary - Quarter Moon, Incorporation

Secretary - Vanguard Sailing Center

Secretary - Vanguard Sailboats

Secretary - Vanguard Racing Sailboats

Secretary - American Baby Products, Inc. f/k/a Maclaren USA, Inc.

Secretary - Maclaren N.A., Inc.
Secretary - Maclaren Services, Inc.

Gauvin’s Business Address - Garda Company LLC

LLC Member of Garda - Quarter Moon Incorporated

This is just naming a few of the connections.  It was enough to convince me that everything is related in some way or another.  Rastegar was directly named in connection with the Van Zant Street companies.

Trademarks

The LASER trademarks seemed to be the trump card that LP played to motivate the ILCA to introduce the fundamental rule change which essentially booted Bruce Kirby.  That didn’t sit right with me and it was the intellectual property (patents, copyrights and trademarks) that originally made me start checking things for myself.  I found that LP does not own the LASER trademarks.  At least not directly.  The LASER and MACLAREN trademarks are held in offshore holding companies.  The companies share addresses and officers and run through several offshore jurisdictions that have favorable tax laws with limited to no public disclosure and, interestingly, are in jurisdictions that have legalized gambling.  Is that a coincidence?

Karaya (Jersey) Limited, 14 Conway Street, St. Helier, Jersey

For $3.5M Quarter Moon, Inc. (Vanguard) sold its trademarks to Karaya Holdings Limited which then transferred it to Karaya (Jersey) Limited.  The interesting thing here is that A--, signed on behalf of Karaya and is listed as the correspondent on the bulk of the US trademark work and he appears to correspond with the Trademark Office strictly by email.  When the US Trademark Office recently mailed a document to the Karaya address in Jersey, it was returned as undeliverable.  When I searched for the address on the internet it showed to be the office of a licensed betting shop.  I sure would like to know if Karaya is really at this address but I don't plan to visit the Channel Islands anytime soon. The listed Karaya shareholder is Spring Meadow Holding Limited, Mill Mall, P. O. Box 964, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands.

Velum Limited and Armon Limited

17, rue du Cendrier, PO Box 1699 CH-1211, Geneva 1, Switzerland

These two companies hold some of the LASER (Velum) trademarks and all of the MACLAREN (Armon) trademarks.  Both are Antigua/Barbuda companies using the same Switzerland address.  There are no public records to check the ultimate owner.  I searched the US Trademark Office for Switzerland addresses and found some 50,000 registrants.   But when I narrowed the search to Switzerland addresses and Antigua/Barbuda registered companies, only the Rastegar trademarks came up as using this particular business structure.  Why?

A---

This is an European attorney who appears to be managing the Rastegar trademark work and who also signs on behalf of many of the Rastegar entities and he seems to be associated with two service firms, B-- and C--.  A-- uses different variations of his name and also uses the various addresses of the Rastegar entities as well as addresses in London, Isle of Man, Monte Carlo, and even a global mail drop box in a strip mall in Houston, TX.  Why?


So, if a US company (LP/Maclaren) pays royalties to an Antigua/Barbuda company (Velum/Armon) with a Switzerland address, in what country is the bank account for that payment?  Then if the trademark service company (A--) with addresses in Isle of Man, London, and Monte Carlo also gets paid, in what country is his bank account?  But, then there is the US service company (Dory) so I guess money flows back to the US to pay them too but there is also the ultimate shareholder whom we don't know for the Velum and Armon companies but might guess is in the British Virgin islands like for Karaya.  But, as we've seen, the companies are all interrelated and Rastegar is the presumed ultimate owner so it would seem that money comes out of the US and goes to several countries, with some staying offshore and some returning to the US.  And now we're being offered sailing sponsorship money from Maclaren and the LP unions.  Is there a connection?  I simply don't know how these things work.  Someone please tell me that this somehow makes perfect sense in the business world.

I tried but I simply could not piece this puzzle together so I'm going sailing.

