Upgrading to a new Laser - better than buying Cappuccinos

by . on 10 Aug 2009 Clive Humpris, technical officer for the International Laser Class Association, enjoys this one-design class as both an avid competitor and a class technical guru.

We interviewed him recently and first up we talked to Clive about his own Laser sailing.

CH - 'I’m based near Geelong and sail on Corio or Port Phillip Bay. I tend to do all the Victorian State Championships and occasionally Nationals. I competed in the World Masters in Sydney and Terrigal last year.

'The other nice aspect of Laser sailing is I’m an older guy (59 years old) and if I want to do a bit of training, quite often I can participate with the teenagers that are learning to sail. The higher State representing-type kids and they beat the pants off me. But it’s really good to train with them because I’ve still got a lot to learn with sailing and the more I can challenge myself the better.'

Ed – How many Lasers have you owned ?

CH - 'A lot over the years. I just tend to turn them over after one, two or three years. Normally I don’t lose much more than $700 a year on it, maybe $800. I am up to a hull 194 thousand something.

'As long as they’re treated fairly sensibly they’re still almost like a new boat after three years. There’s plenty of guys that are pretty competitive in over ten year old boats.

'I’m sure that it must be in common with a lot of other wives of master sailors that they see buying a new boat or keeping a new boat as being a bit of an unnecessary expense, but I've explained to her that me turning over my Lasers, is less than her coffee habit.

'She has a couple of Cappuccino coffees during her working day. When you’re paying three odd dollars for a cup of coffee that’s six bucks a day and then you work out she works for 200 odd days a year, so she is well ahead of me. '

Ed – What is your technical background ?

CH – 'As an engineer I worked for Ford as a product development manager. I worked in Geelong and also in the research centre at Broadmeadows on new car programs. It’s a different environment, but a lot of the principles that I learnt in the automotive industry apply to the boat industry.'

Ed – What is your job with the Laser class ?

CH - 'One of the strengths of the Laser is that it’s a one design boat. It doesn’t matter where you buy one or its parts, you know what you’re getting and they’re as close as manufacturers can make them to be the same. That requires somebody to go around the factories for the hulls, the spars and the foils to make sure that that is the case. There’s a ‘top secret’ construction manual that only the builders of those parts and the Laser class are privy to.

'My job is to ensure that they are complying with the specifications within the instruction manual.

'There are four plants now building Lasers; Vanguard Sailboats in Rhode Island, one in Banbury England, Performance Sailcraft Australia and the fourth is in Japan.'


Ed – Are there differences in the manufacturing process ?

CH - 'No its very tightly controlled to ensure a standard product. If builders want to make a change to the construction manual then they have put up the change in writing and I circulate that to the other builders. If everybody agrees and it isn’t really changing the boat in terms of its performance level, then they can change the construction manual slightly..

'There are obviously slight differences in the materials that are used. It’s not a practical thing to ship polyester resin, core foams and fibres halfway around the world just so that we can say they’re all the same materials. The specifications are close enough that the end result is such that it’s very difficult to pick any real difference between the boats.

'It’s all about continually trying to improve the quality and manufacturability of the boat.

'The Lasers have been produced in huge numbers over the years. I think it does have the title of being the most popular sailing boat in the world.

'And as long as my wife keeps drinking her Cappuccinos, I'll continue to sail a pretty new one!'