TFE LIVE: Farzad Rastegar, head of LaserPerformance, will be our special guest on Tuesday's show
UPDATE 2019-07-31 – Watch a replay of Tuesday's TFE LIVE with the long, wide-ranging and eye-opening interview of special guest Farzad Rastegar (IRN/USA), head of LaserPerformance here. A MUST WATCH for Laser sailors, especially Olympians and Olympic hopefuls, and fans. Again, here's the link.
SAN FRANCISCO (#1179) – Your Ed. is pleased to report that Farzad Rastegar (IRN/USA) will be my special guest on Tuesday's TFE LIVE. Mr Rastegar is a successful entrepreneur based in Norwalk, CT who has been the Principal of LaserPerformance since 2001. He has also managed a number of other dynamic and successful companies, including Maclaren’s ventures in North America.
As many of our Dear Readers will know, LaserPerformance is an Anglo-American dinghy manufacturer – one of the world's largest producers of small sailboats. LaserPerformance manufactures many boats including the Laser, Sunfish, Laser Pico, Bug, Laser Vago, Laser Bahia, Club FJ, Club 420, Vanguard 15, Dart 16, Funboat, Z420 and Optimists. They are most well known for the Sunfish and Laser – the single-handed boat which is sailed in the Summer Olympic Games by both men (Laser Standard) and women (Laser Radial). Over the last 60 years, the Sunfish has become what many say is the most popular recreational sailboat in history. The Laser is widely regarded as the world’s most popular adult & youth racing class.
In preparing for Tuesday's show, we were told by Mr Rastegar's representative that, "During the time that he has been involved with LaserPerformance, his goal has been to manage the challenges of a changing global economy to maintain the high standard he and his team have set in terms of supporting sailors, events, collegiate sailing and major regattas around the world. He is proud of the role the company has played in building the Laser brand and helping it grow into being the most popular dinghy in the world, and an essential sailboat for both recreational sailors, racing enthusiasts and elite international athletes. He remains optimistic that the class will continue to thrive as both an Olympic class sport and the first option for recreational sailors."
The Olympic issue will, of course, be at the top of Tuesday's agenda.
As always, our Coordinating Producer Julia Wedekind will be standing by to take your comments and questions, the most responsible and constructive of which we will, of course, put to Mr Rastegar. Please join us for what should be an interesting and illuminating show, as always on our Sailing Illustrated Facebook page at 1300 Pacific / 1600 Eastern / 2000 UTC / 0800+1 NZT – or watch a replay there later.
Tuesday's show with Mr Rastegar will be our 206th show. You can watch any of our previous shows in the video archive on our SI Facebook page here.
Join us for Tuesday's TFE LIVE at 1300 Pacific / 2000 UTC on our SI Facebook page, or watch a replay of the show there later.