laser 2 sailboat speed

Laser 2 Sailboat: The Ultimate Guide to Mastering this High-Performance Racing Dinghy

by Emma Sullivan | Jul 20, 2023 | Sailboat Gear and Equipment

Short answer laser 2 sailboat:

The Laser 2 sailboat is a high-performance sailing dinghy designed for racing and recreational sailing. It features a single trapeze, a mainsail, and a jib, providing exciting and responsive sailing experiences. Its hull is made from fiberglass, making it durable and lightweight.

Introduction to the Laser 2 Sailboat: Experience the Thrill of Sailing with this Classic Vessel

Have you ever dreamed of harnessing the power of the wind and gliding across the open waters? If so, then the Laser 2 Sailboat is just what you need to make those dreams a reality. With its sleek design, nimble handling, and unparalleled performance, this classic vessel has been a favorite among sailing enthusiasts for decades.

The Laser 2 Sailboat is renowned for its ability to thrill both beginners and experienced sailors alike. Whether you’re looking to learn the ropes or test your skills in competitive racing, this versatile boat is up to the task. Its simple rigging system and responsive controls make it easy to handle, even for novices. And with its durable construction and steady buoyancy, it can withstand any conditions Mother Nature throws at it.

One of the most captivating aspects of the Laser 2 Sailboat is its incredible speed. Once you catch a gust of wind in its fully battened sail, you’ll feel an exhilarating rush as you slice through the water like a knife. The combination of its lightweight hull and powerful sail allows for impressive acceleration and top speeds that will leave other boats trailing behind. It’s no wonder why sailors around the world have fallen head over heels in love with this legendary vessel.

But don’t be fooled by its fast-paced nature – the Laser 2 Sailboat also offers plenty of opportunities for leisurely cruising and exploration. Its spacious cockpit can comfortably accommodate two or three people, making it perfect for adventurous outings with friends or family members. Take a lazy afternoon sail along picturesque coastlines or navigate tranquil lakes while enjoying breathtaking views – there’s no limit to where this magnificent vessel can take you.

What truly sets apart the Laser 2 Sailboat from other sailboats is its community. Joining fellow sailors who share your passion for adventure and camaraderie makes every sailing experience all the more enjoyable. Connect with experienced professionals who can offer valuable tips on technique, equipment, and maintenance. Engage in spirited discussions about your latest sailing adventures or upcoming regattas. With the Laser 2 Sailboat, you’ll become part of a tight-knit group that spans the globe, bound together by a love for this remarkable vessel.

So, if you’re ready to embark on an unforgettable sailing journey, look no further than the Laser 2 Sailboat. Experience the sheer thrill of harnessing the power of wind with its unmatched performance and speed. Immerse yourself in a vibrant community of like-minded sailors who will inspire and support you along the way. Get ready to create memories that will last a lifetime – because once you’ve experienced sailing with this classic vessel, there’s no turning back.

How to Master the Art of Sailing a Laser 2 Sailboat: A Step-by-Step Guide for Beginners

Sailing is an ancient art that has captivated humans for centuries, invoking a sense of freedom, adventure, and pure bliss. If you’ve ever daydreamed about gliding effortlessly across the water with the wind in your hair, then learning how to sail a Laser 2 sailboat might be the perfect endeavor for you. In this step-by-step guide tailored specifically for beginners, we will explore the intricacies of sailing a Laser 2 and offer tips to help you master this exhilarating hobby.

Step 1: Understanding the Basics Before setting foot on a Laser 2 sailboat, it’s crucial to grasp the fundamental concepts of sailing. Familiarize yourself with key terms such as “tacking” (changing direction against the wind), “jibing” (changing direction with the wind behind you), and “points of sail” (different angles at which a boat can travel relative to the wind). Learning these essentials will serve as your foundation in becoming a skilled sailor.

Step 2: Preparing Your Laser 2 Sailboat Once you’ve familiarized yourself with sailing’s terminology, it’s time to prep your vessel. Ensure that all necessary equipment is on board and properly functioning- from ropes and rigging to sails and rudders. A well-maintained boat guarantees a smoother sail and contributes significantly to overall performance.

Step 3: Rigging Your Boat Rigging refers to setting up your boat, including attaching sails and rigging ropes correctly. This process can seem daunting at first but fear not! It becomes second nature with practice. Pay close attention to maintaining proper tension in your rigging lines – too loose or too tight can impact maneuverability considerably.

Step 4: Launching Your Laser 2 Sailboat You’re now ready for launch! Identify a safe location with suitable access points for entering the water; preferable areas would have few obstructions like rocks or shallow waters. Be mindful of wind conditions and direction before venturing out to ensure a more enjoyable experience – light to moderate winds are ideal for beginners.

Step 5: Safety First Never underestimate the importance of safety during any sailing activity. Before setting sail, equip yourself with a personal flotation device (PFD) and ensure everyone on board does the same. Also, be aware of weather forecasts and water currents that can affect your journey. Remember, wise sailors prioritize safety above all else.

Step 6: Balancing Act Mastering balance is vital when sailing a Laser 2 sailboat as shifts in body weight greatly impact agility and speed. Finding your center of gravity as you maneuver, particularly during turns or gusts of wind, will optimize your boat’s performance. Train your mind and body to anticipate these changes; it is both an art and a science.

Step 7: Navigating the Wind Understanding the nuances of wind direction is key to becoming an accomplished sailor. Study how sails behave when catching the wind at different angles, known as points of sail mentioned earlier. Adjusting the angle between the sail’s edge and the wind will allow you to harness its power efficiently while simultaneously controlling your course.

Step 8: Mastering Tacking and Jibing Now comes the exciting part – changing directions! Tacking refers to turning into the wind by bringing the bow through it; jibing involves turning away from the wind with it behind you. These maneuvers require practice, timing, and coordination between crew members (if applicable). As you become more proficient in tacking and jibing smoothly, you’ll experience newfound confidence in maneuverability.

Step 9: Advanced Skills & Techniques Congratulations! You’ve grasped the basics and are now ready to delve into more advanced techniques such as fine-tuning sail trim (adjustment), mastering upwind sailing angles, or even attempting tricks like planing (sailing at high speed with hull lifting out of the water). These skills come with time and experience, so continue pushing your boundaries as you evolve in your sailing journey.

Step 10: Continued Learning Sailing is an art that can never be fully mastered. The beauty lies in continuous learning, honing your skills, and embracing new challenges. Join sailing clubs or communities to exchange knowledge and experiences with fellow enthusiasts. Embrace the lifelong process of understanding wind patterns, experimenting with sail configurations, and exploring different bodies of water. Be open to new discoveries!

In conclusion, mastering the art of sailing a Laser 2 sailboat requires patience, dedication, and enthusiasm. With this step-by-step guide for beginners as your compass, set sail on a transformative journey that will unlock a world of adventure and sheer joy out on the open waters. Let the wind carry you toward newfound horizons as you become one with nature through the sport of sailing!

Frequently Asked Questions About the Laser 2 Sailboat: Everything You Need to Know

Title: Frequently Asked Questions About the Laser 2 Sailboat: Everything You Need to Know

Introduction: Ahoy, sailing enthusiasts! Whether you are new to sailing or a seasoned sailor, one boat that has undoubtedly caught your attention is the Laser 2 Sailboat. In this comprehensive guide, we will address some of the most commonly asked questions about this remarkable vessel. So grab your captain’s hat, secure your lifejacket, and let’s set sail into the world of the Laser 2!

1. What Makes the Laser 2 Sailboat So Special? The Laser 2 Sailboat stands out for its versatility and high-performance capabilities in both cruising and racing scenarios. The boat features an innovative design that combines speed and stability like no other. Its two-man configuration allows for collaboration between sailors while maneuvering through varied wind conditions, making it truly unique among its counterparts.

2. How Does It Differ from Other Sailboats? While there are many sailboats on the market, the Laser 2 sets itself apart through its adaptability. This vessel can be equipped with various rigging options according to your skill level or desired sailing style. From a single-sail setup for beginners to twin-trapeze configurations for advanced racers seeking an adrenaline rush – there is something for everyone!

3. Is It Beginner-Friendly? Absolutely! The Laser 2 caters to sailors of all expertise levels. Novice sailors can embark on their nautical adventures with confidence due to its forgiving nature and stable hull design. With accessible controls and simplified rigging systems, those new to sailing will find it easy to learn the ropes while still experiencing thrilling moments on the water.

4. How Do Its Racing Capabilities Compare with Other Boats? For competitive spirits hungry for victories on race day, the Laser 2 won’t disappoint! Its lightweight hull allows for quick acceleration, ensuring you consistently remain at the forefront of races against competitors. The boat’s maneuverability and responsive controls allows for quick adjustments, making it a fierce contender even in highly competitive fleets.

5. Can It Be Sailed Single-Handed? Yes, it can! Though designed as a two-person sailboat, the Laser 2 can be sailed solo by experienced sailors who prefer going solo or need some solitude on the water. With appropriate modifications and adjustments to the rigging systems, it is possible to enjoy the Laser 2 experience single-handedly.

6. What Type of Maintenance Does the Laser 2 Sailboat Require? The Laser 2 is known for its durability and low-maintenance requirements. Its robust construction ensures longevity, while simple systems make maintenance tasks hassle-free. Regular cleaning after each sail and occasional inspections of rigging components should suffice to keep your Laser 2 in top-notch condition for years of enjoyment.

7. Where Can I Find Spare Parts or Accessories? Fear not, fellow mariner! The Laser 2 community is strong, with passionate enthusiasts regularly sharing tips, tricks, and information about spare parts or accessories. Numerous online retailers specialize in providing genuine Laser 2 components to ensure you find exactly what you need with ease.

Conclusion: Now that we have delved into the world of frequently asked questions about the remarkable Laser 2 Sailboat, you are equipped with vital knowledge that will help you set sail confidently upon its sleek hull. Whether you’re seeking casual cruising adventures or craving exhilarating races, this versatile vessel has got your back covered. So cast off from land and embark on unforgettable aquatic expeditions aboard the magnificent Laser 2 – where thrill meets tranquility!

Exploring the Design and Features of the Laser 2 Sailboat: What Sets It Apart?

Introduction:

The Laser 2 sailboat is not your ordinary watercraft. It is a remarkable fusion of design, engineering, and ergonomics that sets it apart from other sailboats in the market. In this blog post, we will dive into the intricacies of its design and explore the array of features that make the Laser 2 a true standout.

1. Lightweight Construction:

One striking feature of the Laser 2 sailboat is its lightweight construction. Meticulously crafted using advanced materials and innovative manufacturing techniques, every component is designed to reduce weight without compromising on strength. This means increased durability while allowing for swift and nimble sailing performance.

2. High-performance Hull Design:

At the heart of the Laser 2’s exceptional functionality lies its masterfully designed hull. Utilizing extensive research and cutting-edge hydrodynamics, this boat glides through water with minimal resistance, maximizing both speed and maneuverability. Its sleek lines seamlessly integrate form with function, making it a sight to behold as it effortlessly slices through waves.

3. Three-sail Configuration:

Unlike conventional sailboats sporting a single or double-sail setup, the Laser 2 boasts a unique three-sail configuration that takes sailing to a whole new level. Consisting of a main sail, jib, and spinnaker, this trifecta offers enhanced control over various wind conditions. Whether you’re gracefully cruising along or chasing adrenaline-fueled speeds, this versatile setup ensures an exhilarating experience for sailors of all skill levels.

4. Ergonomic Cockpit Design:

The Laser 2’s cockpit design strikes an exquisite balance between comfort and functionality. The ergonomically contoured seating positions allow sailors to maintain optimal control while minimizing strain during long journeys or intense racing competitions. Every touchpoint has been meticulously engineered to keep sailors in harmony with their vessel – leading to enhanced responsiveness and precision handling on the water.

