Committing Heresy
by John Curnow, Editor, Sail-World AUS 28 Jan 2018 16:24 PST
Laser sailor Tom Burton © Jesus Renedo / Sailing Energy
Not too long ago at all, if you happened to mention the demise of the Laser, you would have been found instantly guilty of heinous treason. You would have faced the firing squad, and been summarily dispatched to have a long chat with Poseidon himself.
‘The Weekender’, as it was originally known before it adopted its much cooler ‘new’ name back in the day, has done well with the best part of 300k units delivered. However, poor construction techniques meant new ones always did better than old ones. Its rig was also distinctly outdated with the long boom and zero roach making it look all the more 12m-esque.
Still, the dinosaur kept going, and despite many new wanfangelled and naff machines appearing in the intervening years, the Laser’s popularity continued. Great craft like Jim Close’s X3 showed the way forward, with self-draining cockpits, asymmetric kites and swinging centreboards, but could not totally crack the power of diffracted light, as it were
That in itself was an interesting point, for normally Olympic Classes have zero commercial success. Lesser rigs (Radial and 4.7) made it more approachable for smaller and less powerful athletes, but it could not hide the fact that technology had moved on, and the Laser was left with no more mustard to offer the various blades.
The announcement of the 2019 RS Aero World Championship heading to the delightful waters of Port Stephens offers a very good counterpoint. This is a class that is on its own meteoric rise, and with voting for the 2024 Olympic Classes to be concluded soon (‘ish’ in the grand scheme of things), are we actually seeing the proverbial ducks line up?
Of course, Australia has a very interesting problem here, for many a sailing hero, and some are now household names, cut their teeth in the Laser. We have had a super-long period of success based on multiple sailors all pushing each other on to the top bling. Perhaps the whole system can be transplanted over to a new craft, should it all come to pass, and we can continue such a strong dominance in single-handed craft.
Kiteboards are to come in for boards, the 49er is to go coed like the Nacra and the much touted, two-handed offshore event could well be the surprise packet of it all, with cameras, telemetry and staged finishes making it really appealing. Perhaps even more so than the Women’s Elliotts, which captured so much media attention at Weymouth.
The Beneteau Figaro 3 is considered the prime candidate, but there is also the J11S from J Boats to be placed into that equation. Sailed the former, which is awesome, and not the latter, so have no real input there, but it is funny that Croce’s vision could well be proven correct as the class to look out for.
Equally, have to confess that mentioning the J11S was all about providing a segue to talk about the J/70s. Having been around this country’s premier OD Class for many years now, which have such a solid standing, it was good to see firstly the Measurers stand up at the 2017 J/70 World Championships, and then the Class itself ping those responsible for going way too far. Now given that just a few 24 and 12-month suspensions were handed out, you do have to wonder if the ruler used to whack them over the knuckles was made of balsa, not bamboo!
Right then. News time. Here are some gems for you to review. We have information from the Festival of Sails, Volvo Ocean Race, F16s, Adams 10s, the 18s, Miami World Cup, Goolwa Race Week, J/111s, Superyacht Cup Palma, Waszps, Contenders, Hobies, the AC, Finns, TPs, The Great Barrier Reef, plastics in Antarctica, and certainly there is much, much more.
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