LaserPerformance Update (7-10-12)

District 15 Texas Laser Circuit - Seabrook

By Doug

In 2008, Hurricane Ike smashed into the Texas coast causing almost $30 billion in damages. Our friends at Seabrook took a direct hit and, as you can see, their facilities were destroyed. Last w/e they hosted the next Laser circuit event and it was great to see their new clubhouse. The work (and view) is fabulous!

The sailing was interesting for me because it was similar to the light conditions expected at the next Laser Worlds in Oman - light and lumpy. Add the waves from the nearby motorboat racing and it was a great opportunity to do some speed testing, especially with fast people like Colin and  Mark.

I had a slight speed advantage upwind by footing with a tight vang and easing the main (more than others) yet pinching slightly without stalling the centerboard. The key was steering the boat through the waves by moving my weight more than my tiller. Downwind, Colin and Mark had the advantage by working the main and waves better than me, so it made for some close and interesting racing. I led at every mark on Saturday but was reminded not once but twice that it's important to know the course, especially when sailing with other fleets! Sunday had less waves and the speed was much more even with James and Dave moving up in the fleet. Colin won with impressive finishes in all of the races.

A Good Roll Tack

By Doug

Someone took this picture of me half way though a roll tack way back in 2004. I was grateful because not all of my tacks are nearly this good, but this one was not excessive, my weight was forward (the transom was out of the water), and the mainsheet was out so that it could be pulled in gradually to accelerate on the new tack. A good flat-water tack for sure.

Others apparently liked this picture too, and I was happy to see this on the back of a T-shirt at the recent Texas Laser Championships.

District 15 (Texas) Laser Championships

By Doug

A local Dallas club hosted the state championships this past weekend.  This is the home of that "special" Laser fleet.  So you know, this is one event I just had to attend.  Two things made this event interesting - one was the unusual course and a trick that helped win the event. And the second was a long overdue spanking.

After one of my favorite sailors (said sarcastically) took some liberties with the rules, I took the liberty of sailing moderately aggressively against him. These actions prompted the sailor to offer me some unsolicited advice, sprinkled with lots of colorful language that somehow made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. After 8 races, I discarded a 3 and finished with 9 points. I must say it was one of my most satisfying wins in recent months (results).

Tactically, the first day was really interesting:

• We had 22 sailors, with about 15 skilled.
• The conditions were shifty with lots of holes.
• A windward leeward course with mid-line start/finish.
• The line was pin-favored and looked very tempting.
• The windward mark was set to the right.
• The first beat was really short, as little as 2 minutes.
• When the wind went left, it was possible to lay the mark by starting at the pin on port tack.

Starting was everything. So, what trick helped me win 4 of the 5 races on Saturday? It's human nature to start at the pin when it's that favored, but I could not tack early enough to consolidate. With a good line sight, I could start in the middle of the line and then tack away. But this is risky because there are boats on my hip that prevent tacking. The best start was at the committee boat because the boats below cannot tack. The key was picking exactly when to tack, even if it's not until the port tack layline. In each of the 4 races, I had the option to tack when I wanted and was the first one to do so.

Note to self: with a really short first leg, the first boat to tack has the best chance of winning. Boatspeed, line bias, and shifts are all secondary. 

On Sunday, we had a longer windward leg and Colin, a young and very talented college sailor, had great finishes of 1, 1, and 3. Here he talks about how he did it:

2012 Butterfly Single-Handed Nationals

by Pam

Photo by Frank Richards

Last weekend, Doug and I sailed in the Butterfly Nationals.  Doug won overall and I won top woman.  We aren't certain but we think we might have made history as the first husband and wife to win.  It was a fun event.  A full write-up is on the Butterfly blog.

I was sailing an old boat that was my brother's first boat when he was a kid and she has been in my family for over 40 years and Doug was sailing with my boat's original 40+ year old centerboard. So it was a double win for the old girl, aptly named, the Fighting Lady.

Finding the Right Match

By Doug

Still shot taken from a Sail Pro video at the Aussie Nationals

Tillerman challenged bloggers to share their number one tip for capturing good water shots/video.  For me it came down to finding the right match between purpose, camera, mount, and software.