5. Rigging Simplicity:

Tying knots and setting up a sailboat can be a daunting task for newcomers. However, the Laser 2 eliminates this complexity by incorporating an intuitive rigging system. With numbered lines and user-friendly adjustments, even novice sailors can quickly learn to set up and fine-tune their sails. By reducing hassle and ensuring ease of use, the Laser 2 empowers sailors to focus on what truly matters – sailing itself.

6. Durability that Stands the Test of Time:

Investing in any watercraft is a significant decision — one that requires assurance of its longevity. The Laser 2’s robust construction ensures it stands the test of time, with high-quality materials and meticulous craftsmanship providing unmatched durability. This means you can confidently embark on countless adventures without worrying about wear and tear impacting your vessel’s performance or structural integrity.

Conclusion:

In conclusion, the Laser 2 sailboat undoubtedly surpasses expectations when it comes to design and features. Its lightweight construction, high-performance hull design, three-sail configuration, ergonomic cockpit, rigging simplicity, and durable build make it shine amidst a sea of ordinary sailboats. Whether you’re an experienced sailor seeking exhilarating thrill rides or a beginner looking to enter the world of sailing, the Laser 2 sets itself apart as a sophisticated watercraft that guarantees unforgettable experiences on every voyage.

Safety Tips and Precautions for Sailing a Laser 2 Sailboat: Enjoying Your Adventure Responsibly

Sailing a Laser 2 Sailboat can be an exhilarating experience, allowing you to explore the open waters and enjoy the serenity of the sea. However, just like any other water sport, it’s crucial to prioritize safety and take necessary precautions to ensure an enjoyable adventure. In this blog post, we will provide you with detailed professional advice on how to safely navigate your Laser 2 Sailboat while still having a witty and clever time!

1. Mind the Weather Forecast: Before setting sail, always check the weather forecast thoroughly. Wind speed, direction, and potential storms are critical factors that can greatly influence your sailing experience. While it may seem exciting to challenge yourself in rough conditions or strong winds, it’s essential to understand your abilities and limitations as a sailor. Remember, responsible sailors don’t disregard signs of inclement weather – they adjust their plans accordingly.

2. Get Comfortable with Your Boat: Knowing your boat inside out is paramount for safe sailing adventures. Take the time to familiarize yourself with every aspect of your Laser 2 Sailboat – from its rigging and sails to its navigation instruments and safety equipment. A witty sailor knows their boat intimately; better understanding ensures you’re prepared for any situation that comes your way.

3. Safety Equipment Should Be Your Best Friend: Never set sail without properly equipped safety gear! Life jackets are at the top of the list – make sure you have enough for each crew member aboard your Laser 2 Sailboat. Additionally, carry flares or alternative signaling devices in case you need help in an emergency situation — cleverly choose colorful flares that match your vibrant personality!

4. Communicate Effectively: Before embarking on your sailing journey, let someone else know about your plans. Share details including departure time, estimated return time, planned route (if applicable), and emergency contact information. Keeping friends or family informed allows them to keep an eye out for your well-being from the shore, and they’ll appreciate your responsible approach to adventuring.

5. Buddy System: Sailing is more enjoyable when you have company. Not only does sailing with a partner enhance your overall experience, but it also enhances safety. In case of an injury or other unforeseen circumstances, having a buddy on board ensures that there’s always someone available to assist or seek help if needed — plus, you can share witty banter during those long stretches of calm waters!

6. Keep Your Phone Dry: While it may seem obvious, we cannot stress enough how important it is to keep your phone protected from water damage. We live in a world where being connected is essential – not just for capturing clever Instagram stories but also for emergencies. Today’s smartphones are often equipped with waterproof or resistant features; however, carrying them in a proper waterproof case will provide an extra layer of protection – just in case things get too wet and wild!

7. Education is Key: Investing time in expanding your sailing knowledge through courses and certifications will undoubtedly make you a safer sailor. Understanding navigation rules, reading charts or maps, and knowing how to react in different boating situations are invaluable skills that come with education and training. Being professionally skilled while exhibiting a clever wit ensures admiration from fellow sailors!

8. Respect Nature: Finally, always respect the environment around you when sailing your Laser 2 Sailboat. Avoid littering, decrease noise pollution as much as possible (we know it can be difficult when celebrating witty victories on the high seas!), and follow guidelines for responsible anchoring practices.

In conclusion, enjoying sailing adventures responsibly means putting safety first while injecting some wit and charm into every voyage aboard your Laser 2 Sailboat! By following these tips and precautions diligently, you can confidently navigate the open waters while having fun, ensuring your adventure is memorable for all the right reasons. Happy sailing and stay cleverly safe!

Unleashing Your Competitiveness: Racing Techniques and Strategies in a Laser 2 Sailboat

Introduction: Sailing is a sport that has captured the hearts of adventurers and thrill-seekers since time immemorial. The sense of freedom, mastery over nature, and the adrenaline rush offered by sailing are unparalleled. Amongst all the sailboat classes out there, the Laser 2 is renowned for its exhilarating speed, maneuverability, and versatility. Whether you’re an experienced sailor or a novice looking to dive into competitive racing, this blog post will guide you through some ingenious techniques and strategies to unleash your competitiveness in a Laser 2 sailboat.

1. Mastering Boat Handling: A vital aspect of successful racing in a Laser 2 is mastering boat handling skills. This includes understanding how to efficiently maneuver your vessel through various wind conditions, waves, and currents. Being able to extract maximum speed from your sailboat while maintaining control requires finesse. Practice tacking (turning the bow of the boat through the wind) and jibing (turning the stern through the wind) until these maneuvers become second nature.

2. Effectively Using Sail Controls: Sail controls play a crucial role in optimizing your overall performance on water. Familiarize yourself with the main controls available on a Laser 2: mainsheet, traveler, vang/kicker, cunningham/downhaul, and outhaul; each has its own purpose in fine-tuning your sails’ shape and power efficiency. Understanding how to trim your sails using these controls can make a significant difference in speed and responsiveness.

3. Tactical Decision-Making: Racing involves not just raw sailing skills but also strategic decision-making on the racecourse. Analyze wind shifts meticulously to anticipate changes before they occur and position yourself advantageously on the course accordingly. Keep an eye on other competitors’ tactics as well; learn from their successes but also be ready to adapt and counter their moves. Sail smart, exploiting any tactical opportunity that arises to gain an edge over your rivals.

4. Teamwork: For those participating in two-person or three-person Laser 2 racing, effective teamwork is paramount. Communication between teammates on boat handling, sail setting adjustments, and tactical decisions need to be smooth and seamless. A synchronized effort between the helmsman and crew can make the difference between a win and a loss. Develop trust with your team members, learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and work in tandem towards a common goal.

5. Physical Fitness: Sailing may not seem like an intense physical activity at first glance, but maintaining optimal fitness levels is vital for competitive success in a Laser 2 sailboat race. Cardiovascular endurance helps you sustain high energy levels throughout demanding races, while strength training allows you to handle the boat’s forces efficiently during maneuvers. Core stability exercises are indispensable for maintaining balance on trapezing boats like the Laser 2.

Conclusion: Unleashing your competitiveness in a Laser 2 sailboat is a journey that combines technical mastery of boat handling, strategic decision-making, effective teamwork, and physical fitness. Investing time in honing these skills will undoubtedly elevate your racing game to new heights of excellence. So embrace the thrill of competition, embrace the adventure that comes with sailing a Laser 2, and prepare to unleash your full potential as you conquer the waves with style!

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Laser 2 Info & Links

The Laser 2 (Laser II) is a high-performance racing dinghy designed by Frank Bethwaite in 1979, in a similar fashion to the strict one design Laser dinghy. The Bethwaite family went on to design the well known and highly respected 29er & 49er classes.

Designed to be sailed by a crew of two, the lightweight hull comes readily to the plane, which makes for fast and exciting sailing, especially off the wind on a 3 sail reach. Due to it's relatively short length, it's very responsive and can be challenging to sail. Quick to rig and easy to right from a capsize, all sail controls are kept simple. Its only real downside is its poor light wind performance. It's best suited to light to medium weight crews.

The hulls and fittings are very well made and will usually last a long time. Older boats usually clean up well and the original fittings can normally be bought back into action using WD40 or silicon spray.

Several variations of the Laser 2 were produced:

Laser 2 Regatta

The Laser 2 Regatta is the racing version equipped with spinnaker and trapeze (earlier versions used bags instead of a shute). This is the standard and most common version of the Laser 2 dinghy, which was extremely popular and heavily marketed by the Laser Centre during the 1980s and early 1990s.

Laser 2 Fun

The Laser 2 Fun was designed for recreational sailing. It doesn't have a spinnaker, features brightly coloured sails, reefing points on the mainsail and a furling jib mechanism.

Laser 2 Fun New Wave

A short lived Laser 2 featuring an asymmetric spinnaker.

Escape Expedition

The Escape Expedition 14.5 was a Laser 2 hull combined with an Escape SmartRig.

The Laser 3000 is essentially a Laser 2 hull with an asymmetric rig and open, self-draining cockpit, which was introduced in 1996.

Vandercraft 3000 (V3000)

The V3000 is an improved version of the Laser 3000.

• UK Laser 2 Facebook Page
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• Vandercraft V3000 page
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• Vanguard Laser 2 Rigging Manual
• Laser Fun & Fun New Wave Rigging Manual
• Class Rules
• Measurement Diagram 1 (hull layout)
• Measurement Diagram 2 (sails)
• Measurement Diagram 3 (spinnaker)

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Taken from the rigging manual:

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Laser 2 Sailing Dinghy

Laser 2 sailing dinghy

The Laser 2 is a light and fast two-person dinghy with trapeze and spinnaker. The ideal crew weight is between 120 and 170 kg. This makes the Laser 2 an ideal boat for mixed crews and youth sailors. The Laser 2 is a true high performance one-design dinghy, from the same stable (Bethwaite) as the B14 and 49er.

The fact that the Laser 2 is a strict one-design means that one can have the high performance and incredibly close racing without needing the expensive fittings and equipment which have become a prerequisite to success in other classes – the dreaded “cheque book sailing.” Racing in the Laser 2 class is the most affordable two-person racing available. The regattas are very exciting and invariably have extremely close finishes. Boat speed is a function of the performance of the helm and crew, not of the size of their wallets. The speed of this relatively small boat is simply incredible!

The Laser 2 is solidly built, like the original Laser. Since older boats don’t get soft, they can compete on the same level as new boats without any disadvantage. There are currently about 11000 Laser 2s worldwide. The Laser 2 is an international ISAF class World and European championships alternate on an annual basis. In Ireland the Laser 2 is the boat of choice for those who intend to go on to compete at olympic level in the 470, as well as those who wish to participate in well-organised regattas with a high standard of national-level competition.

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Length : 4.39m Beam : 1.42m Weight : 79kg Sail Area : 11.52m sq Portsmouth Yardstick : 1033

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Laser 2 Rigging Guide

Go To: Sailing - Rigging Guides

Posted on 02 May 2010 14:53

The Laser 2 is a two person dinghy, which comes in various different configurations, some with trapeze, some with spinnakers, some with both. There are a range of names for them, from Regatta, Fun, and Fun New Wave amongst others. With an ideal crew weight between 120-170kg, it's an ideal boat for mixed crews and younger sailors.

The Laser 2 was launched in Australia and North America in 1979, then Europe in 1980. It was designed by Frank Bethwaite, whos family are also responsible for other high performance boats such as the 29er, 49er and B14. It's still fairly popular with University racing in the UK, as it's open handicap popularity has dropped in recent years with the launch of the newer asymmetric ranges from Laser, Topper and RS. The Laser Vago is considered to be the replacement for the Laser 2.

