The Laser Dinghy

The centre has a fleet of 12 Laser dinghies.

 

Laser Class Specifications
Overall Length 4.23 m.
Length at Waterline 3.81 m.
Beam 1.37 m.
Draft 0.14 m.
Displacement 56.7 kg.
Construction GRP
Sail Area 7.1 sq. m.

Laser History

1970 Designed by Bruce Kirby & Ian Bruce.
1996 Selected as Olympic Dinghy Class

 

 

The Laser is the most popular sailing dinghy that has ever been produced. At present there are over 177,00 boats world-wide. At the highest level it is an Olympic class and the UK has a very good standing within the world. Ben Ainslie took Gold at the Sydney Games and Paul Goodison is top of the World Rankings at the end of 2002.

LASER GUIDE

Rigging Returning to shore
It’s REALLY Windy Boathandling
Adjusting Controls The Rig & Sail
Tuning Extras

Rigging the Laser

A Laser sail flapping in the wind is getting old quickly. The batten pockets are screaming, the cloth is deteriorating, and the stitching is strained. When possible, the sail should go up only when ready to go sailing, and should come down when the boat won’t be sailed for a while.

The hardest place to rig is with the boat already in the water.

  1. Check stern plug!
  2. Launch
  3. Daggerboard in, but not bungee on yet - it will be in the way of the mast step
  4. Tiller into rudderhead and tied before getting on boat. This reduces chance of losing rudder while putting it into the gudgeons. Rudder on
  5. Mainsheet rigged completely through boom
  6. Outhaul through boom cleat and back eye with tail free and ready, and purchase loop laid out on deck around maststep
  7. Mast together - a wrap or two of packing tape so the pieces fit tightly is good. The rivet should be pointed directly back. Get the collar just started in the bottom section and stand the mast up. Lift it and lightly tap it down on the ground. The weight of the top section will push it into the bottom section with a few taps. If the mast has a permanent bend, DO NOT STRAIGHTEN IT, flip the ends (see setting up the Laser)
  8. Sail on mast, battens in, vang pinned on
    Rigging Tip - put pin through from port to starboard so the last part of the cunningham doesn’t catch on the ring-ding.
  9. Rig cunningham
  10. Step mast - if there are many boats in the water side by side so the boat can’t be pulled along the dock, this is a two person job: one person is on boat behind mast step on knees to hold mast butt in place and help pull mast up, while other person walks mast upright and steps on bow pushing mast up.
  11. Rig the tail of the cunningham through the eye and cleat immediately and pull a little tension on. This helps keep the sail from twisting on the mast, and ensures that in the unlikely event of a water landing the mast doesn’t come partially out and destroy the maststep. Make sure the bowline handle tied in the tail of the cunningham only allows enough slack for the luff tension to be released and no more. IF THE BOAT CAPSIZES WITHOUT ENOUGH CUNNINGHAM AND THE MAST COMES OUT A LITTLE WHILE RIGHTING, THE MASTSTEP TUBE WILL BREAK.
  12. Most people put the boom on the gooseneck pin, then try to catch the flapping clew and rig the outhaul while standing on the poopdeck. It likes to fall off that little pin, and having it on makes the sail want to fill, compromising balance. Instead, stand in the cockpit and bring the end of the boom forward so it reaches the sail easily without it filling. Rig the outhaul set at max ease, and rig the clew tie down. Then push the boom back and put it on the pin, being careful to get the parts of the cunningham around or on one side of the gooseneck properly.
  13. Hold boom down and put vang key in boom. On the way off the boat, tie the board bungee to the bow eye - YOU’RE DONE!
     

