Best laser for a newbie

R

ralfeez

New Member
I am new to dinghy sailing, but I have been certified for keelboats up through Bareboat Cert. What my question to the group is is what would be the best laser to start with? Would an old boat be okay as long as it was retrofit with all of the new goodies or should I save my money and buy a new boat? I really want to race it. So, should I find a boat that is retrofit for racing? Any suggestions?
Thanks, Ralph
 
a reasonably new boat ( say 15 series onwards) will get you going and most boats newer than this have been upgraded
 
Few sailors will sell their boats WITH the new rigging! You will most likely settle for a "standard" rigged Laser, and upgrade it with the new goodies yourself if you so desire!

If you're new to dinghy sailing and you've never sailed Lasers before, I would recommend sailing a Laser first before you buy even an old, beat-up hull. I have many keelboat sailor friends who thought they would love it but found they did not particularly enjoy it. (One hot-shot J-24 racer just stepped from the dock onto the side deck of a Laser... and went straight down into the water :) So, this means that, in my opinion, February/March (in the USA, where you are) is not the right time to buy a Laser for the first time.

In the spring, I'm sure that if you contacted your local Laser Fleet, they would be more than happy to arrange one or more test-sails for you. (You can find all the fleet contact info on the drLaser website.)

If you are determined to get a Laser before trying it out, then I would recommend an older boat as your first hull. You can get one for $800-1000 and sell it for about the same price after one year of use. Such a boat (sail number 20000 and up) will get you started fine as long as she's got a decent mast step, is not falling into pieces, or taking in lots of water. Such a boat would do perfectly fine for local fleet racing. (You can check the drLaser FAQ for what you need to pay attention to buying a used Laser.) Anything under 135-138 lbs hull weight will do perfectly fine for local club racing.

As for "the new goodies", I would recommend that you wait until you are committed to Laser racing at levels higher than club/fleet racing before puchasing any of the "performance upgrades". A typical US fleet of, say, 15 Lasers would have maybe 5 boats with the new rigging, and the remaining 10 boats would still be using the original rigging.

If you are determined to have some rigging upgrades installed, too, I would recommend you to start with just replacing with blocks the thimbles used in the standard cunningham, outhaul and vang systems. As a keelboat certified sailor, you may have some blocks and and lines in the "garage" or toolbox that you can use.

After a few months, if you are still into Lasering, then I would recommend you purchase just the "deck cleat base" and the "deck block fitting" to retrofit the outhaul and cunningham systems yourself as "deck-led" systems. Again, you may have some spare camcleats at home that you can use. (Read the related Class Rules.)

Give it a few more months, and then decide what to do with the vang upgrade. The Laser vang is somewhat hard to uncleat, especially if you dont have the arm strength. If still with it, enjoying the game, then consider just buying the "lower aseembly" of the new vang to make a custom vang using any existing spare blocks.

After a year or so, if you notice that your OTW performance is related to how easily you can make vang adjustments (instead of technique, strategy and tactics), then you can sell your used "lower assembly" and puchase a whole new vang (and hull, if you so desire).

In retrospect, if I were a newcomer into Lasering AND dinghy sailing, I would not spend more than $1500 on a Laser and then spend another $500 on the new rigging.

This is only my opinion. I've been sailing Lasers since 1976 and sailing with the new rigging since day one (in a fleeet of 13 Lasers with only 2 upgraded with the new rigging). I'm sure others will disagree.

Best regards,

Shevy Gunter
"Deathroll"
 
The Doctor is in...

Thank you so much for answering my query. This helps a lot. Here is the Western United States it doesn't seem like dinghy saling is as popular as keelboat sailing. I really don't have anything to base that on other than personal observation, but that is the conclusion that I am coming to. I attended the LWSC (Sacramento, CA) Midwinters Racing over the weekend. I spent the day watching Lasers and other dinghies race. It was great! It helped with my education on dinghy sailing. I will be sailing other dinghies in the next few weeks, but I have yet to find a club close by that has Lasers that I could sail for the day. After a couple of months of getting used to the smaller boats, I would love to buy a used Laser and dive into the club racing scenario. As you mentioned, racing keelboats (which I do twice a month) and racing dighies are a completely different animal. Buying a laser is a little tough out here though. After an exhaustive search, I have only found two or three on the market in all of California. Most of them are a full days drive from here, but I will definitely keep my eyes open. Thanks again Doc. I love your website and have read every page from top to bottom.
 
Listen to shevy, he is a smart man and can help you out a great deal!
 
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