Laser (dinghy)
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Image:Laser Standard 160588 01.jpg Image:Laser dinghy.svg Image:Laser Standard 160588 02.jpg
- This article focuses on the Laser Standard dinghy. For the smaller editions of this boat see Laser Radial and Laser 4.7
The Laser Standard is a popular one-design class of small sailing dinghy. It is a singlehanded boat, meaning that it is sailed by one person. The design, by Bruce Kirby, emphasizes simplicity and performance. The dinghy is now manufactured by Performance Sailcraft, Vanguard Sailboats, and Primex SA (see External Links).
The Laser Standard is one of the most popular single-handed dinghies in the world. By late 2004, the number of boats produced exceeded 180,000. A commonly cited reason for its popularity is that it is robust and simple to rig and sail while the performance characteristics match those of more-complex racing dinghies.
The name Laser is mainly used to refer to the Laser Standard but this can can be very confusing as there are a series of different hulls all designed and manufactured under the family name of Laser. eg Laser Pico.
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[edit] History
It started with a phone call between Bruce Kirby and Ian Bruce, while discussing the possibility of a car topped dinghy for a line of camping equipment, Bruce Kirby sketched what would be known as "the million dollar doodle". The cartopper never went to production and the plans stayed with Kirby until 1970 when "One Design and Offshore Yachtsman" held a regatta for boats under $1000, called "Americas Teacup". After a few sail modifications it easily won its class.
The prototype of the boat was originally named the "Weekender" (The sail held the letters TGIF instead of the current international laser symbol. TGIF means: Thank God It´s Friday) but it was officially unveiled as the Laser at the New York Boat Show in 1971. The Laser became a men's Olympic-class boat in 1996, and a special Olympic edition of the boat was released that year in commemoration. The Laser Radial (see below) will be a women's Olympic-class boat beginning in 2008.
The first world championship was held in 1974 in Bermuda with 24 countries participating first place was won by Peter Commette, USA. The greatest champion of Laser Class is Robert Scheidt " El Demolidor", from Brazil; he won the world´s championship eight times and received two gold and one silver Olympic medals.
[edit] Design
As a one-design class of sailboat, all Lasers are built to the same specifications. The Laser Standard is 4.23 metres long (13 ft 10.5 in) long, with a waterline length of 3.81 m (12.5 ft). The hull weight is 56.7 kg (125 lb), to facilitate car-topping. Many enthusiasts have even devised methods of mounting the boat on top of a car single-handedly.
The Laser Standard is cat-rigged; they have only a main sail. The standard sail is 7.06 m² (76 ft²) and, especially in higher winds, is best sailed by a person weighing more than 80 kg (175 lb).
[edit] Identification
A Laser's date and place of manufacture can be determined by looking at the serial number stamped into the transom. This serial number is unique to the boat and is also the same number that is shown in the sail. The Laser is unique in this aspect, since almost every other sailing craft has the numbers assigned by the national organization. This means that the same Laser can be moved between countries without having to change numbers. It also means that the Laser Standard has a six-figure number which reflects the large number of boats manufactured worldwide.
[edit] The Laser series
[edit] The Radial
In Europe the smaller Radial has surpassed the original Laser Standard in popularity, and even has supplanted the Europe Dinghy as the Women's Singlehanded Dinghy for the 2008 Olympics.
[edit] The 4.7
A smaller sail plan for the Laser was developed about a decade later. The sail area was reduced by 35% from the Standard, allowing even lighter sailors to sail. The same formula as the Radial is kept, the only thing you need to convert your Laser Standard into a Laser 4.7 was to change the lower mast and sail. The name, 4.7 comes from the sail area in square meters (4.7 m² / 50 ft²).
[edit] Other designs
A third and lesser-known variant is the Laser M Rig. This sail was the first attempt at making a smaller rig for smaller sailors. It employed the same stiff lower mast section, but a shorter top section. The design failed. The M Rig was often more difficult to handle upwind than a standard rig, due largely to the very stiff mast sections, which prevented the effective depowering of the sail. Vanguard also makes a Laser 2 model, details of which can be seen at the external link to Vanguard below.
An even smaller boat in the Laser family is the Laser Pico. This is a recreational, family type boat, but one which can also be quite fun for the experienced sailor. Its length overall is 11 ft 6 in and it has a beam of 4 ft 8 in. It carries a mainsail of 64 sq. ft. and a small jib of 12 sq. ft.
