Laser 4.7 racing promotion.
The club is encouraging a new affordable class for less fit , less financial , less skilled and lighter casual sailors (most of us). Lots of boats were thought about and some are much better than others . When it comes down to it the most likely to succeed boat is one that is readily available, safe, easy to maintain and can be sailed by anyone and rigged in 15 minutes. Yes the Laser.
Everybody has a Laser somewhere that's tired or has a sail like an old drop cloth. Absolutely useless for racing in the Laser class at any competitive Olympic level club but still a perfectly good boat.
For those who have not read about them there has been a new rig developed for the Laser which is a third smaller. Its generally promoted as a light persons rig, a teenager rig and so on. What it actually is is a rig that is really pleasant to sail even in the light. It points well and speed is similar to a Zephyr. You can sail it in 25 knots and survive. The rest of the time you do not need stomach muscles of iron to keep it flat.
New rigs are sometimes available for at discount $895 from Boat Bits the Laser agents. They are usually $1497. Rooster Ltd sell an equivalent sail at $389 but right now (3/10/10) getting the special lower section of the mast makes Boat Bits package attractive. Watch out though as new official Laser battens are a $65 extra but the standard ones from your old sail are fine. Rooster do have battens if you are missing some. If the Boat Bits special is not available you can still buy a new lower mast section for $250 from Boat Bits plus a Rooster sail total $789. ..
. . . Rooster sell a cut down normal straight mast for $200 . These are not recommended as the top section of your mast may develop a kink.
So buy a Laser for $800 to $1500...add on the 4.7 new sail package and we have a fleet of matched boats at $1800 each. Experience to date is the 4.7 rig reduces the winning certainty of newer Laser hulls ie old ones do well. The aim is to have fun and these deliver.
The good thing is these rigs are the new class for teenagers so if you hate it all you will get your money back via Trade Me as the licensed sails alone are usually more than $795.
The club has 4 4.7s. The 4.7 allows you to concentrate on tactics rather than your body collapsing , plus it is easier to right .Come and try one.
Why not a Laser Radial? No real reason but 4.7 covers a wider range of users. A Radial is still a handful in a breeze ....
A further adaption is to centre sheet the boat
removing the ridiculous transom catching main sheet and the 13 m of sheet to
pull in as you harden up after a run . Length of sheet can be reduced to 7
metres.
Yes the boom can take it and so can the ratchet fixing...after all most of the
boom load should be through the kicker which the racers put huge loads
through. Try it..you will never go back..forget purism. It was silly in the
first place.. So much better for Learn to Sail pupils too. Tie the outhaul on
and add the loop around the boom from the eye. I say tie and I mean pull it
out firmly and knot it . Amateurs using the standard nasty adjustable cleat outhauls
on the water is No 1 cause of trouble as it gets loose and is nigh
impossible for less skilled people to re-tension.
Full pictures and how to convert to centre sheet for $5 and be able to restore boat to standard in 5 minutes. click me . may take a few secs to load..
Another option for those not wanting to do the above is to move the pulley on the end of the boom in about 200mm (or use a temporary pulley). This does allow less effort to sheet the sail in hard than the above method but you still have to pull in a lot of sheet at the bottom mark. Lash the pulley on then a bit of duck tape to stop it sliding. It will be above the traveller rope then and transom catching reduces markedly.
Rooster Laser bits (Mike Pasco)
Questions; Peter Fletcher
tel 626 0480