Rigging on dolly, dock, beach, or grass
 

  1. Begin with step 6, do not rig mainsheet
  2. When rig is up with cunningham and outhaul on, rig mainsheet backwards through ratchet, front boom block, eyestrap, and back block. Tie a slip-knot. Now the sail can rotate in front of the boat if necessary, but the sailor can sheet in from the ratchet to get the boom around the parked camels and other obstacles in the boatpark.
  3. Daggerboard is placed with the top forward edge in the aft bottom corner of the cockpit. This prevents the tip from breaking when the bow is lifted for launch - a very good habit
  4. If the boat will be launched down a ramp, rig the tiller and rudder together tied down, and place rudder blade under traveller, with tiller pointed forward and traveller tight. Slide rudder back until nut on rudder head is held forward by traveller. If wind allows, finish rigging mainsheet. Wheel boat down ramp and when transom reaches end, turn boat 45 degrees and put one foot against dolly wheel, reach back and drop rudder in.
  5. If the edge of the ramp is well carpeted, the bow can bet set down off the dolly and the board dropped in too, and the bungee can even be tied. If not, the bow is set in the water and the boat turned sideways to the ramp to put the board in. If the wind is blowing away from the ramp, the advanced technique is to simply step on and push off, putting the board in while floating away from ramp. It’s important to stress that efficiency and etiquette on the ramp will earn respect and help prevent congestion.
  6. If the boat will be launched from a shallow beach with the wind offshore, leave the mainsheet as is (with slipknot) and put the rudder in the gudgeons with the blade up (the bolt should be big and tight enough that it stays up). Wheel the boat backwards into the water and slide off dolly, push rudder down a little and step on to drift away from beach with boom out in front of boat. Put blade in when deep enough and when clear push rudder down and go head to wind to finish rigging mainsheet.
  7. The most difficult launch is off a shallow beach with the wind onshore. This often means there are waves to contend with, and one has to sail upwind with very little blade or rudder in the water. Wheel the boat along the beach to begin on the lifted tack away from beach if there is limited area to the side (a pier, breakwall, moorings, etc.) Rig the mainsheet completely, and put the boat just off head to wind on the correct tack. Put the daggerboard in and tie the bungee to hold it up. Put the rudder down just below horizontal. Wheel the boat into the water bow first, being careful to keep it just slightly off the wind so the boom doesn’t hit the board. When the boat is floating, turn the front of the dolly into the wind and slide the boat forward off the dolly. It helps to have someone hold the dolly back as the boat is slid forward. Push the board and rudder down as far as possible, step in and balance well since there’s not a lot of rudder in the water.

Returning to shore
 

  1. The most difficult condition is again an onshore breeze.
  2. The rudder downhaul is undone and a check that the rudder will kick up is performed.
  3. The 8 knot in the becket tail of the mainsheet is untied while still well away from the beach or dock.
  4. The mainsheet is unstrung from the traveller block, but that tail is held in the mainsheet hand along with the sheet from the ratchet. This allows the boom to be sheeted in for a moment if necessary. (If it becomes necessary to beat again, simply tie a slip knot in the tail, let go, and sheet from the ratchet.)
  5.  When boat is lined up upwind of landing place, let tail go and pull mainsheet through ratchet all the way out of boom. The boom will rotate in front of the boat, and allow a slow approach to the beach or dock.
  6. Lift daggerboard out completely, reach back and kick rudder almost all the way up, and turn boat sideways to beach.
  7.  Get out on WINDWARD side.
  8.  If approaching a dock, the blades can be left down until after the turn, when pulling the daggerboard up will help the boat slide gently to the dock.
     

It’s REALLY Windy


There are a few ways to go sailing on a really breezy day.
  1. One is to reef the sail.
    1. Take the top batten out, wrap the sail two or three times tightly and neatly around the mast, and rig up.
    2.  A special 12’ outhaul line, which allows 2-1 and then reaches the cleat without the purchase is best.
    3.  It needs to be pulled quite tight, but won’t be adjusted.
    4. The cunningham should be pulled very tight, and the daggerboard can be left up a little to balance the helm.
  2. Another way is to put two people on the boat, with one doing the tiller and the other the sheet. Remind sailors not to let the boom out too far downwind, and not to gybe because it can be hard to duck at just the right time with two people. Have a towline tied to the mast and coiled, just in case. The only way to get comfortable in the big breeze is to go do it, so don’t let those days go wasted!!!

BOATHANDLING

Basic Posture

  1. The tiller is held like a microphone overhand, and the mainsheet taken directly from the ratchet in all but light air running.
  2.  Sit facing perpendicular to direction of boat, with feet and legs together. This basic "stance" is appropriate for all points of sail in nearly all conditions.
  3. Exceptions are moving forward in light air or moving back in very heavy air.
  4. Learning to sail fast downwind requires being comfortable in this position, i.e. not putting a knee down in the cockpit when sailing by the lee. This allows greater mobility and feel, and requires that the boat be sailed balanced, whereas putting a knee down makes it possible to sail in a stabilized but less efficient manner.

    5. Coaching Tip: The knee-down habit is very hard to unlearn, and if it can be pre-empted by emphasizing the benefits of good body positioning, the sailor will be way ahead in the long run.

Sheeting in

With 44’ of mainsheet, the ability to sheet in effectively is one of the most crucial fundamental skills of Laser sailing. The idea is to use as few pulls as possible, which means using both hands.

The front hand sheets a big pull toward the stern while the tiller hand reaches forward to grab and pull up and back (while holding extension) while front hand reloads, repeat… This skill is used to round the leeward mark, during starting, during puffy conditions, during 720s, and is handy in almost all boats with a tiller and mainsheet. It’s important to teach sailors to use both hands, to be comfortable with the mainsheet in their tiller hand, to be able to steer while holding mainsheet in tiller hand, and to use big pulls.

