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jeffers View Drop Down
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Joined: 29 Mar 04
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Posts: 3048 		Post Options Post Options   Quote jeffers Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jun 16 at 4:13pm
Originally posted by bustinben

Originally posted by jeffers

Originally posted by Rupert

I was talking to someone today who had just been out sailing in his new (to him) Laser. Words such as "great fun", and "lovely" were used, and at no point "unrewarding".

A Laser can be very rewarding to sail especially in a good fleet. However there are lots of boats that give a better sailing experience but none of them have the worldwide critical mass of the Laser.

It all depends on how you define rewarding after all.  In some ways the fact that the laser is an utter pig to sail is its strength.  It's very difficult to get it to sail well, and learning to do so is what can give you that sense of reward.    There's nothing that your sailmaker can tell you, or a bunches of settings you can tweak to make the boat go.  It's all about you and how you interact with it.

I find it responds to brute force rather than finesse in most conditions. However some of the best racing I have had dinghy sailing has been in a Laser. I just decided I didn't like being in pain for days after due to the ergonomics so (eventually) moved on.
Paul
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D-Zero GBR 74
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RS400atC View Drop Down
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Joined: 04 Dec 08
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Posts: 3005 		Post Options Post Options   Quote RS400atC Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jun 16 at 4:17pm
Originally posted by bustinben

Originally posted by jeffers

Originally posted by Rupert

I was talking to someone today who had just been out sailing in his new (to him) Laser. Words such as "great fun", and "lovely" were used, and at no point "unrewarding".

A Laser can be very rewarding to sail especially in a good fleet. However there are lots of boats that give a better sailing experience but none of them have the worldwide critical mass of the Laser.

It all depends on how you define rewarding after all.  In some ways the fact that the laser is an utter pig to sail is its strength.  It's very difficult to get it to sail well, and learning to do so is what can give you that sense of reward.    There's nothing that your sailmaker can tell you, or a bunches of settings you can tweak to make the boat go.  It's all about you and how you interact with it.

A laser gives you a simple boat, loads of people to race against so you can gauge your performance. It's not slow in a breeze either. And for a club level boat, excellent value. Buy a used one, sail it a few years and depreciation and other costs will be pretty low. Any of the alternatives can go out of fashon and cost you a bomb in depreciation. That matters to some people.
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jeffers View Drop Down
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Joined: 29 Mar 04
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Posts: 3048 		Post Options Post Options   Quote jeffers Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jun 16 at 4:23pm
Originally posted by RS400atC

Originally posted by bustinben

Originally posted by jeffers

Originally posted by Rupert

I was talking to someone today who had just been out sailing in his new (to him) Laser. Words such as "great fun", and "lovely" were used, and at no point "unrewarding".

A Laser can be very rewarding to sail especially in a good fleet. However there are lots of boats that give a better sailing experience but none of them have the worldwide critical mass of the Laser.

It all depends on how you define rewarding after all.  In some ways the fact that the laser is an utter pig to sail is its strength.  It's very difficult to get it to sail well, and learning to do so is what can give you that sense of reward.    There's nothing that your sailmaker can tell you, or a bunches of settings you can tweak to make the boat go.  It's all about you and how you interact with it.

A laser gives you a simple boat, loads of people to race against so you can gauge your performance. It's not slow in a breeze either. And for a club level boat, excellent value. Buy a used one, sail it a few years and depreciation and other costs will be pretty low. Any of the alternatives can go out of fashon and cost you a bomb in depreciation. That matters to some people.

Definitely. For cheap thrills and good racing you cannot go far wrong. Until you reach a certain age and cannot live with the downside.

Horses for courses, I would say a majority of the UK dinghy population has sailed a laser at least once.
Paul
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Steve411 View Drop Down
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Joined: 09 Sep 08
Location: Cheddar, Somerset, England
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Posts: 705 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Steve411 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Jun 16 at 5:54pm
I sailed a Laser for the first time in 30 years yesterday. I also found 5p in the dinghy park so I was lucky on two fronts.
Steve B
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Riv View Drop Down
Far too distracted from work
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Joined: 23 Nov 13
Location: South Devon
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Posts: 351 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Riv Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Jun 16 at 7:27pm
I usually sail a Laser Radial, went out in a breeze with the standard rig and found it a real pain, so even at 6ft 1" and shrinking and 82kg I'll keep with the radial and just enjioy the nicer handling.
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RS400atC View Drop Down
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Posts: 3005 		Post Options Post Options   Quote RS400atC Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Jun 16 at 12:11pm
Originally posted by jeffers

.....
Definitely. For cheap thrills and good racing you cannot go far wrong. Until you reach a certain age and cannot live with the downside.

Horses for courses, I would say a majority of the UK dinghy population has sailed a laser at least once.


There seem to be a fair few making it past retirement without reaching that 'certain age'.
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Ardea View Drop Down
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Joined: 06 Oct 15
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Posts: 70 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Ardea Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Jun 16 at 12:21pm
Riv, don't give up on the full rig yet.

My view was always that the full rig/radial handling wasn't really all that different.  However the use of sail controls to make the sail do what you want is different primarily due to the radial having a much greater luff curve cut into the sail.

I ended up regularly sailing the full rig even at a 5ft 7 70ish kg because in club racing the radial just gets killed on handicap (although this was back when radials were faster than Enterprises)
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jeffers View Drop Down
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Joined: 29 Mar 04
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Posts: 3048 		Post Options Post Options   Quote jeffers Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 08 Jun 16 at 12:30pm
Originally posted by RS400atC

Originally posted by jeffers

.....
Definitely. For cheap thrills and good racing you cannot go far wrong. Until you reach a certain age and cannot live with the downside.

Horses for courses, I would say a majority of the UK dinghy population has sailed a laser at least once.


There seem to be a fair few making it past retirement without reaching that 'certain age'.

I agree, they are probably far fitter than me and can rest a bit more than me for the days after.

I will stick with my new choice though it has bought my love of sailing back to life. Were it not for it I would likely be an ex-dinghy sailor by now.
Paul
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Peter Barton View Drop Down
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Joined: 10 Oct 05
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Posts: 129 		Post Options Post Options   Quote Peter Barton Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 30 Oct 16 at 10:48pm
Massive thanks to Des Seal who filmed our recent 41 boat Magic Marine RS Aero UK Inland Champs at Chelmarsh and took some interesting perspectives using a drone.
The aerial view is really useful in sailing as the 3D enables the viewer better judgement of distances and angles, particularly interesting when filming start lines and the angles of exit from them;


Edited by Peter Barton - 30 Oct 16 at 11:06pm
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turnturtle View Drop Down
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Joined: 05 Dec 14
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Posts: 2512 		Post Options Post Options   Quote turnturtle Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 31 Oct 16 at 12:15pm
looks like good racing - almost despite the light winds!
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