Photo 1, Parts laid out

Photo 2, Trapeze parts

As far as rigging guides go, sit tight because this is going to be a big one! We've got the spinnaker trapeze version, and are going to rig it all up. We have 102 photos in all to show all the steps, so here we go.

Photo 3, Spinnaker parts

Photo 4, Sails, spars and foils

1. The Parts

- Hull - Mast + Shrouds and Forestay + Trapeze Wires - Boom - Main Sail + Battens, Jib Sail, Spinnaker Sail - Rudder + Tiller + Tiller Extension - Daggerboard - Outhaul - Downhaul - Kicking Strap (various arrangements available, ours uses 2x double pulleys) - Inhaul - Clew Tie Down + Hook - Painter Rope - Trapeze Bungee + Height Adjuster Ropes - Trapeze Handles + Cleats (these vary boat to boat) - Traveller / Hawse - Main Sheet - Jib Sheet - Spinnaker Sheets (one red and one green) - Spinnaker Halyard/Downhaul - Spinnaker bag - Pulley blocks (traveller x1 double, main sheet x2, spinnaker sheets x2, spinnaker halyard x3 etc)

Photo 5, The hull and cockpit layout

Photo 6, Trapeze handles

Photo 7, Shroud adjusters

That's a pretty long kit list we have this time! If you're buying a Laser 2 second hand (which chances are you will be as there are very few new ones), make sure you know what you're getting with the boat. It's always good to have a spares box at hand when rigging up for the first time, chances are something will be missing. If the list above looks quite daunting, then remember that some of it's already attached; there's a good chance all the trapeze wires, handles and adjustors will be hooked up ready to go. We're rigging up a spinnaker trapeze version here - it's quite possible some of the above won't apply to your boat, depending on the model.

Photo 8, Centreboard retaining clip

Photo 9, Spinnaker halyard

Photo 10, Spinnaker halyard cleat

There are also some Laser 2's that come with spinnaker chutes through the foredeck into the cockpit, and some quite rare examples with asymmetric spinnakers (and also a one off quite mad conversion that uses a 29er asymmetric spinnaker). We won't be demonstrating any of this as we don't have any available.

2. The Mast

We're going to start with the mast already up. The mast on a Laser 2 is in two halves - the top half is about 6 feet long, and slides into the lower half - but make sure the main sheet halyard goes down the same side of the mast as it comes up. Before you continue, make sure the end of the main sheet halyard you attach to the sail is pulled all the way down.

Photo 11, Spinnaker halyard

Photo 12, Spinnaker uphaul

Photo 13, Jib cleat

It's pretty easy to get the mast up - one person lifts it up and lowers it onto the mast step on the deck - make sure both the deck step and the bottom of the mast are clean. Hold the mast steady, while a second person attaches each shroud in turn, and then the forestay to the fitting on the front of the deck. It is possible to do this solo - the best way we've found is to attach one shroud and the forestay while the mast lies on the ground, and it should then stay up in place while you attach the other shroud and tighten everything up.

3. The Trapeze

Now the mast is up, let's start with the trapeze, as it's easiest to do without the sails in the way. This is a single trapeze on this boat, one on either side for the crew. If you have them they should already be attached to the mast, and shouldn't be taken off, as you will have to remove the diamond shroud to do this, and won't get it back on after! There is a piece of elastic bungee that goes from the bottom of each handle, around the front of the both, to keep the tension on the handles and pull them forward out of the way. To start, thread the elastic through the micro block on the front of the deck (Photo 14), and pull it through to get equal lengths on each side. You can get double micro blocks - you should use the bottom sheave.

Photo 14, Insert the trapeze elastic

Photo 15, Through the bullseyes

Photo 16, Into the cockpit

Next, hold the ends together, and thread them through the fairlead in front of the mast (Photo 15). They then split, one going to each side. There is a fairlead inside the cockpit on the front side that it should lead through (Photo 16), and then for now, tie a quick knot in it, to hold it here (Photo 17), and do the same for the other side.

Next, assemble the trapezes with their handles. You can get slightly varying handles, We have v-jammer adjustors on them. Tie the trapeze adjustor rope (should be about 60cm / 2 feet long), onto the bottom of the jammer with a bowline (Photo 18), then take it around the pulley block of the handle (Photo 19), back through the jammer and tie a knot in the rope to stop it coming out, as shown (Photo 20).

Photo 17, Tie it off for now

Photo 18, Rope adjuster on the trapeze handle

Photo 19, Through the handle

Now, take the end of the trapeze bungee, un-knot it, and secure it around the trapeze handle (Photo 21). We've used a slightly altered round turn and two half hitches, feeding the working end through one of the turns - this stops the elastic slipping through so easily (Photo 22).

Photo 20, Completed adjuster

Photo 21, Secure the trapeze elastic to the handle

Photo 22, Secure the trapeze elastic to the handle

Photo 23, Attach the jib to the front ring

Photo 24, Clip the jib on

The jib is next - make sure your jib halyard is free of any other lines (e.g. the spinnaker uphaul or halyard). Attach the front bottom edge (the tack) of the jib to the front loop of the boat using a shackle. We have to clip our jib onto the forestay along it's luff, but not all Laser 2 sails have these (in fact class legal ones don't).

Photo 25, Attach the jib to the halyard

Photo 26, Hoist the jib, and clip the jammer in

Photo 27, Neatly coil the halyard

Attach the end of the halyard onto the top of the jib with a suitable shackle (Photo 25), and hoist it. We've used a slightly different jib here, it's not Laser 2 class legal, and is ever so slightly smaller, hence the number of shackles on the top to make the wires fit. The Laser 2 has a crimp on the wire part of the halyard - which you can see in Photo 26 if you squint or without squinting in Photo 13 - this has to be fed through the metal fitting shown, and pulled towards the mast to hook it on - you may need to pull on the forestay to give you some extra slack to clip it in. The jib should then stay up - but we had to experiment with shackles to get the fit right. Coil up the halyard rope neatly (Photo 27) - this can be stowed on the deck or in the cockpit - we've got a nice neat solution of two halyard bags, as you can see in Photo 82 at the bottom of this rigging guide. In fact, these are just two see through pencil cases that we managed to attach to the front of the cockpit using shackles and the fairleads.

Photo 28, Jib clew

Photo 29, A bad way to attach the jib sheets

Photo 30, They get twisted easily this way

To finish the jib, attach the jib sheet to the jib clew (Photo 28). The method we've shown here first is a lazy method - fold the rope in half, pass the middle (bite) through the jib clew, then pass the two ends through the middle of the bite (Photo 29), and pull it tight (Photo 30). This is a quick way of doing it, but we've found that when sailing, the two jib sheets tangle up and wind around each other very quickly. They can be fairly easily untangled by sheeting in the jib tight, but the better way is to put a stop knot half way down the length of rope (Photo 31).

Photo 31, Better way - equalize the jib sheet

Photo 32, Stopper knot one side

Photo 33, Stopper knot the other side

Pull it through the jib clew until the knot is against the clew (Photo 32), then put another stopper knot in the other side of the clew, as shown in Photo 33. For some reason, jib sheets tend to tangle slightly less this way, we find. Finally, feed the ends of the jib sheets through the bullseyes (Photo 34), then into the cockpit (Photo 35). Inside or outside of the trapeze lines is the question - the answer is personal preference. The jib sheets need to come inside of the shrouds on the Laser 2, to allow you to sheet the jib in tightly enough.

Photo 34, Jib sheet through the jammer

Photo 35, and into the cockpit

5. Traveller

The traveller is quite easy - take the rope for the traveller, put a small bowline in one end of it, thread the working end through one of the bullseyes/fairleads on the back of the deck, thread it through the smaller block of the two joined blocks (ours are taped together), through the other bullseye/fairlead, the working end through the bowline (as shown in Photo 36), into the cockpit, and through the jammer cleat (Photo 37). Don't forget to put a stopper or figure eight knot in the rope to stop it coming back through (Photo 38).

Photo 36, Attach the hawse or traveller

Photo 37, Lead it into the cockpit

Photo 38, Jam the traveller line

To start the outhaul, secure one end of the line to the bullseye on the end of the boom (on the top), using a bowline (Photo 39). Take it through the smaller side of the stainless steel hook (Photo 40), then back through the bullseye (Photo 41). This line then leads along the top of the length of the boom, and through the jammer cleat on the top of the boom (Photo 42). Again, put a stopper knot in it, and the outhaul is done. If you're not rigging race legal, you could do a different outhaul arrangement, with blocks for a multi-purchase system like we use usually, as our club doesn't worry about race legal, but if you're up against other Laser 2's, you should use this class legal standard outhaul.

Photo 39, Start the outhaul with a bowline

Photo 40, Take it through an S-hook

Photo 41, Back through the first fairlead

7. Main Sail

Unfold the main sail (Photo 43), and get the battens ready. Insert each batten into it's correct batten pocket (Photo 44), and seal them in. On some sails this is just tucking the batten into a fold of the edge of the sail, on this sail we have velcro pocket ends, to stop the battens coming out as shown in Photo 45 (as they don't readily float, as we found out with our Merlin Rocket ones after a capsize!).

Photo 42, Along the boom into the jammer cleat

Photo 43, The main sail

Photo 44, Insert the battens

To raise the main sail, attach the halyard end to the top of the sail, using a suitable shackle (Photo 46) - at this point you may wish to add a masthead float or a few plastic bottles to stop you inverting (as Laser 2's have a reputation for inverting quickly). Slide the sail luff bolt rope into the mast slot (Photo 47), and as one person feeds the sail in (Photo 48), the other should pull on the halyard end that comes out of the bottom of the mast, to raise the sail. If it's difficult to pull up, check the following:

Photo 45, Ensure the pockets are sealed securely

Photo 46, Attach the halyard

Photo 47, Insert the bolt rope into the mast slot

1. The sheave block at the top of the mast, and at the bottom where the rope comes out should freely roll. If they are stiff or rusted, you will struggle, and should consider replacing them. We had to send off to the USA for replacements for the lower one, but it makes an incredible amount of difference. Try a simple oiling first though, don't immediately replace them. 2. If the sheave is ok, and the bolt rope is a little swollen/rough, try some silicon spray along the luff, this should make it easier to hoist. 3. Check the top of the bolt rope, next to the head of the sail, is tight and not frayed. If necessary, use a sharp knife, such as a craft knife, to cut the lose fraying rope off, then try to seal it with a flame.

Photo 48, Carefully hoist the sail

Photo 49, The rack for the main halyard

Photo 50, The halyard cleated off instead

For a standard Laser 2, you should be able to pull the halyard all the way out and expose the end of the stainless steel rope part of the halyard (Photo 49), then hook the wire loop onto one of the teeth on the halyard rack. Depending on conditions you should increase tension on the mainsail by hooking onto a higher tooth. Unfortunately when we had our main halyard wire replaced (as it was fraying), the replacement wire was not quite long enough, so we've had to add a stainless steel figure 8 cleat on the mast, just to the side of the rack (Photo 50). This however is still class legal. Finally, loosely coil up the rope and stow it - we've added halyard bags to pop this into, which you'll see later.

Photo 51, Starting the downhaul with a bowline

Photo 52, Through the sail

Photo 53, Through the top of the jammer cleat

8. The Downhaul

Next comes the downhaul - the purple rope on our boat. We've used lots of different colour pieces of rope to make it easy to tell which rope each one is, and this one is purpe. Start by tying a bowline in the end of the rope , then feed it through the cringle in the front of the main sail (Photo 51) - you should use the upper one (Photo 52), as you won't be able to pull the sail down much with the lower one, which should be used as a sail inhaul. As shown in the picture, get relatively equal lengths of rope either side of the sail. Next, with the working end, feed it upwards through the jammer cleat (Photo 53) just under the boom so it comes around the top edge of the cleat without touching the jaws, through the eyehole of the bowline (Photo 54), then back down through the jammer cleat, through the jaws. This now gives you a multi-purchase (2:1) downhaul, without using a pulley block, which is against class rules. Put the boom on the gooseneck, and this stage is done, as in Photo 55. Make sure the downhaul passes both sides of the boom as shown in Photo 56.