Bearing off

Sailing Tip - before the weather mark, run the mainsheet to be sure there are no knots.

Easing sheet involves simply letting it run through the fingers. However, at the top mark an arm’s length over the head in preparation ensures that the first five feet go out precisely. When it’s windy, the boat won’t bear off if it isn’t flat or if the mainsheet isn’t going out enough. Hike, hike, hike! The ability to get right down to a run and hook into a good wave is worth a lot of distance.

Drill: (Advanced). Round the weather mark and bear away right into a gybe , without stopping the turn. This is actually easier in some respects than carving hard down to a run and stopping the turn without gybing or deathrolling, and is a great skill to have.

Tacking

The Laser tiller extension is long, and will only fit past the mainsheet if it is "pushed through" exactly the right way. There are two styles of tack, the difference being when the hands are switched. Both begin by taking back foot out of strap and placing it over the top of the strap

Learning: Tiller is pushed to leeward, tiller extension is pushed through upper corner by mainsheet block, sailor goes to balls of feet facing forward (straddling strap) and continues through boat while rotating hips to new position. Tiller is held outboard and behind body and hips stay in front of tiller while they rotate. Hands are not switched, so sailor is now steering behind his back with front arm, holding mainsheet across lap in back hand. Back hand with mainsheet grabs tiller, then front hand takes sheet. It is possible to flatten after a roll tack or to hike when breezy in this configuration, and it allows the sailor to focus on his turn and on keeping the boat flat with proper sheet tension at end of tack. It is also the way he will come out of a heavy-air gybe, and so it’s worth getting used to sailing the boat that way.

Drill: Sail a whole beat without switching hands

Advanced: Once the tacking is comfortable, the goal is to become more effective with weight movement. The only way to do this is to make the tiller/sheet hand switch during the tack, while moving through the boat. This requires more dynamic body movement, to be far enough forward to allow hands behind back to do their thing. This "switch on the fly" is a skill which will be carried to most boats, and is especially important for great college dinghy roll tacks.

Drill: A great way to practice the switch is in little or no wind, doing continuous roll-gybes, switching every time.

When roll tacking, a big roll with a big ease just before flattening is best. As the wind comes up, the boat can be rolled less. As the chop gets steeper, too much roll is ineffective because the boat slaps the waves while being flattened. When it’s breezy, it’s key to come out of the tack dead flat, so the right ease into and out of the tack become critical.

Light air

The big roll: moving butt out and back along deck by pushing with feet off side of cockpit helps the bow out of the water and around and begins the initial roll. Next is the big lean, and the smaller the sailor, the more aggressive she will need to be to roll hard enough. Sheeting in all the way at this time gives something on which to pull oneself back into boat, and helps load the mast to spring straight and cause the mainsheet to go out more than it would on its own. The roll tacker can grab the close handrail, the hiking strap, or the far handrail, whichever is most comfortable for her body size. The ability to launch herself uphill to the new high side makes or breaks the tack, and requires a coordinated combination of arm pulling and legs pushing. The goal should be to land with the butt past the side of the boat, over the rail, hands already switched and mainsheet quite eased (2-4 feet) The roll is too hard or the flatten to slow or the sheet too tight when the tiller must be pulled to weather to make the boat go straight out of the tack.

Heavy air.

The goal here is to be hiking on one tack, then hiking on the new tack, with no time in between. This requires hiking as long as possible at beginning of turn, leaping across to have (old back) new front foot catch the strap as sail fills. The lower the shoulders are kept, the less movement is wasted. It may be necessary to ease a little sheet as the sailor comes out of the hike to keep the boat absolutely flat, and to ease even more to ensure that the boat tracks forward after tack. These things take time to develop, but should be secondary to the goal of hiking as long as possible into turn and then as soon as possible out of turn

Drill: The object is to get comfortable hiking as long as possible into turn. Head up while hiking as in the beginning of a tack. At last possible moment "leap/bounce up/get" butt onto deck. The idea is to wait as long as possible, and to get in as quickly as possible. The boat may get stuck in irons, that’s ok. Bear off and repeat. Sailors will be surprised how far into the wind they can turn before the boat comes over on top of them. This is because while the sail is depowering, the actual turn is causing the boat to want to heel to the outside of the turn (to leeward)

Medium air

These tacks involve blending aspects of light and heavy air to achieve the right amount of hike, roll, ease, and hike.