[edit] Handling
Image:Laser dinghy pilot.jpg The Laser Standard is a quick boat for its size and width, mostly due to its light weight and relatively large sail area. A skilled helmsman can get the dinghy to plane on downwind tacks, lifting the bow of the boat out of the water and dramatically improving the speed. Planing is difficult and increases the risk of a capsize, but it is needed to achieve the potential of the dinghy.
[edit] Trimming
The Laser Standard has 3 control lines (excluding the main sheet) from which the helmsman can adjust the rig, these are the outhaul, the boom vang and the cunningham (forward luff tensioner). In lighter winds, beginners can mostly ignore these tools, but they become more important in higher winds, and when trying to get the best performance out of the boat.
The outhaul controls how tight the foot of the sail is, by pulling the clew away from the tack of the sail.
The boom vang controls how tight the leech of the sail is, by pulling the clew edge of the sail away from the head of the sail.
The cunningham tightens the luff of the sail by bringing the tack away from the head of the sail.
When sailing upwind, one tightens all three until the sail is mostly flat and wrinkle-free. When the wind increases even more, the helmsman needs to reduce the amount of force being put into the boat by the rig, and to accomplish this the sail is flattened even more. In these winds, most sailors pull the outhaul to the maximum, the cunningham so much that the eye is forced down to the boom. The amount of boom vang used is up to the helmsman; most helms apply vang, or kicker, until the two mainsheet blocks on the transom and boom are touching. Large amounts of kicker are necessary in order to generate mast bend, and hence maintain sail shape. This does have the effect of stretching the sail, and it is not unusual for experienced helms to replace the sail regularly throughout the season as the sail quickly loses shape and hence performance. Although some helms choose to use the same sail over and over again as most of the gear on the one design laser is somewhat more expensive than comparable equipment on boats with less stringent equipment regulations.
On all downwind tacks, the outhaul is kept quite loose to increase draft, and the cunningham is completely loosened to open up the top of the sail. In lighter winds, the boom vang is loosened until the leech moves freely back and forward. The boom vang becomes crucial in when sailing downwind in a heavy breeze. If the vang is too tight the boat will be unable to sail downwards and quickly steer up to face the wind or capsize. If the vang is too loose, i.e. the boom is pointing upward, then air flow along the sail will be turbulent, and might vary direction of the flow depending on the heel of the boat. This situation is very uncomfortable and results in an uncontrollable boat and can cause the boat to take an unexpected and very quick turn, either into or away from the wind. This is dangerous, since turning too far from the wind will lead to an uncontrolled jibe, which might make the boom hit the helmsman with much force, before the boat capsizes. This very situation is called a death roll among sailors.
In recent years, the basic sail controls have been upgraded by means of the XD performance kit. Fitting this kit allows the outhaul and cunningham to be adjusted more easily when under sail, by putting a pair of cam cleats on the deck so that the lines are always available to the sailor even when hiking.
Because the Laser has an unstayed rig, skilled helms are able to sail "By the Lee". This technique, employed downwind, involves letting the boom move in front of the mast, inverting the heeling moment of the sail. The advantage is the ability to steer the boat without the need to perform a gybe. This gives the helm flexibilty to move the boat to take advantage of wave motion and windshifts. Downwind, a sailor may choose to go wherever the wind is, without losing speed from gybing.
The Laser has a relatively small rudder, meaning that turns made by the rudder have to be larger than on similar dinghies. It is usual to see that helms make little use of the rudder, preferring to change the direction of the boat using balance and heel. The rudder acts like a brake, because every time the sailor moves it, the boat will slow down to some degree. Using heel, the boat maintains speed better.
[edit] External links
[edit] Class Associations
- International Laser Class Association
- Laser Class North America Home Page
- Argentinian Laser Class home page
[edit] Manufacturers and Distributers
- Performance Sailcraft Europe Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa
- Vanguard Sailboats North America
- Performance Sailcraft Australia Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands
- Primex SA South America
- Boatspeed Brazil
[edit] Miscellaneous
| Laser boats | |
|---|---|
| Laser 2 | Laser 4.7 | Laser 4000 | Laser Pico | Laser Radial | Laser SB3 | Laser Standard | Laser Vortex | |
| Sailing dinghies (ISAF International Classes) | |
|---|---|
| 14 Foot | 29er | 420 | 470 | 49er | 505 | Cadet | Contender | Enterprise | Europe | Finn | Fireball | Flying Dutchman | Flying Junior | Laser Standard | Laser 4.7 | Laser II | Lightning | Mirror | Moth | OK Dinghy | Optimist | Snipe | Splash | Sunfish | Topper |Vaurien | Zoom 8 | |
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