Photo 54, Back through the bowline loop

Photo 55, The completed downhaul

Photo 56, Make sure its either side of the boom

9. Clew Tie Down

We've added a quick and dirty clew tie down - just a length of rope passed around the boom and through the clew cringle on the mainsail a few times, secured with a reef knot, shown in Photo 57. You can come up with more elaborate solutions, but this is simple enough. Just make sure that it's not too tight, and the outhaul rope passes through the middle of it. You also don't want to trap the mainsheet if you've already added it by this point. Why do we need a clew tie down on a Laser 2? Much like the Laser 1, as it's a loose footed mainsail, if you don't have a clew tie down, when you let the outhaul off, the sail may have a tendency to rise up off the boom just lowering the boom, instead of forward along the boom giving it a more curved shape.

Photo 57, The clew tie down

10. Mainsheet

You probably will already have the correct block attached to the boom for the mainsheet, but if you haven't, it should be the black pulley with a becket. Attach it to the boom as shown, then start the mainsheet off the becket, using a bowline (Photo 58). We're using the 10mm thick blue and white rope (note this isn't standard Laser 2 issue but the class rules don't restrain you on rope types/thicknesses/colours). Take it through the larger top block of the traveller, in the front to back direction (i.e. through the front, and out towards the back) as in Photo 59, then back up and through the first pulley again (Photo 60), this time from the back through to the front. Take it along the boom, through the small fairlead (shown between the two spinnaker pole holders, Photo 61), through the final block on the boom (Photo 62), then through the block on the cockpit floor (Photo 63).

Photo 58, Start the mainsheet with a bowline

Photo 59, Through the traveller block, front to back

Photo 60, Through the boom block, back to front

Photo 61, Through the fairlead on the underside of the boom

Photo 62, Through the last block on the boom

Photo 63, Through the cockpit ratchet block

It needs to go through the cockpit block in certain direction, that is, so the ratchet (when switched on), makes a noise as you pull the rope through as if you were sheeting in. You can see the complete mainsheet arrangement in Picture 64 (ignore the weed choked Mirrors in the background). Ideally, you should put a stopper knot in the mainsheet (Photo 65), so you can't lose it completely through the block (although if you have one long enough this is unlikely). Better still, pull the sail out until the boom is about two inches from touching the shroud, and put a stopper knot in the mainsheet just before it goes through the block - this will keep the boom from hitting the shroud, which can never be a good thing.

Photo 64, The completed mainsheet

Photo 65, Tie a knot in it

The kicking strap, such a necessity. Without it, we can't depower the sail when it's too windy. The one that comes as standard with the Laser 2 is pretty pokey, and to be honest, we couldn't figure out how the odd kicking strap block worked, so we replaced it with the one shown in the photos, which was actually found on the rigging DVD from the Laser 2 class association. Their video guide to it is pretty good, and easier to figure out than seeing it in photos, but we'll try.

Photo 66, The kicker system

Photo 67, The kicker system

The class rules allow two double blocks, one with a jammer cleat on. You are not allowed to use any other pulley blocks in the system, and only one line is allowed, but you are allowed to use the line itself to create a multi-ratio system. How do you do that? With clever use of some knots and loops. You are also allowed to use rope protectors. Photos 66 to 68 show the setup of the kicker.

Start with the bowline around the becket on the jammer cleat (on the right). A bowline loop needs to be made around this becket, with one end going through the one pulley sheave on the other block, and then out the other end, ending in a bowline in a thimble. This knot must be as close to the metal thimble as possible - no gaps, or the rope will fall off the thimble. The other end of the line from the first bowline comes up to the thimble bowline, and through the centre of it, acting as a pulley. It then goes back down to the lower jammer block and around a block (not the jammer one), back up and around a block on the top block, then back down to the lower block, and through the block then jammer.

Photo 68, The kicker system

We've indicated the lengths of rope for each measurement in centimetres - this will take some adjustment on your boat depending on the size of your blocks, and how many shackles you use to attach things, so you may need to vary it slightly. It's important to put this all together next to the boat, as you'll need to adjust the position of the knot, as this controls how far apart the blocks will move, but also how close together the blocks will come. This pulley system is quite tricky - but worth the effort.

Photo 69, Attached to the mast

Photo 70, Attached to the boom

Photo 71, The complete kicker

Next, attach the kicker to the fixing point on the bottom of the mast (Photo 69). You may need a selection of shackles to get the kicker angled correctly - we've since changed ours to use a hook, as it's much easier and quicker to take on and off, but in the photo we've shown three blocks to change the angle enough. You can use a twisted shackle instead if you like. It's a good idea to be careful what shackles you use, as we found the shackle key handle was digging into the aluminium groove on the mast. The other end of the kicker should attach to the kicking point on the boom (Photo 70). While you're still rigging, remember to let the kicker run as slack as possible to depower the sail. The complete setup is shown in Photo 71.

12. Rudder and Centreboard

You can't sail a boat without it's foils... well actually, see our Centreboardless and Rudderless articles but it's pretty tricky doing both at the same time (especially in a Laser 2). In any case, it's much easier to sail with them attached. Next, we attached the rudder (Photo 72), by sliding it onto it's pintles. Our rudder is already setup with the lines attached, which you can see more information on in our article on rudder repairs , but basically, we have the bung attached to the rudder with a thin line (so we never forget it, as shown in Photo 73), and a downhaul on the rudder to allow us to pull it down while on the water. It drops onto it's pintles as shown, then the bung is screwed in. To finish off the rudder, insert the tiller into the top of the stop, and remember to pass the tiller extension under the back part of the traveller (Photo 74), but over the front part, as shown. Secure the tiller into the stock with a cotter pin, as shown in Photo 75, making sure this in turn is tied onto the stock.

Photo 72, Attach the rudder

Photo 73, Remember the bung

Photo 74, Add the tiller and tiller extension

Finally, add the daggerboard. On the Laser 2 it drops into the slot, which you won't be able to do on land. Ideally it should have a securing clip like ours on top, with a matching clip line secured somewhere in the cockpit (Photo 77) - ours is on the front. This stops it sinking or floating off when you capsize. Sorry, if you capsize.

Photo 75, Secure the tiller to rudder

Photo 76, The rudder downhaul ready

Photo 77, Add the centreboard and clip it on

The boat is now ready to sail, as shown in Photo 78! You could take it out just like this, and in fact, if it's your first time in a Laser 2, we recommend you do just that. Get used to it for at least a few hours first (unless you're a pretty spectacular sailor), and then come back for the spinnaker rigging part of this guide.

Photo 78, The completed boat (sans Spinnaker)

13. Spinnaker

This is the first rigging guide we've done with a spinnaker in, so sit tight, this is going to drag on a bit longer!

Most Laser 2 models have a classic symmetric spinnaker. There is one particular model that alledgely has an asymmetric spinnaker, but we can't find much conclusive proof of it, and there's also a one off where some nutter took a mast head asymmetric spinnaker from a 29er and modified a Laser 2 to make it fit. At least one of us at Caution Water is a bit jealous of that...

Photo 79, Block at front of the cockpit

Photo 80, Block at back of the cockpit

Photo 81, Block halfway down the cockpit

Chances are, you'll have a standard symmetric spinnaker model. It's a fair sized spinnaker, at 10 metres squared of sail, it'll keep you going at a fair whack down wind. Some models of the Laser 2 have a built in spinnaker chute running from the front of the deck to the front cockpit wall, but not all do, and if you have one that doesn't, you'll have to use a spinnaker bag, like we do. If you have a chute, it only makes a minor difference to this guide, and we'll point out where that is.

Photo 82, Halyard bags (non standard)

For more in depth articles on how to generally rig a spinnaker, see our series on spinnakers - it would be a good start to read that first. This is the Laser 2 version.

To start, we have a long spinnaker halyard/retrieval line. It goes into a sheave on the mast just above the jib block about 3/4 of the way up the mast, travels down through the mast, and exits just below the gooseneck, on the front of the mast (you can just about see it in Photo 9). There is no sheave at the bottom - just a hole. It then passes through a small jammer cleat on the mast (designed only to hold the spinnaker up, shown in Photo 10), and then starts traversing around the cockpit to turn into the retrieval line.

Photo 83, Spinnaker halyard and retrieval line

Photo 84, Spinnaker halyard and retrieval line

Photo 85, Spinnaker halyard and retrieval line

Coming from the jammer, it comes straight down to a small block located at the front of the cockpit - we've put ours on the same fitting as the toestraps. There are several other blocks that it is then designed to go through. For a properly rigged Laser 2, looking at the cockpit from the front of the boat, it travels from the mast, down through the block we've already discussed, along the middle of the cockpit, through a small pulley block attached to the main sheet block spring, through a small pulley block attached to the back of the cockpit (again to the toestrap fixing point), then back along the length of the cockpit along the right hand side, where it's picked up as the retrieval line, and attached to the spinnaker. You can see this in Photos 79, 80, 81, 83, 84 and 85.

Photo 86, Spinnaker halyard and retrieval line (shortened)

Photo 87, Spinnaker sheet block

Photo 88, Attach the halyard

However, on the few occasions we've tried this arrangement, it's caused issues, typically the longer the line in the cockpit, the more chance of it getting snagged on something or sat on (small cockpit, it's difficult to avoid sitting on things). Most asymmetric boats with spinnakers have their halyard/retrieval line only traverse the front half of the cockpit, so that's what we've done in Photo 86. We have the blocks in the same places, but we miss out the block at the back of the cockpit, so it only travels down to the mainsheet and back, and has less opportunity to get trod on or snagged. We're not entirely sure if this is in contravention of the class rules, so check before you make this minor change for class racing.

Photo 89, Partially hoist the spinnaker

Photo 90, Pass the retrieval line through the first patch

Photo 91, Attach the retrieval line to the second patch

The rest of our setup for the spinnaker is fairly standard. We have a pulley block on either side of the boat, attached to the chainplates for the shrouds with a shackle, as shown in Photo 87. The end of the halyard (that hopefully you didn't lose inside the mast as it's a pain to get through again) is attached to the head of the sail with a bowline, as shown in Photo 88, and the sail is then partially hoisted (Photo 89). The retrieval line that has been fed around the cockpit is fed up through the middle of the first patch (Photo 90), and then attached to the second with a bowline (Photo 91), as the Laser 2 has two retrieval patches. This is just to make getting it down a little easier as it has a fairly big belly. When done, hoist the sail up all the way (unless it's too windy).

Photo 92, Match sheet colour to sail corners

Photo 93, Attach the spinnaker sheet with a bowline

Photo 94, Through the jammer blocks and cleats

Photo 95, Through the fairlead

Photo 96, Attach the other sheet

Photo 97, Through the jammer and block

Next, attach the sheets; we have ours colour coded, white rope with red flecks for port, and green flecks for starboard (shown in Photos 92, 93 and 96). As the corners of the sail are colour coded, it makes everything a little easier. The spinnaker sheets are easily attached with a bowline (Photos 93 and 96). The sheet is then fed through the spinnaker jammer blocks just in front of the shroud chain plates (Photos 94 and 97), through the blocks attached to the chainplates, and then through the external bullseye halfway back along the deck (Photo 95), and into the cockpit. You can see the fully hoisted spinnaker in Photo 98. Make sure you rig all of the spinnaker lines outside of the jib sheets - for this reason it's best to have the jib rigged up first.