Coaching Tip: Medium air tacks are a great place to teach sailors to be aware of the feedback mechanisms available to them, and how to make adjustments based on this input:

Lots of weather helm out of tack - means flatten sooner, roll less, or ease more

No speed out of tack - roll harder, come out lower, or both

Lee helm out of tack - sheet going out too far, or boat being overflattened

Gybing

Gybing a Laser takes a trick flick of the wrist, to keep the mainsheet from looping around the back corner of the boat when it goes slack as the boom comes across. This is true for a light-air roll gybe and a heavy-air planing gybe.

Light air

Reach to reach - Put the daggerboard all the way down, start turn with weight, letting the tiller follow the turn. Roll late enough that max roll occurs just before boat gets to new course. Flick and flatten.

During learning stages, switch hands after flatten as in tack, with goal of eventually switching while crossing boat.

There are two methods of run to run gybe in light to medium air: 
  1. Sheet in quickly so boom comes across with as little turn as possible, and come out on a broad reach. It’s necessary to turn quite far or sheet in a lot or both, and then the boom needs to be pushed out again. Boat comes out of gybe with great speed.
  2. Grab both parts of the mainsheet from the back and throw the boom across, maintaining course (some face forward, some backward). Major pro to this style is being able to continue straight down the course. However, the roll is not quite as aggressive. These gybes are consistent and reliable. Other style would be used if a course change (to get to a puff or protect a lane) were called for anyway.
Heavy air
Reach to reach - more speed means less apparent wind and an easier gybe. Being on a wave is best! It’s key to have the board ½ way up so the boat doesn’t trip on it.
  1. Start turn down with the boat dead flat by easing sheet.
  2. Keep boat turning and flat, as leech flickers give a BIG TUG on sheet, then while crossing boat flick by simply placing hand in path of mainsheet near front boom block to "bump" it as it comes across.
  3. As boom comes across, turn back down the other way ("S turn") to help boat accelerate and reduce angle of apparent wind, reducing healing moment.
  4. Most important is to hit new side with weight before sail fills.
Teaching Tip: Make an analogy: Gybing in heavy air is like catching an egg. Winning the egg toss means giving with the hands in the direction of the egg as it is caught. Catching the wind on the new gybe without capsizing requires reversing the turn to aim the boat more with the wind so it accelerates and the boat and rig can give as the sail fills - instead of the force of the wind pushing the boat over to leeward.

Run to run - These gybes are very challenging to do well in a Laser, because they require sheeting in a few feet quickly so the boom comes across. This adds load and makes the boat want to head up, so weight is critical to balance this force so the boat doesn’t slow down or head up out of the turn. A little extra steering may be necessary, but once the boom starts coming across the gybe is like the reach to reach. These are perhaps the hardest manoeuvre in the Laser, but are essential for success racing in the breeze.

Mastering the move in a Radial rig can help even big sailors get better at the full rig gybe. Also, because the sailor must be so far back in the boat, it is difficult to switch hands behind the back while crossing boat. Trying to switch hands may also compromise the quality of the s-turn, so steering behind the back is done until things settle down and a switch is possible.

720

The 720 is about putting together a tack, bear-away, gybe, head up, tack…

There are two ways. As long as the sailor is able to bear away, it is best NOT to switch hands after the tack. Instead, the sailor should steer behind her back after the tack, so that coming out of the gybe she is ready to begin hiking and trimming in right away and can also steer precisely. This is the most critical part of the turn, so it is good to be ready to sheet in and hike.

In really heavy air, it may be necessary to tack and gybe normally, switching hands. The big challenge then becomes switching hands again after the gybe and starting to sheet in.

Teaching Tip: The way to learn 720s is to break the 360 in half: tack and bear away, get settled, then gybe and head up to a beat, gradually reducing the "get settled" time to nothing.

ADJUSTING CONTROLS

The vang

Mainsheet cleats are most useful for getting vang on. When sailing upwind, sheet in block to block and cleat mainsheet. With back foot push boom to leeward and down, hard. This bends the boom temporarily. With front hand, pull vang. The length of the tail and loop is very important. Too far back, and the sailor can’t use his body and shoulders to pull, only his bent arm. Too far forward and it’s hard to reach from a hiking position. At max ease, there should be about 14" of line between the "hand" end of the loop and the vang cleat. This length depends a little on the sailor, but this is a personal fine-tune adjustment worth making.

Easing vang: Marks on the vang are helpful for reproducing settings while already going downwind. The best time to ease the vang though is before the weather mark. The distance between the boom blocks in back (amount of sheet showing) is a good gauge. The range will be from boom eased up to horizontal, to blocks only a few inches apart. From a full hike, ease sheet to desired setting, cleat and then pop vang off to let slack out and recleat line firmly when it won’t go out further. With practice this can be done very quickly and accurately.


