| Correspondence on Foils
Posted 98-08-29 Archived 98-12-06 At the Tasar World Council meeting in Melbourne in January, 1998 there was considerable discussion of the differences between Tasars made in different countries. It was agreed: "we should approach the designer and see if the World Tasar Class Association could acquire the right to produce foils. We would then investigate having a single supplier for all foils worldwide." (see the minutes for a full report on this discussion) My letter to Frank Bethewaite and Frank's
reply (with some minor edits) follow: I am writing to follow up on an item that arose at the World Council Meeting in Melbourne. As you probably know from the minutes of the meeting, concern was expressed about the variations that exist between boats produced in different countries. While not all of these differences are significant in terms of the performance of the boat, some are (or might be). There was particular concern over the fact that while the FRP foils produced in Australia and North America are made in nominally identical molds and are quite similar in dimensions, construction and weight, those sold with new boats in the UK are made of epoxy coated wood. As far as I know, no one in the association has compared the shape of the FRP and wooden foils, but even if they are similar, there is a perception that these two different methods of construction could result in significant differences in performance. There was also concern about differences in weight between FRP foils. While no attempt was made to weigh all foils (or to weigh a statistically valid sample) the measurement committee reported a difference of 350g between two nominally similar FRP centreboards, and there were reports of differences of up to 600g. The World Tasar Class Association would like to explore with you the possibility of acquiring the right to produce foils. The idea is that the association would then investigate having a single supplier for all foils world wide. If this supplier produced foils that met reasonably tight tolerances for dimensions, weight and method of construction, the class would be assured that all new foils were essentially similar. There might be other ways of accomplishing this end result, but I would like to know if you would be interested in discussing this approach with the association. I look forward to hearing your ideas on this, Best wishes Richard c: World Council Dear Richard, This is a reasonable place to make a point about the cost of one-design as it is now perceived by those who feel entitled to set criteria but who have no intention of shouldering any part of the cost. I wrote the 49er construction manual as a series of three bursts each of which made the documentation a little more complete and set the tolerances a little tighter. Every boat made to date has been made from this manual. My total ask for writing it was about $US3,000. Another member of the consortium felt that a more recognisably USA approach might be better regarded by ISAF, and has almost completed a fourth revision. It has taken a year and is expected to cost $US12,000. If we apply this to the Tasar, the logistics become interesting. Rischmiller frequently points out that nobody in UK buys a new Tasar, so presumably this year's budget is near zero. My sales last year were 12and I anticipate about the same next year. I do not know Evett's figures, but suspect they will be smaller than the Australian ones. The added cost per boat of doing an ISAF style job of one-design at the US price is obvious. There is a further point. At what level of production should a manufacturer who is driven by economics decide that his space and capital will be better used in making something which sells in respectable volume? Most letters from owners which have castigated me for not maintaining scrupulous one-design have ignored two facts. First, more than half the Tasars now in existence were made by Performance Sailcraft in 1976 and1977, and I had absolutely no control over what they did (eg electing to add the third laminate and its weight.) The second is that my most difficult job since Performance failed has been to encourage a local manufacturer to make the boat at all, and sometimes to support him in the face of attack. By far the most damaging event for the class would be for one or more of the three manufacturers to decide that it was no longer in their economic interest to keep the boat in production. The class in Vancouver nearly failed when Mellen's builder left the area and Mellen could find no substitute. Enough of harsh reality. Re the points you make:- I have offered to discuss with Ian Guanaria whatever it may be that he wishes to bring up re one design. I will do whatever I can to accommodate his - ie. the class' - wishes, provided that the cost of such execution is something I can handle in my spare time, because that is the only way it will be able to get done. A relevant point is that the requests should be reasonable. It had never previously even occurred to me to make such a proviso with the Tasar class, but a recent ruling seems to defy reason. I designed the boat. I have been cutting lower masts to the same lengths and putting topmasts and sleeves together on the same jigs since about 1978. Yet a recent rule interpretation states that my production is deemed out of class, and I am asked to change my correct 20 year old jigs to come closer to some average. I am now advised that this may all have been the result of some incomplete thinking, but it has been published and owners have been asked to alter their boats. I regard this as not reasonable. Re foils. Tasar foil production has passed through four phases. Northern Hemisphere production was initially of hard surface urethane from steel moulds, as Laser. I understand that one run was purchased. I asked for price and minimum quantity for a second run of centreboards several times but never received any response. We deliberately used the Tasar rudder on the Laser Two, so it is probable that there will be many more of these in existence. In Australia we enjoyed the availability of superb timber, so a machinist and I set up a production system which involved a low-speed thicknesser and grinding curved blades for it and complex multiple jigging to achieve elliptically tapered thickness. They were masterpieces in woodwork. Rough-sawn timber stock varies a bit, so while most of the foils were of uniform thickness as machined and then hand-finished, those from thinner pieces were put through again and so there was a population of slightly thinner ones. At a point the North American fleet insisted on FRP foils for the perception of a higher level of uniformity than was achievable at reasonable cost from hand-finished timber. In response I developed the tooling and manufacturing techniques to make excellent and repeatable FRP foils, and in fact gave several thousand dollars worth of moulds to Evetts and Wetz to set them up. A point is that I was asked to make the FRP foils similar to the heavy timber ones, and I did. They are about twice as heavy as the 49er foils pro rata area. Initially we made them in house, but as our Eighteen footer business increased we needed the space and I subcontracted them from Boyer Fibrecraft. Jim Boyer specialises in foils world-wide, has set up a batch of moulds dedicated to Tasar foil production, and his quality and repetition are admirable. You ask my response to the suggestion that the Association become responsible for foils world-wide. I maintain a very tight span of control. We design, promote, sub-contract from first class suppliers where necessary, assemble and maintain very good quality control. You know the international reputation of our Tasar hulls. The Eighteens and the 49ers are the same. Over the years I have developed an enviable reputation for stability. Maloney made my first 600 Tasars. When he retired Kulmar took over and has made another 600. I chose to stand by Evetts until an adequate case against him was proven. It wasn't. (I don't pretend there was no case.) Boyer makes our foils for Tasar, B-14 and 49er. Because of our reputation for stability he has invested in plant beyond what I would have expected. The result is repetition better than expected. I am not prepared to disturb this relationship. If the association chooses to persuade Evetts and Brewer to source foils through Starboard, I would be prepared to supply foils to them in batches at a bare-bones margin. At the present rates of exchange this might be both economically sensible as well as technically satisfactory to the association. Sincerely, Frank |