Photo 98, The spinnaker hoisted and ready

Photo 99, Pack the spinnaker

Photo 100, Practise this lots

Photo 101, The sheets and halyard go in last and stick out

Finally, drop the sail, and stuff it into the spinnaker bag (Photo 99). The belly and retrieval patches should go in first, followed by the three corners last, with the corners and their attached rope sticking out of the mouth of the bag, free and ready to hoist, as shown in PHotos 100 and 101. As we mentioned before, you can get Laser 2 with spinnaker chutes - we tried to modify ours, and attached a fabric spinnaker chute from a Dart 16, which is about 4 feet long and made out of grey shiny material. Unfortunately as it was relatively new, and the spinnaker was also fairly new, there was too much friction between the two, and the spinnaker would only pull in about 2 feet, so it didn't really work. Sailing's all about experimenting :)

There are two final things for the spinnaker - firstly, the spinnaker pole should be attached to the boom. In Photo 4, you can see two grey things, one either side of the boom, about 2/3rds of the way down the boom. These are very similar to short off cuts of fairly narrow guttering, riveted to the boom. The pole pushes through one of these, then is held to the end of the boom using a small elastic bungee tie, similar to those you get on marquees. The other thing is the spinnaker pole uphaul/downhaul. There is a metal fairlead half way up the mast. To this we have attached a length of elastic, which ends in a stainless steel S-hook. This elastic is short enough to be under tension enough so that when it attaches to the small fairlead half way down the spinnaker pole, it pulls the pole up (even when it is under load of the spinnaker). This S-hook also has a length of 5mm rope attached to it, which comes down from the hook, through a v-jammer cleat on the mast (there is one on the front that can be used), and this will now act as a pole uphaul/downhaul. When not in use, clip it onto the spinnaker pole ring on the front of the mast.

Photo 102, Ready to hoist when on the water

So there you have it - this was a long one, as we said - there's lots of things to play with on a Laser 2. There are various different models, but many of them will have the features described above, and if you have one that has anything extra we'd be happy to receive photos to add to this guide. Enjoy sailing your Laser 2!

Fig 1. Get all the gear ready

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Better Sailing

How Fast is a Laser Sailboat? Laser Sailboat Top Speed

A single-handed racing dinghy; it’s the Laser. The Laser dinghy’s most appealing feature is that it is protected by rigorous one-design class rules, which means that no changes to the boat are permitted unless it’s specified in the rules. As a result, whether a boat is brand new or ten years old, all Laser boats are nearly identical, allowing the sailor to win the race rather than the boat. The Laser is a difficult boat that rewards athleticism, sophisticated steering and trimming methods, and tactical mastery. Note that it’s a singlehanded Olympic class boat that is sailed at the club, national, and international levels by both men and women. It is the world’s most popular adult and junior racing sailboat, with over 200,000 boats in 140 nations. So, in this article, I will give information about the Laser boats as well as the speeds they can attain. So, keep reading!

The Laser Formula

The Laser Formula combines a single hull with three rigs: standard, radial, and 4.7. Young sailors who start out in the 4.7 can progress in rig size as they improve physically and tactically. They also don’t have to buy a new boat every few years. Because of the one-design protection, the Laser will never be obsolete. And, this explains why Lasers generally have high resale prices.

The Laser Formula also refers to the choice of rigs for different weights of people. It’s basically like having three boats in one. The Laser can be sailed easily in all wind conditions by modifying only the sail and lower mast. And it provides exhilarating yet controlled sailing for any sailor weighing as little as 35 kg.

So, the Laser Formula is a three-rigged sailboat that has been adopted by a number of sailing schools as a simple and cost-effective solution to keep sailing in all winds and reduce “downtime.” The Laser 4.7 has a 35 percent reduced sail area than the Laser Standard and a short pre-bent lower mast to maintain a balanced helm. It’s perfect for those learning to sail or those graduating from the Optimist class.

The next step up is the Laser Radial. It has a lower mast that is more flexible and slightly shorter, as well as a sail area that is 18% smaller than the Laser Standard. National and international regattas, as well as World Open and Youth Championships, attract as many countries and competitors as the Laser Standard Rig. The Laser Radial has large popularity among lighter weight sailors, as well as children, women, and masters racing.

Many countries now offer a comprehensive Laser Radial Youth program. The majority of national yachting authorities responded that the Laser Radial was their favorite youth boat in a study done by the International Sailing Federation. In moderate winds, any weight can sail the Laser Standard, but as the wind increases, it is better suited to heavier sailor weights. Apart from the significant second-hand market for Lasers with the Laser Standard rig, the lower mast and sails for Laser Radial and Laser 4.7 as a separate package from the hull have an even stronger second-hand market. Finally, a strong class association that actively promotes and advances Laser sailing around the world allows for mass manufacture of the Laser, lowering the cost of the boats and spares.

A Comparison of the Rigs

The Laser sailboat offers a variety of rig sizes, with the goal of making the boat sailable by a wide range of sailors and sailor weights. This happens by swapping out the lower mast section and leaving all other components the same. There are three different rig sizes now available. These are the ‘Standard,’ ‘Radial,’ and ‘4.7.’ Below is a graphic that compares the three rigs, and we’ll go through each one in detail in the next part.

Laser Standard

This is the most popular Laser rig size, as well as the one that came standard on the boat when it was built. It has a sail area of 7.06 square meters (about 76 square feet). The Laser Class approved a new ‘Standard’ sail in 2018, known as the ‘MKII’ or ‘Mark 2’ to differentiate it from the previous version. The difference is in the panels, among other things. Horizontal cut panels were used on the original ‘Standard’ sail. Note that radial cut panels are featured on the new MKII sail. Note that there is no size difference between these two variants. Moreover, all-new Laser Standard sails are now available in this upgraded version.

Keep in mind that when you look at the panels you can identify if you have a ‘Standard’ sail. It’s most likely a conventional sail if they’re horizontal. Then, you can measure the luff or the front edge of the sail along the mast sleeve. From the peak of the sail to the bottom, this measurement should be around 5130 mm or 200 inches. Note that the ‘Standard’ lower mast portion should be 2865 mm (113 inches) in length. In comparison to the two smaller mast portions, it is a rather sturdy mast section.

The Laser 4.7 (also known as the ILCA 5) is the smallest of the three Laser sails. It was firstly used for young sailors. The 4.7 lower mast part is one-of-a-kind because it features a pre-bend near the boom fitting. This makes depowering the sail considerably easier. This is the smallest Laser sail size, and if you have an ancient one, it’s unlikely it’s a 4.7 sail. The 4.7 sail has cross-cut panels, similar to the traditional ‘Standard’ sail. Many 4.7 sails also include a 4.7 logo on the material.

You can also measure the luff which is the front edge of the sail along the mast sleeve. From the peak of the sail to the bottom, this measurement should be around 4080 mm or 160 inches. Note that the lower mast part of the ‘4.7 features a pre-bend and should measure around 1810 mm (71 inches). The bend is the most obvious feature that distinguishes it from the others.

Laser Radial

The Laser ‘Radial’ sail, formerly known as the ‘M’ rig, is smaller than the ‘Standard’ sail, measuring 5.76 square meters (62 square feet). It was the only Laser sail at the time to include radial cut panels, which made de-powering the sail easier in strong gusts. Both the Standard and Radial sails have the radial cut design, as mentioned above for the ‘Standard’ rig. The blue panels at the tack and clew of the sail are another telltale sign of a Radial sail size.

Looking at the panels is the first and most obvious way to identify if you have a ‘Radial’ sail. It’s most likely a radial sail if they’re radial, as in radiating out from the center. From the peak of the sail to the bottom, this measurement should be around 4560 mm or 180 inches. Note that the lowest mast part of the ‘Radial’ should be 2262 mm (89 inches) in length. It’s also a little smaller than the usual portion in diameter.

Laser Sailing

Sailing on a laser differs significantly from sailing on other boats. There is no motor, paddle, or oars on a laser dinghy. To move your boat across the water, you must master the technique of harnessing the wind. It could be a calm breeze one day, making sailing a peaceful contact with nature. And then a violent gust the next, putting your talent in syncing your movements with the boat, the wind, and the water to the test.

The Laser dinghy is used in laser sailing, which is a popular water sport. Despite the boat’s simple design, Laser sailors and racers encounter a unique set of hurdles that necessitate specific physical abilities. Laser sailing requires a high level of fitness in order for a sailor to be able to handle the trekking and body-twisting skills that are required in sailing, particularly when sailing upwind.

Keep in mind that Laser radial sailing is often reserved for sailors of a lighter weight. The Laser Radial, as opposed to the Laser Standard, has a smaller sail and is chosen by many female laser sailors. The International Class Association, like the Laser Standard, has stringent supervision over the design. The size of the sail as well as the lower half of the mast are the only differences.

Different Wind Conditions and Laser Sailing

It’s all about getting your head out of the boat in light winds because even a small increase in wind speed results in a significant difference in boat speed. To maintain maximum water-line length, sailors place themselves well forward in the boat. In other words, their bodyweight must be just behind the centerboard. Not only is this faster, but it also gives the rudder a better feel with the bow in. In addition, it avoids the urge to produce too much leeward heel, which many people do only to obtain a greater rudder feel.

In medium winds, you just focus on the power. Meaning that you need to modify the sail controls to stay fully powered but not overpowering. This is especially crucial if you see a gradual increase or drop in wind speed during the race or course. So, it’s important that you hike “straight out.” To get the proper fore and aft trim with the waves, active body movement, or “kinetics,” is essential. Remember that if you spend most of your time leaning forward, you will most likely set too far back, and vice versa. You should spend approximately the same time for forwarding and backward body movements.

In strong winds, it’s natural to want to use as much power as possible, but this isn’t the same as making maximum upwind progress. Holding on to too much sheet will actually reduce your velocity, whereas loosening the sheet will not only maintain the boat flat. It will also assist it to accelerate in the wind rather than just heeling over and slide sideways. You may feel as if you’re pointing at the boat to leeward if you bear away somewhat. But in really strong gusts, you’re probably retaining your height better. The Laser will slip less sideways if it maintains its pace. As a result, sailing “fast and low” is frequently effective here. The most important suggestion is to maintain a steady heel angle. If the boat “staggers” upwind, it is not only slow, but it also means you are putting in the extra effort.

>>Also Read: How To Sail Single Handed

How Fast Do Laser Sailboats Go?

The fastest recorded speed for a laser sailboat is 18.6 knots. The fastest recorded speed was at 18.6 knots in 2017 in the United Kingdom. The previous record was set in Honolulu in 2009, when the Laser reached a speed of 16.8 knots. Mark Denzer of Honolulu, Hawaii, has held the official Laser sailboat speed record of 16.8 knots since January 16, 2009. High wind warnings, civil defense alerts, state government closures, and gusts up to 60 knots made for a great day for Laser sailing on this record-breaking day. However, the wind never went beyond 30 knots during the record-breaking attempt.

In gusts of approximately 15 mph, you can typically get the full-rig to plane (reaching) if you’re lightweight. Even at lesser wind speeds, it’s possible. However, by today’s standards, the Laser is hardly a fast boat; a Hobie 16 would be faster. And GPS-recorded speeds can sometimes be inaccurate. Without going into the technical gritty of how a GPS device measures velocity, it’s important to distinguish between instantaneous speed (for example, down a wave) and speed maintained over some specific distance. As a side note, ‘official’ speed records are set over a 500-meter course. Keep in mind that the upper wind strengths for a Laser are in the 30-40 mph range.

Using a GPS, you can record some incredible speeds. These speeds, of course, do not stay long because they are caused by position variations in the GPS system. That’s why GPS’s average speed over time is so important. As a result, it is dependent on how this speed was measured, under what conditions, and for how long.

In a medium breeze upwind, most laser sailors will attain a hull speed of just under 5 knots, which is why you’ll often see the crew condensed at the windward mark in a specific range of wind. When the breeze is steady, with minimal shifts and a consistent velocity, the leaders in the crew have a lot less to work with. And, the sailors further down the crew have fewer external inputs, so they make fewer mistakes. You can see how, once everyone hits maximum hull speed, most boats sit at the same speed upwind with little opportunity to break through that barrier.