First came the purpose.  I began taking pictures and videos to teach Pam how to sail better.  Little did I know that she would become a full time project, not to mention my wife.  She still provides most of my motivation and purpose in the shots I take... 'get me a picture of this, take a video of that.'  Then she wanted to see what it was like to race along with me. And then she wanted a play by play color commentary. Pam constantly challenges me and my skills keep evolving.

Early on, I was simply using my Cannon PowerShot and Pam's waterproof Pentax Optio.  Both took decent shots and had some video capability, but there were some limitations with zooming the video and when cropping the shots later to capture more action and less boring background, I lost quality.  We liked the idea of having high definition video capability and saw this inexpensive little Kodak PlaySport that looked like a toy, but it took some impressive videos and pictures. We decided to give it a try, but the files brought both my laptop and iPad to their knees when editing.  So I upgraded my computer to an Intel I7 quad core (wicked fast processor) and tried again, but the editing was too crude. I bought some video editing software and got some help learning how to use it and presto, had the right match. I later bought a Sail Pro camera as well and we still switch between the Kodak and SailPro depending on the needs.

So after getting the right cameras, I had the challenge of how to mount them. Most people attach their cameras to the boat which, in my humble opinion, is interesting for about 30 seconds unless something really funny happens.  I'm more interested in the tactics, so I like to attach it to my hat. You can spend $25 for a fancy attachment but I use a 1/4" bolt, nut, and a few washers. But be careful because any attachment will point the camera too low, so I wedge in two bolts (in green) before I glue-gun everything.

The first thing that I noticed is that I moved my head around much more than I thought. A backwards glance off the starting line has no meaning to the viewer unless you hold your head still for a few seconds. Here are some early videos from Sunfish and Butterfly races with a video editor that I would not recommend. 

To sum up, here's what I use:

• Kodak PlaySport with this sample. Pros: picture quality, good audio quality when not at certain angles to the wind, you can turn it on and off, price. Cons: sound interference from the wind at times. 
• Sail Pro with this sample. Pros: much smaller, lighter, more professional, good video. Cons: very little audio, hard to turn on and off.
• There are lots of good video editing programs around. So far my perfect match is Adobe Premiere Elements 10.

One word of caution:  if you use a hat cam, your hat is now worth money so you may want to tether it. But be careful when tethering since this almost cost me my life. I once tipped (before I started wearing a camera), was under my boat, and could not surface because I was being held down from behind. After a few very confusing seconds, I did something you should never do - I took off my lifejacket. And surfaced.  I had tied my hat to my life jacket and the hat had come off but the tether wrapped around a line that was holding me under. So, any tether must have a release clip.

Also, when you tack, you need to keep your head way down or you'll catch the main sheet. Say "kiss the floor" each time you tack.

For a more appealing video, cut out the parts that only grandma would like.  And a good audio track helps.  I've found that if I watch the raw footage and then come up with a song, I can then edit the video to fit the song and it all falls into place rather easily.

Once you get everything working properly, the results are a lot of fun.

Greg Martinez Downwind

By Doug

At the recent Gulf Coast Championships, Greg Martinez scored all bullets and threw out a third because he was OCS and had to restart. Greg had good upwind speed and just outstanding downwind speed. Here he explains one of his tricks.

2012 US Laser Nationals

by Doug

Results

With just 16 full rigs registered, I decided to join the 46 boat radial fleet to get more competition and learn a little more about sailing the smaller rig. The results were surprising, to say the least.

This was a young, heavily supported bunch of sailors with no less than 15 coaching boats watching their every move. Actually, it felt more like a closely supervised summer camp with equipment that would put most fleets to shame. I saw a beautiful enclosed trailer that carried 2 lasers and had lots of spare parts and gear. It looked like it belonged to a Laser dealer but no, it belonged to one of the teams! Sailors came from as far away as New Zealand and included 2011 Youth World Champion Erika Reineke from the U.S. Just a few weeks ago, Erika came 8th in the radial worlds and beat Paige Railey who is our Olympic representative in London. Lots of talent!