Cunningham
Should also be eased before weather mark. Right after easing vang, uncleat and toss line forward of cleat so it doesn’t want to recleat. Reach forward and pull the one part that pulls all the others loose. If the cunningham is rigged with this part to starboard and it is marked with a marker, it is easy to find.

It’s best to get it back on before leeward mark, but this is not always possible. In that case, a quick luff head to wind and a big pull using the legs against the front of the cockpit works well. It takes practice to do this effectively, but it is far better to give up a length performing the manoeuvre than to sail a whole beat tipped over with not enough cunno. As with the vang, the position of the loop handle is critical. If there is too much slack in the system, the sailor will reach the end of her pull with legs extended before the grommet gets to the gooseneck. Keep reducing slack until the bowline at the cleat almost causes tension in the luff.

Drill: Vang & cunno off, bear away to run. Sheet in up to a beat, vang on, cunno on, repeat - both tacks


Outhaul
If the outhaul is rigged well, it should be easy to pull on while hiking. To ease, first grab the last part in front of the cleat and pull slack into the system. Sharply lift line out of cleat and let it out. It will be necessary to ease mainsheet a bit to keep the boat upright while doing this, and some top sailors with shorter arms actually stand up in the boat to have leverage and reach the thing.


Strap
The strap is a critical control which tends to be neglected, even by some top sailors. A major aspect of downwind speed in the waves is the ability to be connected to the boat and to help direct it with feet, legs, and butt. The only way to do this on reaches is with a tight strap. When it’s super windy, it’s actually best to get the strap tight before the weather mark, and loosened again after rounding the leeward mark. In more moderate conditions, it can be tightened after the weather mark and loosened before the leeward mark.


Board
The board is another control which should be done before the weather mark and after the leeward mark when it’s super windy. Otherwise, as with the strap, after the top mark and before the leeward mark is fine.

The Rig & Sail

Understanding the Laser Rig

The mainsheet

The Laser mainsheet controls the angle of the boom until it is pulled over the corner of the boat, at which time it begins to also control mast bend. This is different from a stayed mast, on which the mainsheet controls leech tension but does not bend the mast enough to dramatically alter sailshape. As a result, as the Laser mainsheet is pulled tighter, bending the mast and flattening the sail, it reduces leech/batten hook or "return" and opens the leach. It is paradoxical that we call the Laser leech "open" when the cloth along the leech is pulled tightest (at max bend). This is opposite to a stayed mast, where a tighter mainsheet means a tighter leech means more hook. This is an extremely important thing to teach about the Laser rig and sail.

Conversely, easing the Laser mainsheet makes the sail fuller, causing more return in the leech and adding power. Again, this is opposite to a stayed mast, where easing the mainsheet opens the leech by twist, and reduces power (unless it is very light in which case power comes from flow)

A result of this situation is that we often find sailors "two-blocked", thinking that gives max power (tightest leech), when they should be eased one to two feet on the sheet to straighten the mast and make the sail fuller. The Finn and Europe dinghy masts, which are extremely tapered at the top, are very sensitive to sheet tension because of what it does to the top of the sail. It is possible to begin to develop this sensitivity in the Laser, though it is often overlooked.


Drill: Set up a boat on a dolly when there is some wind, with one person holding it flat. Have sailors stand behind the boat with the mainsheet, and sheet in. Have them describe what they see happening to the mast, fullness, shape, and "exit" of the sail


By-the-lee: a whole new thing
The other difference between the unstayed and stayed rigs is the ability to sail by-the-lee. This may come naturally to Optimist sailors, but anyone else is likely to be baffled about it for a time. First, the physics: the analogy to draw is with "heating up" downwind in a spinnaker boat to generate more apparent wind and achieve better VMG. This works because when dead downwind there is little flow over the sails - the boat is literally being "pushed" by the wind, with no wing-like action going on. Broad reaching in a Laser isn’t very effective, but sailing by the lee definitely is. The goal is to reverse the flow on the sail from the normal direction to a leech to luff direction. This achieves a few things:

 

  1. The knife-edge entry of the leech gives the sail very undisturbed air, which stays attached for longer than a comparable angle of attack flowing first around the circular mast
     
  2. When the sailplan is heeled to windward, by the lee flow encounters a "swept-back leading edge". This swept-back edge develops "roll-over vortices" which help keep flow attached abnormally long, not unlike the Concorde’s swept-back delta wings (See Bethwaite, High Performance Sailing, pp.365,366)
     
  3. The boat balances nicely when sailed by the lee heeled to windward. Reverse flow can actually be achieved with the mainsheet in from perpendicular, allowing a course closer to dead downwind and therefore great VMG


- Article: Adams/Adamson "Zig-Zag Downwind"

Pop quiz: Should you sail lifts or headers downwind if sailing by-the-lee???