In lighter winds, more skilled sailors will make better use of the available wind energy. And, as a result, maintain higher average speeds around the course than sailors further down the crew who move around too much. They also have a sail set up in a less-than-optimal shape and steer in such a way that energy isn’t converted into forward drive as efficiently.

In severe winds, on the other hand, expert sailors can now sail upwind at hull speed almost constantly. However, there’s the exception of brief times when tacking or navigating through a tough area of water. And they will occasionally exceed it through steering technique and very powerful hiking, allowing the boat to surf or semi-plane for short periods of time. But, further down the fleet, this additional wind, and wave energy becomes a hindrance. So, the boat and sailor will begin to fight it as they deal with increased weather helm. The water will constantly come over the bow, gusts will knock you sideways instead of straight ahead, and so on.

>>Also Read: Best Pocket Cruisers Under 20 Feet

Laser Sailing Upwind

Balance is the key to sailing upwind. The more balanced your boat is, the faster it will travel. You have three tools to regulate the boat speed, just as the pro sailors. The first step is to trim your sail. It is critical that your sail is properly set up. When your sail is properly set, the Laser’s balance should be great. Bear in mind that sailing is a very dynamic sport in which conditions can change rapidly. Meaning that the balance in your boat will change every time the wind strength or direction changes. So, the balance in the Laser will get disturbed every time you hit a tiny or larger wave. And, in order to maintain balance, you have to counteract the boat’s movements.

Your rudder is the second thing you’ll need to keep your Laser balanced while sailing. The rudder can be used to offset disruptive conditions like wind and water. So, you can use the rudder to change course when the wind direction changes slightly. Like this, the pressure in the sail remains constant and your boat remains balanced. You may also use the rudder to balance the boat when it hits a wave. Your bodyweight is the third and last option for balancing the boat. When the boat’s nose starts to rise due to a wave, you have to proceed forward. But, move back as soon as the wave passes and the boat wants to continue down again. This minimizes the disturbance in your Laser and maximizes the boat’s balance. The faster you go, the better balanced your Laser is.

Offshore, the wind can be quite shifty depending on the course’s proximity to the coast. This is sometimes exceedingly close due to stadium racing so that the audience can watch from the shore. This involves taking advantage (and tacking) on every shift in classes like the Laser, which tacks quickly. The angle at which you sail to the windward mark varies a lot. Keep in mind that this will necessitate quick sailing.

Onshore there may be huge waves, as well as a more steady wind, depending on the strength of the wind and the depth of the sea. At this point, we’re focusing on tack minimization since the wind is more likely to be stable, and it takes longer to get up to full speed. In other words, the potential tack loss is much higher. To ensure you can exit with maximum speed, you must choose where to tack extremely carefully. This applies both in terms of the shift and layline, and especially where you tack on the wave.

Laser Sailboat Top Speed – The Bottom Line

So, it is possible for a Laser to hit 20 knots for limited periods of time. These can be when going down the face of a wave. Who among us hasn’t sailed down a wave in 20+ mph only to have the boom swing into the centreline with an unloaded sail? Much more than 20 knots, though, is quite rare, as as you reach higher winds, such as around 30 knots. This is because the sail will stay out and always have some load on it, even on a huge offshore wave.

When sailing upwind, the best Laser sailors in the world all have the same goal in mind. They have, however, mastered the art of perfecting this technique. They are quite proactive in addressing all of the minor variables. As a result, their modifications are smaller, the balance is improved, and the boat moves faster. You may, however, learn to sail the laser as balanced as the experienced guys do so.

In general, I’ve found that the sustained boat speed is usually around 1/2 the wind speed, up to about 10-12 knots. In 15 knots of wind, the Laser will do 7-8 knots, and in 20 knots, it will do 10 knots. Around 6-7 knots boat speed, it appears to come up onto a plane. As it approaches 10 knots, steering becomes more challenging in order to keep the sail full and pulling. It also prevents being hit by a wave that knocks the boat speed down much or causes you to lose excellent sail trim.

Note that any “lash” (free movement) between the tiller and the rudder creates a serious challenge in trying to preserve accurate control of heading. So, trim and consistent power, and the boat direction becomes increasingly responsive to waves and harder to control. As the Laser approaches 12-13 knots through the water, it gets increasingly difficult to maintain the pace for an extended period of time.

Overall, a Laser will cruise at close to hull speed upwind as soon as the wind picks up enough to get the boat moving. Also, in planing conditions, 10+ knots beam reaching and close to that speed downwind regularly occur around a course. I hope this article gave you the answers and necessary information you wanted to learn.

I wish you all safe, pleasant & fast sailing!

Peter is the editor of Better Sailing. He has sailed for countless hours and has maintained his own boats and sailboats for years. After years of trial and error, he decided to start this website to share the knowledge.

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Laser 2, From idea to reality! A guide for owners and boat buyers

The ‘Nearly’ Complete Boat

This post is from 2009. It’s an interesting read. I’ve just started (2017) a GP14 dinghy restoration which I’m documenting here .

This is the story of one man and his boat. It all started when I used my Tesco Clubcard points to go on an RYA sailing course at Bala lake in North Wales in September 2009. I wanted to learn to sail properly for years but had never got around to doing it. I did the RYA level 2 course and learnt to sail in an RS Q’BA making use of the Jib on the second day. I really enjoyed the experience so decided to buy a boat of my own.

Roll forward approximately 2 days when my wife rings me whilst I was in Leeds (we live in Crewe) to say that she had more or less bought a Laser 2 Regatta dinghy from near Solihull and I had to get home to come help collect it. Being several months pregnant at the time didn’t put her in the best position for moving boats around so I got the next train home and a few hours later found myself collecting a boat trailer from a friend and heading down the M6 at huge speed (60 mph!). We decided to take the central Birmingham road instead of the M42. That was mistake number 1. For the next hour we sat in rush hour traffic (or so it seemed) to go the final three miles to the place the boat was being kept.

We arrived at a sea scouts base and were directed towards a boat with half of the parts missing on a trolley with a flat tyre. It wasn’t looking good but immediately all I saw in my head was myself sailing my very own boat just as I was learning to do a couple of days beforehand. Luckily my wife is a little less easily swayed that myself but for £170 who can argue? We were shown another Laser 2 he had in bits and were allowed to remove any parts we thought we needed. I ended up with a spare clamcleat and another Mast step. I even had the blisters to prove it. Sadly there was no daggerboard or rudder to speak of and, at the time (!!), I didn’t realise how much these parts cost. We handed over the cash and shoehorned the boat (and assorted bits) onto the home made trailer and proceeded to the nearest McDonalds (a tradition of ours whereby we have a McDonalds each time we buy something like a house, car or indeed boat). On the way out we decided to take the M42 and were rewarded with no traffic and a lovely drive back to Crewe. Mistake number two was not considering where we might store the boat in the short term as we live in a terraced house with no garage or parking! Luckily a friend who lives nearby lives in a much nicer house with a drive and place to store said boat.

In effect we were left with a Laser 2 dinghy, a mast, a launching trolley and a few basic cleats. The following is the list of things I had left to buy to get the thing on the water and their retail costs.

• £250.00 – Rudder
• £80.00 – Tiller & extension
• £270.00 – Dagger board
• £60.00 – Central main sheet block
• £80.00 – ALL the rope for the boat
• £50.00 – Sail Battens
• £50.00 – Kicking Strap (Kicker)
• £50.00 – Assorted bits including various shackles, cleats, blocks, vernier shroud adjusters and a bung!

There lied the enormity of my task. At the time of writing (Mid November 2009) I have just taken delivery of my final piece to the very large and expensive puzzle, the dagger board.

Over the last two months I have been frantically scanning sailing websites, forums, friends minds and of course eBay. the following details for those people who might be in a similar situation what I found and how I managed to get the boat together as cheaply as possible.

As soon as we got the boat to Manley Mere, it’s next resting place,  I created the above list. Once I had finished weeping I got the parts catalogued  and got on the internet.

Firstly a few things about the Laser 2 you might not have known.

• Laser 2 is a closed class meaning that in order to race them the parts must be official Laser stock and therefore confirm to strict size, material and weight constraints. If you want to get your boat together on a budget then ignore this rule except to assume that parts will NOT be readily available and those that are will NOT be cheap (as above demonstrates)
• Laser 2 is no longer made. This, once again, reflects the fact that parts will be scarce although does give you an idea that at boat jumbles and sailing clubs there might be a few rotting that you could ask about buying.
• Laser 2 was superseded by the Laser 3000. This is in effect good news because many of the parts were used in the new boat. Take, for example, the dagger board which was not changed from from the Laser 2 spec and will therefore fit your boat if you need one.
• Laser 2 has an American counterpart. This means that parts for the boat might be available in the states although steer clear of the sails because they are, according to the head of the North American Laser 2 Class Association, not a good quality as those in the UK.
• Laser Performance Europe has abandoned the boat as far as I can tell and have handed over the rights to sell parts for the UK to a company called Northampton Sailboats ( http://www.sailboats.co.uk ). The staff are friendly and helpful although stock parts at prices which, in my opinion, should only be considered as a last resort. I had to get my Kicker from them for £45.00 plus postage but the more able among you might be able to fabricate one just as easily!

So where did I get my parts from?

After a few days of scouring the internet I decided to bite the bullet and get my wallet out. After the cobwebs had settled I got in touch with several sellers on websites like eBay and Boatsandoutboards.com where you will find plenty of boat parts but not so much Laser 2.

Cost so far: £170.00

I did several hundred Google searches and enquired about some rope to Joe at ropeloft . I rung Joe and within an hour of being on the phone we hatched a plan and created a list of what I needed. This was fairly good seeing as I had no idea what I needed except to describe to him what I did have (which was not a lot!). In the next few days arrived a huge bundle of high quality rope to do everything for the boat I needed including a few bundled offcuts. The grand total was £40.00 all in and the best thing was I actually received the goods before I paid. In my book that does show a very trusting and kind person indeed! I would recommend not using the website as at the time I found it hard to navigate to the extent I got bored and rung him. I would really recommend picking up the phone with any transaction beforehand because the people on the other end are usually really friendly and able to help and in my case it paid off because I got exactly what I needed with zero effort and minimal cost.

Cost so far: £210.00

Next on the list was a few bits and pieces such as a bung, kicker, vernier shroud adjusters and a back to back swivel block for the horse. Sadly for these I went to http://www.sailboats.co.uk because they are generally low cost items I needed and I thought best to get official parts. Of course I got the kicker from them because of my lack of knowledge of the part and lack of patience in making one. This is something which, next time, I would do myself!

Cost so far: £270.00

I contacted Tony at Sailsport Marine ( http://sail-sport.com ) for sail battens and some other bits. I rung up once again to make sure they would fit and was pointed in the direction of a ‘Training Batten Set’  which were half the cost and arrived very quickly. I also ordered an assortment of stainless screws and some plastic balls to go on the end of some of the ropes to act as shackles. They work a treat and were relatively cheap! I also ordered a center main sheet block from them which, although is a little small, does the trick beautifully.

Cost so far: £320.00

Being a bit sad I set up a saved search on eBay for the term ‘Laser 2’ and ‘Laser 2 Regatta’. Checking it daily got me a great bargain in a rudder and stock for £140.00.

Cost so far: £460.00

I then needed a tiller and extension of which the ‘official’ site were selling for around £75-80. I decided to keep trying eBay and a few days later my endurance paid off and I got a Laser 1 carbon tiller and extension for £40.00. A word of warning here though. Although the Laser 1 tiller will fit the Laser 2 stock you may need to ‘help’ the thing into the stock the first time. I used sand paper and furniture polish to do it and then drilled a new hole for the pin to go through but it works really well indeed! Don’t be shy to modify some bits like tillers because it’s very rewarding and brings the cost down no end.