Racing started on Thursday and the conditions were light and lumpy - something I like in a full rig. But in the radial, everything felt underpowered. We only finished one race and on the last leg I was passed by about 20 boats that went off the course to catch a huge right shift. I went to bed that night in 31st place. Ouch!

The conditions on Friday were the same with lots of holes and shifts, and I just could not get the boat going. With 2 mediocre finishes I ended the day in 21st place. These kids are good starters and fast all around the course! I went to bed Friday night hoping for the breeze to fill in.

And it did. On Saturday, we spent a total of 7 hours sailing 4 races in a 12-15 southerly with short, choppy waves. In my best race, I went hard right off the line to get a nice right shift and led at the first and second marks. But on the run, several surfed past me and for a short time, I was able to watch their techniques. The most impressive was Erika who gained 100 yards on me and 50 on the leaders. Her style is interesting to watch as she carves back and forth in a movement that looks like a pendulum. Very smooth and almost always on a wave. I thought, no problem - I'll get the leaders back again upwind. But they cranked on all of the controls and then pinched over the waves. I could not point as high and footing worked, but I just could not regain that distance upwind. So, I went to bed Saturday night exhausted and in 11th place with the realization that Laser sailing is now very much a downwind sport.

Sunday was again windy and we spent another 6 hours sailing the final 4 races. Two of them were so-so because of missed shifts. The other two had me leading, and I was able to copy the downwind techniques as the leaders reeled me in. It's very hard to describe, but it's all about wave selection, keeping your weight forward at the right time, and coaxing the boat around without too much tiller movement. The rides were better and I was able to hold off a flying downwind Erika to get a 4 and a 3 (had she been using a compass she would have been more in phase upwind and would have beaten me easily). So, I ended the event in 7th place, the only master, and old enough to be the grandfather of most of these kids!

Here's the best part - all of them were a pleasure to sail with. They were great starters, fast, aggressive but well within the rules, good at communicating (please sir, can we start now?), and very clean. There were no ridiculous roll tacks or intentional collisions at the marks that we see in other fleets. Several judge boats followed us closely and I only saw 2 yellow flags in the 11 races and both calls were picky, in my opinion.

I've always thought that you learn more in the middle of the fleet than at the front or back, and this Nationals proved that as there is so much to learn from these future rock stars. Did I miss sailing a full rig? Yes. Would I sail a radial with these kids again? Absolutely!

76th Annual Snipe Southwestern

by Pam

Photo by Skip Rhodes - we're 28686

Doug and I had an invitation to sail in the 76th Annual Snipe Southwestern this weekend and decided to go for it. Neither of us had ever stepped on a Snipe before so we took it out for a spin on Friday afternoon with the winds gusting into the 30s.  We tacked once, and on the second tack we tipped and the rudder came off.  I was done for the day.

So, one of the old champions in the fleet showed me the two stroke slap tack and one of the younger champions in the fleet showed me the one stroke stand and pull tack.  By the end of the weekend, I had perfected my own signature technique that I called the 'oh shit, WTF'.  No two tacks were the same and each began as a bit of a surprise (Doug is not used to saying when he wants to tack) and each one ended with a tangle of lines that left me puzzled.  But, 10 out of 10 times, the jib came across and was set and ready once we were on the new tack. All was well until the old champion engaged us in a tacking duel. After I found every sharp, blunt and protruding object in my small space, Doug was not my favorite person.

The goal of the weekend was to get a on double-handed boat without a spinnaker so that Doug could teach me tactics.  That didn't work out.  Doug's head was in the boat more often than not.  And I mean, it's blowing and I'm hiking and his head is literally between his legs trying to find the hiking strap to get his feet under.  And, he actually dropped the tiller twice.  Old habits die hard.  He is used to sailing barefoot, knowing where his straps are, having a long stick with a knobby thing on the end and tacking without thinking about it.  Change a few things and we're trading oh shits all around the course.  

Somehow, we managed a 4th and I got the feeling we were getting better.  We just might have to give that a try again.  It was actually kind of fun.