Answer - lifts!!!

Drill: Have students sail down the lawn with an arm out perpendicular to be the sail. Make sure they are sailing to get reverse flow (hand pointed closer to wind than shoulder), with the run square. Shift the wind until now they are sailing directly at the mark. Is this shift to the right or left, and would it be a lift or header if they were on the same tack going upwind?


Tuning

The Laser sail can be anything from very full to extremely flat. There are two main ways to set the sail up.
 
  1. By look with "measurement tuning guidelines" in mind
  2. By feel, with the helm, relative speed, and boat behaviour in mind
     

It is best to start with method #1, but to begin developing proficiency at "symptom tuning" through method #2 as soon as possible

UPWIND

Cunningham
Think of the cunningham as a wrinkle remover until it gets windy. When the mast is bent, overbend wrinkles appear along the luff, and run especially from the mast joint to the clew. This can cause the sail to "hinge" along these wrinkles and look particularly bad. Pulling cunningham on smoothes out the front of the sail and pulls the draft back where it belongs. When it gets really windy, more cunningham opens the leech at the top, depowering the sail further. It is not unreasonable to pull the tack grommet down past the top of the gooseneck in big breeze. To do this, the cunno must be rigged on one side of the boom.

- article by Ron Rosenberg circa June 1993? With pictures of Laser rig from behind

The Vang

Super-light - sheet block to block and take slack out. Some vang tension is necessary to keep the leech from hooking too much

Light - as long as there is enough wind to ensure good flow (4-5 knots or more), the vang is set for roll-tacking. With mainsheet blocks about 1’ apart take out slack

Medium - until overpowered, vang is set for tacking. Blocks a touch looser than two-blocked, take out slack

Windy- Pulling the vang on bends the mast and flattens the sail, just as the mainsheet does. However, when the mainsheet is eased without vang, the boom goes up and the sail gets fuller. With the vang on hard, easing the mainsheet moves the boom to leeward without letting it up, just as dropping the traveller does on a big boat. A very tight vang becomes critical when it is necessary to depower by easing mainsheet. (Review technique for getting it on)

Other Thoughts
In flat water, err toward more vang less cunningham. When the water is flat, steering is very effective to help keep the boat flat. "Feathering" depowers the sail, and the boat keeps moving through the water. Having a tight vang and not too much cunningham keeps the entry flat, and means the front of the sail breaks evenly from bottom to top. With good mainsheet trim and good steering, the sail is very efficient.

In chop, err toward more cunningham, less vang. It isn’t possible to control power in the rig by feathering in chop, because the boat stops dead in the water. Also, as the boat pitches up and down, a sail with even twist will either be trimmed perfectly, or it will be all wrong at once. It is better to have some twist, and for the top of the sail to open as the boat is hiked down over the top of waves. This means lots of cunningham. To have enough power in the lulls and troughs, the vang then needs to be a little looser.

Drill: With Laser rigged on dolly, some wind in the sail, and someone holding the boat flat, look at both of these settings. Which shape goes with which condition? In flat water a constant angle of attack from tack to head is good, because the whole sail is "looking at" the same breeze. In chop, some twist, so that at least part of the sail is always working properly, is better than a constant angle of attack bottom to top, in which case the sail is either "all right or all wrong".

Finally, when the boat is always overpowered, the cunningham is maxed and the vang is cranked, so the mainsheet can be eased at the top of the waves to keep speed up. When it’s super windy, the sheet is left out 2-12", and the sheeting in and out done from that trim.

Outhaul
A great "ballpark", all-around setting for the outhaul is to have the foot four to eight inches from the boom at its deepest point. The distance from one’s thumb to pinkie if they are spread apart to make the Hawaiian "Hang loose dude" sign will get most sailors close. It will even help calibrate the method appropriately for body size. The outhaul is perhaps the easiest (besides mainsheet or board) control to adjust by feel. If there’s lots of helm upwind or on tighter reaches, or if the boat is really hard to steer (same thing sort of) it’s too loose. If the boat seems to lack power and the cunningham and vang are correct, especially in choppier conditions, it’s too tight. Downwind it may seem tempting to ease it way off. In fact, too full a sail is worse than too flat a sail on a run because the flow has a hard time getting around hooked battens. The condition for the loosest outhaul would be broad-reaching in 10-14 knots & chop.