Cost so far: £500.00

Finally I needed the most expensive piece of them all, the dagger board. This part alone would have cost me nearly £300.00 if it wasn’t for me being so stubborn. I scoured Google and asked tens of questions on wanted sites and forums. I kept an eye on eBay but even on there they have cottoned onto the sheer cost of these things. I got to the stage where i was going to ‘borrow’ one from another boat at the place I keep mine and fabricate something crudely out of plywood just to get me on the water. This was not necessary in the end as one of my many requests came back with a positive where someone had an old Laser 3000 board lying around and would sell it to me for £110.00. Thanks to the guys at Sailboat Spares (http://www.sailboatspares.com) I now have the final piece of the puzzle and can now write this post and tot up the overall cost.

Cost so far: £610.00

Notice I used ‘cost so far’ at this final stage. So far I have not yet sailed it so don’t know if there is anything I have forgotten and also there is no spinnaker set up on the boat. Although I am not proficient enough to even consider using one yet it’s on the shopping list definitely! The boat also has provision for trapeze wires so I need to get hold of a harness however it’s not a priority!

Update: Sailed it  few times now… bought a cover for it. It’s a great boat that goes well. My only advice it to make sure you either know how to sail properly or have a second person to be in the boat with you. Single handing this boat with a couple of months experience is not a good idea 🙂

There are a fair few good sites out there about the Laser 2 however be aware that some of them are American and when you are looking for parts are not relevant really. There are a couple of good forums around but are not very active so the best places to look for parts and advice is around the boatyards that have them. Get down to the local sailing club and see if you can get talking to the people that have them because they are far more likely, like me, to have a few contacts for various parts.

I would be interested to hear from anyone who has been/is working on a Laser 2 and wants to share their own sources of parts and knowledge.

Alternatives

I have been contacted by a supplier of Laser 2 parts in the UK who offers a cheaper alternative to using Laser Performance for this. The website address is  http://www.desilcosailing.com/

28 Comments

Just want to say well done. Great story and good to see an L2 back sailable. I have a Laser one and a Laser 2, sail in Chester currently but will be moving to Shotwick Lake for next season (there 2 or 3 Laser 2’s already there and its much better water). How has sailing gone for you. Suppose a little bit of expiereince would have told you the L2 kicker is essentially the L1 original which was incredibly under powered even for the 1. Got mine off ebay for about £10. However switch it with the new style one off my L1 when I can be bothered or when taking juniors out.

Hi John, Good to hear from a fellow enthusiast. My wife’s family sail in Chester, the Whiteheads… I may have met you but apologies for not remembering. I’m awful with names and faces! Yes sailing has been great fun since I have had the boat on the water. The Kicker sadly cost me 40odd quid from the official dealer but it seems to do the trick. I would like to see a cam cleat on there instead of the V shaped it of metal it’s currently got. Would make life easier for derigging etc.. I’m finding the square back a challenge and have chopped about 8 inches from the tiller extension as it was impossible to handle at the huge size it was when I got it. I can’t believe anyone would use that on an L1! Otherwise it’s going great. A little bit too much for a novice like me to handle on my own at times but a very good little boat. I do, however, keep gawping at the Solos they have at Nantwich & Border Counties where I sail. Very nice indeed! Good luck at Shotwick and for the future. Stay in touch.

Hi Sean, great work on the boat and on posting your story here. A friend and I also just got hold of an ageing Laser 2 and we’re some way off getting it into the shape we’d like to see her in. Many of your comments on sourcing parts etc. have been very useful. Thanks again. James

Lovely to see a laser 2 returning to the water. I can suggest a very good website for restoring/maintenance on the laser 2:

http://www.cautionwater.com/category.aspx?categoryid=17

Currently have an as new boat, but thinking of restoring an older one too. The site above is great, lots of advice and tips, make your boat look good as new, repainting and all sorts. If your unsure if something is rigged right, theres a rigging guide on the left hand side of the page. If you want it even more shiny, get some marine polish, they tend to come up nicely.

Also, the UK Class association is in need of new interest and members, as the commitee is thinning; they also have advice to offer through the forum and yahoo group.

http://www.laser2sailing.org.uk/

Oh, and this site has another forum which is handy:

http://www.jard.co.uk/laser2/

Cheers, good luck and well done, looks like a good buy after the spending!

Hi Andy, thanks for the information… I had actually looked at each of those sites but for some reason didn’t document their usefulness in my report. The boat is now sitting at the club for the Winter as the lake is currently frozen, Will see how she goes in the new year once I can procure a wetsuit with legs or a drysuit. Not as hardy as I used to be apparently!

thanks again Sean

I was lucky enough to get a Laser 2 pretty cheap and almost complete. I found your article searching for others having problems with the length of the tiller extension. I took it for its first sail today with a novice crew and found that I had to manually unfoul the extension from the mainsheet at every tack. Bit of nightmare but managed not to take a swim. I’ve been thinking about this hard but can’t visualise a way to turn the boat without hanging that long extension up on either the center mainsheet or if I swing it to the stern, on the mainsheet leading to the traveller. You said how much you cut off but how long did that leave the extension? Can you still hike out far enough? Thanks.

Hi Callum, Impressive you found one nearly complete. I have yet to find one both cheap and ready to sail. Yes I had to cut the tiller extension down quite by bout 8 inches I think but then it was an aftermarket carbon one. I personally don’t go out too far so have never had that issue however yes I imagine that if you were a lot taller and really get forward in the boat then it might be an issue. For me though I have always got a few inches of extension available to lean a little further. It was a bit of a pain having to untangle it each time I tacked, I went for the easy option instead of adjusting my style. I suppose you could give it a little flick as you turn to get it past perhaps. Good luck with it.. good to hear from another enthusiast!

thanks Sean

Hi Sean, thanks for getting back to me. A hacksaw and pop rivet ought to do it. Mine is Aluminium. Can you tell me the length of the tiller and the length of the extension? I probably won’t alter it until the boat is rigged and ready.

Yes it sounds about right doesn’t it. I was a little bit worried about cutting mine down for the same reasons you suggest to best to leave a couple of inches more than you wanted to take off on there and see if you can live with it. Remember you can take off but not put back on again. Sadly Laser 2 tillers and extensions aren’t cheap (as with any other product from Laser Performance). I got mine from eBay as you read in the saga however it’s from a Laser 1 so the measurement I gave would be wrong regardless. The simplest way to check would be to rig the boat (on a calm day) on the trailor, sit in the helming position, pull in the main as far as it will go so that the sheets are tight then attempt a tack on dry land. As your hand passes the main block you have your overlap. As I said it might just be something you can live with or possibly move the main block forward a few inches? You could always put it back I suppose. Not something I considered at the time.

Hope this helps to some degree. I’ve not managed to get out in the boat for a while but with the weather as it is today in the UK I certainly feel that I should make the effort over the next few weeks!

Great story and what a wife you have buying you a boat!!! While pregnant!!!!! She is a dream wife. I just bought a laser 2 with everything but the mast (and rigging) and am searching world wide for one. So far nothing. I might even have to make one from some old mast and have the base engineered to fit in the step. Best of luck and thanks for the story..it gives me hope.

I actually sold the boat a few weeks ago through lack of use. It’s sadly not a good time for me to own one on account of the wife not being bothered and children too young. I had a great time sourcing the bits and making it all work though so I encourage you to stick with it. You might have to start contacting sailing clubs around you because these boats (of a certain age) tend to have been left sitting for years with their bits just ripe for you to buy. You might find that asking around the clubs and getting in touch with owners is enough to convince some bored old sailor to sell you the entire boat and then you can help other people via eBay or similar selling the parts (not to mention making a profit!).

Marvin; If you still haven’t found a mast; Put an add up on “Apolloduck.com”, loads of hulls are worn out around the UK, so you could fairly easily nab a mast.. I am helping to select the new mast design.. so have looked at many alternatives. If you can hang on there will be a new, fully legal laser 2 mast avaliable within the next few months from sailboats uk .com… Otherwise your best bet is to try a shortened 420 mast..

How did getting a mast go and how much did it cost? I have a 25 year old laser 2 and the mast is way past its best, so it really needs replacing.

I would look on eBay or scour the local boat clubs as these boats are really not that popular any more what with cheaper and easier boats on the market. The mast came with mine so I can’t comment on the cost but considering the cost of the boat complete with mast it might make sense for you to get a scrap rig and strip it for parts. It splits into two as you know so transporting it should be fairly easy going.

I have just bought a l2 and love it. Id like to sail it solo on the trap, does anyone know how long the extension needs to be. I saw one post on another forum saying 10′ but not where you can get such a monster which will telescope.

Glad you like it. something telescopic such as this one: http://www.yachtmailchandlery.com/ronstan-telescopic-tiller-extension-740-1210-mm/ might do the trick. You would need to make sure it fits but then the join is fairly standard or can be bodged easily enough to work. Hope this helps.

Hi Sean I live near Cape Town, South Africa. I recently bought a Lazer 2 in Knysna , South Africa. A fairly old boat , about 12 years old , complete except for the daggerboard. There are not many Lazer 2’s around this part of the world. I need to make a daggerboard and the profile I can size according to the slot in the casing. I am however having great difficulty establishing what the correct overall length of the board needs to be. Can you help me ?

Brianpacesseai

I believe the Laser 2 is between 13 and 15 feet long however that won’t be a problem really. If you buy a Laser 3000 Daggerboard it will be the correct size and shape and fit the slot no problem. The laser 3000 is a vastly improved version of the Laser 2 so the parts are somewhat interchangeable. The Laser 2 is a great little boat for a single hander with some experience or a crew of two smaller people.. I had mine flying along (with some help) a few times and despite the age it will put a smile on your face.. particularly out of Cape Town.. The sailing there must be excellent!!

( http://www.sailboats.co.uk/Product~Laser_3000_Daggerboard_LA-3200.html )

what an adventure. Reading your story reminds me of what I have experienced. After acquiring a (German) sailing license together with my (now) wife ten years ago, I have got in the same situation as you did. No time for sailing at all due to hassle in the job/children/house. Then this year on holiday in the Netherlands I rented a dinghy for some hours and I had sooo much fun that I immediately decided to buy a boat of my own.

Nobody can understand the enthusiasm first when searching and then when refurbishing the boat. You must have tried it.

The very day after my holidays I bought a Laser 2 Fun. The Fun is special edition of the Laser 2 with a furling jib and reefable main sail, but no spinaker.

As the halyards were totally rotten Idecided to buy new ones at sailboats.co.uk (The UK laser II market is much bigger than the German one). While the main halyard fits perfectly the jib halyard doesn’t fit at all, because the mast dimensions of the FUN edition seem to be different. Now I solved the problem by replacing the old jib halyard by a Dyneema rope with a self spliced thimble.

It’s sooo great to go out sailing, espacially after hours in front of the computer.

You should not wait ten years as I did before restarting this hobby again.

Greetings from Essen, Baldeneysee, Germany

Thanks for your message. It does ring a bell. I fully intend to pick up sailing again when our family moves to the south coast in a few months. We should be there just in time for the Summer sailing season to begin!

It is certainly a thrilling thing building your own boat although proximity to my own boat and lack of funds prohibited me from enjoying it as much as I could have done. I spent many an evening driving for 30-40mins to get to my boat to put on a cleat or something only to find I had left a key tool at home.