Fast Handling Techniques

By Doug

When we visited Frank after the Brisbane Worlds, he told us that he was working on another book that is a companion to his 2008 classic Higher Performance Sailing. He gave us a copy of Chapter 7 which is about sailing a Laser written by Brett Beyer. Brett writes about upwind, crosswind, and downwind in all sailing conditions and has some really good material that has helped him win his eight Laser Master Worlds.  Frank's final book will be available in December and you can pre-order it here. Would make a great Christmas present for any Laser sailor (hint, hint Pam).

Laser Cheat Sheet - Sailing Smart 3

By Doug

Laser Cheat Sheet

We end the "be smart" light air sailing with another example. The 1992 U.S. Laser Masters was held in Moosehead Lake in upstate Maine. If you can find it on the map, you'll see that it's about as remote a sailing spot as you can get. But what a fantastic place to sail! In a competitive fleet, I found myself in the unenviable position of having to win the final two races to win the event. So, it was time to get creative and take some risks. There's an extreme case of not sailing the course or the competition.

I'm green on the starboard tack lay line with boats ahead and below. There's a tempting but stationary puff to the right, off the course. I decided to tack away from the mark and competition to get into the breeze and then tack again to come back on a hotter angle to the mark. A fellow behind me said it was strange to watch and thankfully, it worked.

So, would I have tried this without the need to take risks? It would have been very tempting because in light air I prefer to stay in the pressure, but then I also prefer to stay with the competition. So I guess it was a tossup and this time, it worked.

Laser Cheat Sheet - Sailing Smart 2

By Doug

Laser Cheat Sheet

Back to my cheat sheet and a trick that I used at a national championship sailed in another class at Lake Lotawana, a small lake near Kansas City. There were wind lanes coming down the lake, but you could not see them by looking at the patterns on the water. So I tried something a little different.

When we're sailing upwind, you normally look ahead at the sail or over your forward shoulder at the wind, waves, and next mark. Occasionally, you'll look backwards to see what the boats behind you are doing. What's missing from this picture?

We hardly ever look over our trailing or "wrong shoulder" because there's not much going on. But at Lake Lotawana, there was a lot. Whenever I was headed and wanted to tack, I looked over my wrong shoulder and asked myself this question: are the boats there going at least as fast as me? If the answer was yes, then I tacked. If the answer was no, then I sailed through the header. The other boats that tacked on these headers sailed right into less wind and slowed down. It was much better to stay in the pressure even when headed. This is especially important when the wind is light and you have to "be smart."

This was my first major event in this class and others were definitely faster. But using this one trick to always stay in the pressure, I was fortunate to score five bullets and threw out a second. For me in these conditions, looking over my wrong shoulder worked like a charm.

2012 Laser Gulf Coast Championship

by Doug

Results

The 2012 Gulf Coast Championship was held at Houston's Texas Corinthian Yacht Club over the weekend. The forecast was for light winds but the weatherman got it wrong as we got 12-15 on Saturday and a little less wind on Sunday. 62 competitors travelled from as far away as Seattle and the Bahamas and, following a trend that we have seen overseas, the radial fleet had the largest turnout. Lots of practice in these conditions was evident as TCYC sailors won in all three fleets.

I sailed a full rig and watched Greg Martinez easily win with six bullets. After the first race, I overheard someone ask why Greg was not going really fast on the runs and I thought to myself, I thought he was. Well, the races that followed explained that comment as he just took off on each run to win the races by very large distances.

Greg is such a gentleman on an off the water and is so willing to share his knowledge. He allowed me to interview him about his downwind speed which I will post later because, being a grand master, I had a senior moment and left my life jacket behind which has my camera in the pocket. One thing Greg does is bear off at the top of a wave and press his knees way forward to push the bow down. In the marginal surfing conditions, it really worked. Greg told Scott Young about this after the first race and he also got it to work, but Scott did not share this with me until the end of the day.

Another thing that was interesting was the many shifts and how I would cross tacks with Scott. I had a compass and he did not and I was almost always on a lift. I kept saying to myself poor Scott, he's going the wrong way. Our speed was close and I was amazed how he would usually gain from these split tacks. How he does this in open water was impressive - perhaps he was playing the pressure which I was not.