Caution: One mistake sailors make is to pull the outhaul too hard when it is really windy. Too much outhaul causes the exit of the bottom leech to be too open and creates a block for the air trying to exit the leech on the leeward side. Easing just a little (an inch or two at the cleat from max tight) will leave some shape in the sail and make the bottom exit more parallel to the wind when the sail is eased during vang sheeting.

Strap
The hiking strap is an often-neglected, but critical control on the Laser. It is by no means "set it and forget it". The most common error is too loose. An effort to hike way out with a loose strap is valiant but can be ineffective. Far better to have a tight enough strap that true straight legging is possible, with the goal to get the shoulders as far from the rail as possible and down to horizontal. A loose strap makes this difficult physically, and has the added drawback of reducing the sailor’s "connectivity" to the boat. On hiking reaches, a bone-tight strap is essential.


Board
The board should be all the way down upwind except for small sailors who are very overpowered, or Radial sailors when it is very windy.


Symptom Tuning

Heavy helm, good pointing but no "forward mode" - try more outhaul, then more vang

Good forward, but no "height mode" - try less cunningham, then less vang

Neither mode - if sail is already full and it’s not super windy try HIKING HARDER. If it’s windy and sail is already completely depowered, with max vang, try easing mainsheet a few inches and sailing lower but much faster.

Coaching tip: Though counter-intuitive, footing is often the best move for lighter sailors when it’s choppy, since pinching to depower stops the boat and it slips sideways, meaning no speed or height. This requires a VERY TIGHT VANG however.

DOWNWIND

Except on overpowered reaches, the cunningham should be all the way off downwind.

Half cunningham can be left on for very windy runs to depower, but some must be eased.

Caution: Having the cunningham on all the way on makes the top so open that the sail is pushing sideways into a deathroll up there. This is bad.

Vang adjustment and board height are most critical. Most Laser sailors go downwind with too much vang. In a stayed rig, a snug vang means the leech doesn’t spill off to leeward and give up power. On the Laser, the vang should be eased until the mast comes straight or very nearly so. This gives the fullest sail, with the added and important benefit of making the leach "lively". As the boat goes through chop it opens and fans on its own from the mast bending. This activity is fast on reaches and especially on runs. The vang is too loose when the sail opens in a puff or chop and "never comes back" A tight vang has other drawbacks. On windy reaches, it makes the boom hit the water sooner and makes the mainsheet trim hyper-critical.

The one time a tighter than normal vang can be good is very windy runs, when it is undesirable to have the top of the sail more open than the bottom, or unstable, as both of these cause a heeling moment to windward and promote the death roll.


Teaching Tip: Have sailors pair up and help each other get the vang right downwind. One sailor sails to where she can see the leech well, and the other plays with the vang. The goal is a leech that opens when the sail is pumped, but "comes back". Have the sailor-coach describe the leech action to her partner as "dead, lively, or floppy" or something similar. Dead means ease vang, floppy means tighten it.

The board is set highest on windy, hiking, planing reaches, and light air runs. Having the board high on these reaches reduces helm and makes the goal of a constant angle of heel more obtainable. For best control and speed on the run, the board should be about half way down. The board is a feel thing: too high and the boat wants to "dish-out" instead of tracking. Too low and the boat trips and gets sticky. Inexperienced sailors tend to leave the board down for windy runs. This makes things much harder than pulling it up half way!!

Sailing Fast

All boats reward great technique. The Laser will help a sailor develop technique and feel that will make him better in any other boat he chooses to sail. This happens almost exclusively through focused time on the water. (review Bourdow ">From the experts")

- Article Adams/Sheidt "Kinetics Upwind"

- Article Hall "Let’s Go Surfing"


EXTRAS


A Few Tricks

When it’s windy and bailer will be left open: remove plug and tuck it under grab rail. This helps prevent kicking it closed

Bailing water out of cockpit: slide foot quickly along cockpit floor all the way to back, kicking water out

Righting a capsize with rig upwind of boat: the boat will want to blow back over. Either climb in and leap to high side, as soon as rig catches wind, or as boat comes up hang onto board and roll under boat as rig blows over, then right boat ("California Roll")

To get out of irons: pull boom way to windward and push tiller to leeward. This works great before the start if sculling the bow down isn’t working

Clearing weeds off the rudder sailing upwind: first do board, then heel way over and as rudder comes out of the water and vigorously shake it back and forth. This will sweep the weeds down the leading edge and off



A Couple Fun Things

Back flip: When there’s no wind, see who can stand on the stern and pull the boat directly backwards on top of themselves with the mainsheet. The winner is the one with the bow the straightest up in the air

Hang time: On a run, see who can sail on the edge of a deathroll the longest, touching the board under the boat by reaching over the rail

Stuff the bow: when there’s wind and some chop, see who can get the stern farthest in the air

Standing tacks: tack standing up, either running around the mast or stepping over the boom

Standing gybes: Gybe standing on the stern, the boom swinging in front of the sailor (careful!)