When I finally got to sail it she went well although really the Laser 2 Regatta is a two man boat for both company and enjoyment. I found that by the time I had rigged her and got onto the water I was largely bored and decided to come in again. For one person learning or wanting a bit of fun I think the normal Laser would suit. There are more enjoyable and more fiddly boats to use but for a quick bit of fun the Laser is a contender. Cheap too and parts are plentiful as you suggest. Buying anything from Sailboats.co.uk is a little bit of a last resort for me because they stock official and new parts. For a better deal eBay is the best answer or just looking on local sailing club websites for parts. I believe I found mine on Apolloduck.co.uk (if that’s stil going) and bought mine as a wreck. I would do it again in a heartbeat.. and probably will when my kids are old enough.

Thanks for the enjoyable read and I do wish you the best of luck with your boat.

I liked this story…..I have a similar one but quite a differnt starting point…..at one time I purchased a Bell Flyer (in Burton-on-Trent). http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=Bell+Flyer+sailing+dinghy&FORM=HDRSC2#view=detail&id=174EAF21E2F16929D0FE00651AD39C016A849008&selectedIndex=0

So my starting point was somewhat different. My Kids (all teenagers) sailed this for a few yesrs, the plywood hull eventually was retierd a month ago. Given I only paid 250 for it and we had three years enjoyment I reckon it paid for itself. So I was left with a nice rig, rudder, dagger board & bag full of fittings but no hull.

I then picked up a laser 2 hull in a local sailing school for £100.

Starting with the rudder I spent 30 minutes making some inserts for the laser brackets to reduce them to 8mm and fit the pins on my rudder…..nice easy fix.

I replaced the main sheet block with the one salvaged from the Flyer.

Then I fitted the mast, clearly the boom was too high so the mast came down again a few minutes later. I cut 250mm of the end so the boom would be at the correct height, as I was at it I replaced the mast step with the one from the Flyer. Trapeze was an easy task I just needed a bit of shockcord, the wires are a little long but I’ll fix that in time. Then the Main & Jib went up….Incidently I have a fully battened main sail with a very large roach. We now had something approaching a boat ready for the water…Not bad for the first evenings work!

I was not happy with the Jib setup the following day, so had a 3mm dyneema strop made up with an eye in each end to make the Jib fit properly, as I was it it I also bought webbing for toe straps….(additional cost another £6)

ps. Dyneema is super stuffs so good that I’m thinking of replacing all the rigging with it.

Centre board….Hmm! the one from the Flyer fits in the slot but is a little short (on the fore – aft dimension) and a little deep. I got out the circular saw and cut it down to size (150mm came off the end). After fitting a gasget to the centre board case it fitted fine with the addition of a small wooden peg at the front end. I’m thinking of replacing the board with a laser 3000 one in due course, but it will do for now.

Happy with second evenings work….wife complaining of boat on lawn!

Spinnaker….the Kite & Pole from the bell flyer are being reused. I welded up a stainelss bracket for the frount fixing from some material I had lying around. I’ve yet to figure out how to mount the rest of the spinaker gear before I go drilling holes in the boat……

Going sailing this weekend (without the spinnaker finished) as the kids want on the Trapeze.

Hi Gerard, sounds like you took to it pretty well. I was a bit younger than I am now and was a good 15mins drive from the boat so doing anything with it was slow. That and sourcing cheap parts was a nightmare. Paying for every cleat and pulley breaks your heart but it’s a labour of love isn’t it. I’m with you on the Dynemma.. I made a lead out of the scraps for my dog and he’s yet to chew through it 🙂 Sadly the Laser 2 needs a Jib to effectively sail as the forestay is such a thin gauge wire that it can’t cope. As a beginner I found it a bit of a pain having to deal with both sails on my own but I’m all for jumping in the deep end with that sort of thing! Next time I shall get a plastic boat ready made but it was certainly worth the experience!

Good job though.. I hope it works out for you and you get your franken-boat going 🙂

great to see there are still some Laser2 fans around the globe 🙂 I am president of the German and international Laser2 class association. At the moment we try to establish some contacts to Laser2 sailors around the world in order to get a fresh breeze into the class. Would be great if you join us and get in touch:

http://www.laser2.de/2014/05/23/wir-sind-viele-laser2-segler-vereinigt-euch-we-are-many-laser2-sailors-unite/

Please also share with other (L2) sailors. Thanks and have a good time – Vanessa

Hi Sean. Great read- thanks for sharing your journey. I’m hoping you still read this as I’d value your opinion – I’m considering buying an L2 Fun for myself and my 10yr old lad to sail together, albeit with the intention of sailing it single-handed a fair amount too. I can sail, but by the sounds of things I may be at the same sort of level you were at when you finally got yours on the water. Realistically, how tricky are they to sail on your own? Cheers, Rob

Thanks for the message. Yup I read every comment here and glad to reply. I’ve not done a lot of sailing in the last few years. However, it’s a great little boat and would fit the 10 year old and yourself nicely. If you’re looking at a bit of fun sailing with less rigging and messing about then I’d recommend a Laser Pico.. same number of sails, lighter boat, plastic so harder to damage and easier to transport.

The L2 was a great sail with two people.. we had her planing away and she went very well. Lots of adjustment and it’s a laser at heart which was fun. Singlehandedly sailing she was fine, a little hard as the design suffers from the same drawback of old lasers, the square stern so your sheets will foul regularly. You get used to a little tiller flick to clear it of course but it’s annoying at first.

The L2 also needs to be moving to drain which is awkward if you capsize on your own. The Pico is an open back so self drains. Both recommended and great fun! 🙂

Interesting read Sean – if only I had known some years ago as I have a “Black Magic” Laser 2 Regatta which I need to get rid of. It’s complete, but the sails are in poor condition and it hasn’t been used for the last 20 years! If you know anyone who might be interested I’d like to know..we live in East Hampshire not too far from the South coast.

Hi Ian, no problem. By all means post a price and contact number if you like. They are great little boats so I’m sure someone will take it. Is there a road trailer also..

Just bought a ’90 L2 in great condition, complete with both trailers and very good sails including spinnaker and trapeze.£450.

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Laser speed record – holding at 16.8 knots

What makes the record official? Mark contacted International Laser Class Organization, World Speed Sailing Record Council, and Guinness Book of World Records and all claimed that they do not maintain such records. So, he had to rise to the challenge of being the record holder and keeper. “Somebody has to keep track, might as well be me.”

As of this posting Mark has had no real challenges to his claim to the record. “Lance Miller here in Hawaii showed us a GPS with 18knots on it he did in flat water in town. It seems the Laser Full Rig has some natural limitations up in the high teen.”

The Mark Denzer challenge: If you want to beat us, find some flat water, take an accurate GPS, get three reputable witnesses and go for it. ‘Till then, we hold the world record.

Contact Mark Denzer at : mdenzer AT Hawaii DOT rr.com

Witnesses that day were, Jesse Andrews, Kea Ho, son Gavin Denzer, and wife Betsy Denzer.

Additional sources: http://archive.sailingscuttlebutt.com/news/09/0119/ and http://horsesmouth.wordpress.com/2009/01/18/a-dispatch-from/

Below – reference video for Laser speed potential:

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Seller's Description

1988 Laser 2 Sailboat in very good condition. Comes with good sails, new cover, updated rigging and dollie.

All proceeds go to Oregon Youth Sailing Foundation to support their pursuit of making sailing sustainable and accessible for all. See the amazing work they do at www.OregonYouthSailing.org

Rig and Sails

Auxilary power, accomodations, calculations.

The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more.

Classic hull speed formula:

Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL

Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL

Sail Area / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more.

SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3

• SA : Sail area in square feet, derived by adding the mainsail area to 100% of the foretriangle area (the lateral area above the deck between the mast and the forestay).
• D : Displacement in pounds.

Ballast / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize.

Ballast / Displacement * 100

Displacement / Length Ratio

A measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more.

D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds.
• LWL: Waterline length in feet

Comfort Ratio

This ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more.

Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds
• LOA: Length overall in feet
• Beam: Width of boat at the widest point in feet

Capsize Screening Formula

This formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more.

CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64)

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Laser vs Laser 2

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Hey guys So I've just recently started my third year sailing (second year racing), and I've kind of been thinking it's about time my girlfriend and I moved up to our own boat(s). The yacht club happens to be selling off some of the lasers and laser 2s from their youth sailing program fairly cheaply, so the timing would seem to be good. My question is, should I buy a single laser 2, or a pair of standards? I'd kind of like something I can singlehand myself if she can't make it out, and I worry about being able to keep the 2 upright by myself with a main and jib up. On the other hand, it would be nice to at some point be able to take one of my non-sailing friends/younger siblings/ etc out for a sail, and I'm not too sure a standard would have the space for two people. I'm still sort of leaning towards the standard, but I figured I'd throw a post up on here and see what you guys thought. Thanks!  

I would think the 2 would limit your racing unless they have a big class of them in your area ?  

I just went through the same decision. In the end, I decided on a Laser II because I wanted to be able to practice with as many sails as possible. I posted in forums and asked around, and was told that I should be able to single-hand the Laser II. (That said, I've only been out on it with friends so far, so I haven't tried single-handing it yet.) One thing to consider: my Laser II was in poor shape when I got it, and while working on it, I found that parts are getting harder to come by, since the Laser II is no longer being made. There are quite a few parts that are identical on a Laser, so you can order those, but others are a little more iffy. For example, mine came without a spinnaker, which I figured was no big deal - I'd just pick one up somewhere else. But I've been surprised by how difficult it is to locate a whisker pole for a Laser II. Overall, I still think I made the right decision - it's fun to have two people out, I should be able to single-hand, and I get to practice with both the main and jib (and spinnaker, if I can ever find one.) But there are drawbacks to be aware of, such as limited racing and parts availability.  

The standard Laser is a great boat and is easily handled by one, or two people of modest size/weight (better in higher winds). On the other hand you could always sail the Laser 2 with just the main when you go out solo at first. Learn to tack both sails at once while soloing and lose the jib when the wind picks up or whatever survival strategy you come up with. Both of them are great boats. Does the Laser 2 you are looking at have the trapeze lines to the mast for hiking out? If so you'll need a harness to hook into the trapeze. The Laser 2 is quite a bit more 'technical' then the standard Laser with more gear and rigging. There is something nice about a simply rigged boat that is easy to set up and break down. Your money, your life and your choice. Have fun with it. Disclosure: I have only sailed the standard Laser (non racing set up) and have wanted to try out a Laser II.  

My son has a Laser 2 in Arizona, USA, and has had some challenges in finding parts, especially on a budget. Cb, where is the club that was selling the Laser 2 boats?  

I had a Laser 2 when I first started sailing and had no trouble single handing it - seems I did something to the jib sheets so I could cross sheet them and control the jib from the high side - I got the Laser 2 over the plain Laser because the Laser did not have enough room for me (I am 6 ft 4 inches tall).  

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Two rescued after speed boat suffers engine failure on Lough Derg

Lough Derg RNLI were alerted to assist in the operation by gardaí and Valentia Coast Guard.

Two people have been rescued after a speed boat got into difficulty on Tipperary's Lough Derg.

The 16ft vessel ran aground in Youghal Bay after suffering engine failure at around 1pm on Monday.

The Lough Derg RNLI lifeboat was launched with Eleanor Hooker at the helm.

The wind was westerly, force 2 to 3 and visibility was good.

The lifeboat located the casualty vessel close to the shore deep inside Youghal Bay, in an area known by the RNLI volunteers to be particularly sandy.

As the lifeboat navigated a safe course to the boat, crew noticed that the two casualties were standing amongst the reeds close to the vessel.

After getting as close to the casualty vessel as was safe, an RNLI volunteer was able to wade to the casualty vessel.

The two people were asked to get back on board and the RNLI volunteer then eased the vessel off the sandbank and out into safe water.

The speedboat was then brought to Garrykennedy Harbour.

The lifeboat departed the scene and was back at station at 2:37pm.

Crew members on board the lifeboat consisted of Chris Parker, James Corballis, and Deirdre Gleeson.

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