Another gentleman in our fleet was Dave Ryden who provides us all with some great incentive. You see, Dave is competitive and he sails Laser 694 with an old rag of a sail. That's right, he sails a forty year old Laser and finished in the top ten! I noticed that when Dave was close to someone, that sailor usually hiked a little harder. No one wants to be beaten by a museum piece.

A new sailor from Dallas, Greg Wallace, has made it to every race in the circuit this year. He still has much to learn, but that kind of persistence is good to see.

The talent in the radial and 4.7 fleet was deep and was dominated by a bunch of young sailors. This is great news as this is the future of the Laser class. There are clearly several junior sailing programs that are working very well.

The Kirby Sailboat - Take Two

by Pam

Rewritten on May 19, 2012

Tillerman's recent post on Proper Course, a conversation with a sailor at a regatta this past weekend, Eric Faust being made General Manager at the ILCA, and posts on various forums, have all combined into a perfect storm in my head which motivated me to verify what facts I could and share that information.

Since, I got some information wrong in the first post and since there is already so much incorrect information circulating, I’m revising the post but leaving the original post in place since I received word that it was brought to the attention of the World Council who are currently meeting.  My intention is to simply show that we need more information and maybe the ILCA needs to consult with another attorney for a second opinion.

The March 23, 2011 ILCA proposed rule change and the resulting September 23, 2011 vote and discussions along the way have given rise to a dilemma … to ratify the rule change or not to ratify, that is the question.  A case can certainly be made for urgency but a case can also be made for measuring twice and cutting once. 

So let’s jump in and assemble the various statements and see what pieces can be verified and what questions still remain.

ILCA proposed Fundamental Rule Change

ILCA Clarification to the proposed Rule Change

Kirby Statements:  September 16, 2011

Kirby’s Statements:  November 1, 2011

(I put the text in the icon below since it took me a minute to find it on the link)

Players

BKI - Bruce Kirby Inc. (former and present design rights holder)

GS - Global Sailing (former design rights holder)

LPE - Laser Performance Europe - a builder and a trademark owner

ILCA - International Laser Class Association

Rights

Patents - None

Trademarks - “LASER”

Design rights - boat design

BKI / GS - boat design rights (BKI pre 2008 / GS in 2008 / BKI in 2011) 

LPE - "LASER" trademark rights in several areas and former right to build boat by virtue of contract with BKI/GS

ILCA - no rights to boat design or trademark - controls definition of “class legal” boat

Dispute (pieced together from various sources)

BKI contracted with LPE to build boat.  BKI sold design rights to GS. LPE paid two years of royalties to GS and then stopped paying. GS terminated LPE’s right to build the boat.  BKI reacquired design rights from GS. Unknown whether BKI and LPE re-established contract to allow LPE to build boat.

ILCA Action

“…we are proposing to change the rule to eliminate the “building agreement from Bruce Kirby or Bruce Kirby Inc.” requirement. Manufacturers who have trademark rights and who build in strict adherence to the ILCA Rules and to the Construction Manual, which is controlled by ILCA, will continue to have the right to build Class legal boats." 

PATENTS

There are and never were any Kirby design patents for the Laser.

ILCA:  ‘… a builder also needs a building agreement from Bruce Kirby or Bruce Kirby Inc. This provision is mostly historical. The rule was instituted at a time when Bruce Kirby held certain design rights. … The lawyers also informed us that the Kirby design patents had in fact expired….’

Kirby:  ‘… There never were any patents. You can't patent a sail boat design. These were contracts, legitimate contracts drawn up by lawyers and there is no suggestion that I had a patent on the boat. These were long term contracts that were renewable every so many years. No-one’s ever questioned them so I don’t know what lawyer they found that suggested this course of action. It’s crazy!...’

What can be verified:  A search of various patent offices in most major countries revealed that Bruce Kirby had two US design patents:
D304,922 (12/5/89 - 12/5/03) for “Sailboat Hull” - but not for a Laser

D373,156 (08/27/96 - 08/27/10) for “Model Sailboat” - but not for a Laser

Here are the images (click to make bigger) of the first and second page of the design patents.