Climb the mast: A prize for anyone who can touch the mast tip before it reaches the water

All Sorts of Drills
 
  1. Follow the leader: a great one for beginning and veteran Laser sailors alike. Even motor downwind really slowly and get them to stop. Also let each of them lead without a motorboat to follow. Follow the leader is a great way to do a gybing drill if you have a good coach boat.
  2. Start/stop
  3. Tack/gybe on the whistle
  4. 720s
  5. Cone drill
  6. Sail backwards
  7. Sail standing up
  8. Sail with a piece of bungee holding tiller near centreline
  9. Sail downwind with board all the way up
  10. Sail downwind with feet off the floor (knees up)
  11. Sail downwind with rudder up half way - be sure to tell them that the idea is NOT to use the loaded rudder to go straight. In fact, this is a drill for advanced sailors only, since pushing too hard on a kicked up rudder will stress the pintles and tiller. For solid sailors, it gives loud balance feedback to have the exaggerated helm, and will encourage better weight movement and sailtrim. Do this for a short time only, with 100% focus.
  12. Sail with no tiller extension. This reduces the ability to move weight, and emphasizes sailtrim
  13. Capsize and right boat as fast as possible, especially on runs
  14. Round weather mark and continue turn right into a gybe
  15. Vang off, bear away
  16. Sheet in/head up, vang on
  17. Vang off, cunningham off, bear away
  18. Cunningham on, sheet in/head up, vang on
  19. Cunningham on while sailing upwind
  20. Outhaul on/off while sailing upwind
  21. Two gybes on a wave
  22. Take mainsheet completely out of ratchet and sail as far by the lee as possible
  23. Deathroll contest
  24. Keep bow near a buoy for as long as possible

Gear

The two most important personal-gear items are a well fitting and comfy lifejacket, and good hiking wetsuit-pants. Wearing lycra shorts over the top of hiking pants will greatly prolong their life by protecting the butt. There are a few brands of hiking pants, and they can fit a little differently, so it’s worth trying different ones on. Boots are a matter of personal preference - many top sailors sail barefoot, others still swear by Aigles. A wetsuit which goes below the knee is a must for colder water, as it will keep the muscles and especially the joint, ligaments, etc. warm and help prevent injury. It also makes it easier to hike hard longer! These can be made with hiking pads on them, which is the best way to go if possible. A white long-sleeve rashguard really helps keep the sun off, and a short and long sleeve spraytop round out the wardrobe nicely.

Fitness

Racing a Laser when it is hiking conditions is very demanding physically, with the quadriceps and abdominal muscles used upwind, and the biceps and abdominals used downwind. The best way to get in shape (and the most fun) is to sail in breeze. However, only sailing will eventually present a problem: the quads and biceps will become over-developed compared to the hamstrings and triceps. And the quads themselves will be imbalanced. This imbalance is very hard on the knees and elbows, and can promote injury.

For someone serious about Laser fitness, three times a week at the gym will make a dramatic and important difference to their performance and injury prevention. Seek the help of a certified trainer in developing a program that addresses these areas:
 


While on the road, some basic wall sits, pushups, ab crunches, and lower back "superman" exercises will help keep up what has been gained at the gym

Other good training ideas include running, cycling, roller-blading (especially in a tuck with long strokes), and kicking in the pool (especially the butterfly kick)

Gaining Weight

Gaining weight through weight training is possible by age 16 or 17, but it takes dedication. Consult a certified trainer about exercises and proper diet for this.

Race Day

Fluids are very important - it’s hard to get enough during a long day of racing, especially when it’s cold and you don’t feel thirsty. Sports drinks with electrolytes are good, and the habit of drinking a water bottle for every hour on the water is great. Make sure to have enough fuel too. Brining a banana and an energy bar out on a long day helps prevent hitting a wall during that last windy race.



Legends

Currently two sailors have won the Laser World Championship three times: Glen Bourke of Australia and Robert Sheidt of Brazil. They have many things in common, but the most notable are incredible fitness, flawless boathandling, and good speed in all conditions but especially downwind in the breeze. These things come from one place - quality time on the water.

Your sailors’ goals may not be to win the Laser Worlds, but it’s important that they understand if they want to make a jump in ability, it can only come from working hard in the boat at the fundamentals.