 

 

It’s quite possible that the ILCA’s attorney isn’t a Laser sailor, and when he/she saw these design patents, one of which recently expired, he/she incorrectly concluded that this must be the subject of Kirby’s designer/builder contract.  However, any Laser sailor can tell you that these design patents probably don't cover the Laser (one has a jib and the other a keel).  Unless the attorney can somehow make a case similar to the stool vs. chair as in this example http://www.patentlight.com/?p=41, I’d have to say the ILCA might have received some inaccurate advice.  

COPYRIGHT

Bruce Kirby/Bruce Kirby, Inc. holds 4 copyrights in the US and the one worth noting is the Laser Construction Manual:

Type of Work:  Text

Registration Number / Date:  TXu001362085 / 2007-06-21

Title:  Laser construction manual.

Copyright Claimant:  Bruce Kirby, Inc.

Date of Creation:  2005

Authorship on Application:  Bruce Kirby, 1929-.

Copyright Note:  Cataloged from appl. only.

Names:   Kirby, Bruce, 1929-

Bruce Kirby, Inc.

ILCA:  ‘… Manufacturers who have trademark rights and who build in strict adherence to the ILCA Rules and to the Construction Manual, which is controlled by ILCA …’

I cannot find any record that indicates the Laser Construction Manual has been assigned to the ILCA.  “Control” doesn’t necessarily equate to “ownership” and a copyright would cover the text and any derivative works for 70 years after the death of the author.  Perhaps the ILCA should consult with an attorney regarding who owns this Laser Construction Manual and if it’s still Kirby, what does that mean for the ILCA?

TRADEMARKS

The LASER trademark has always been owned by the builders, not the designer (Kirby), design rights holders (Kirby/BKI/GS) or the ILCA.

ILCA:  ‘ …requires that a builder of class-legal boats must (among other things) (i) manufacture the hull, equipment, fittings, spars, sails and battens in strict adherence to the Construction Manual and (ii) have the Laser trademark rights…’

‘Global Sailing [design rights holder] has said it may form a new class association for a “Kirby Sailboat”. LPE [builder] informed the ILCA that it intends to form its own “Laser” class’.

Kibry:  I can find no statement made by Kirby claiming to own or have ever owned trademark rights to LASER.  Instead he has indicated the official name of the boat (presumably in the designer/builder contracts) is the Kirby Sailboat. 

Forums:  Various posters on various forums have said that Kirby sold his trademark rights.  These are incorrect assumptions.

Here is the assignment record for the USA LASER trademark.  If you click on the “serial number” at the top, it will take you to the trademark record.  Performance Sailcraft, Inc. filed the original registration on June 17, 1974 and it is currently owned by Karaya (Jersey) Limited.

CAN LASER trademark - ownership record is similar to US

AUS - Performance Sailcraft Pty. Ltd. originally filed and still holds LASER trademark.  As of June 29, 2010 they filed for about a half dozen more variations of the LASER trademark, all of which will issue as registered trademarks on September 29, 2012. 

EU - Performance Sailcraft Europe Limited originally filed and still holds LASER trademark (as far as I can tell but I’m not as familiar with searching at this office).

Designer/Builder Contracts

To comment on the contracts would be pure speculation but given the above pieces that can be verified, it gives rise to some questions.  Given that it's almost a certainty that there were never any patents, then is the basis of the contract still valid?  Is the ILCA rule the only thing that binds the builder to the designer/builder contracts?  What about the Laser Construction Manual?  The Copyright Office shows Kirby to be the owner but the ILCA says they “control it”.  Does that document bind the ILCA to Kirby? Or do the designer/builder contracts actually hold all of the pieces together and changing the class rule will still not invalidate the contracts nor empower the builders to build the boats?  And, I've received new information regarding LPE and there is something there that is very off and worth a little investigation.   

To ratify or not to ratify, that is the question.  If you had more information available to you when you voted, would you have voted differently?  Do you feel that the information you were given created confusion?  Did it affect the way you voted?  Should we measure twice and cut once?  How expensive is it if we get it wrong and ruin it.  I don’t know.