The Laser is no more !

D

dunedin

Well-Known Member
Joined
3 Feb 2004
Messages
15,836
Location
Boat (over winters in) the Clyde
Visit site
The singlehanded Laser dinghy is apparently no more - it now needs to be called the “ILCA Dinghy”, with the sail sign also gone to be replaced by the letters ILCA. https://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/216749/Olympic-One-Person-Dinghy-Completes-Name-Change

And no longer any European builder of Laser dinghies, as they have apparently fallen out with Preformance Sailcraft UK.
What a mess to get themselves into - particularly just at the time when World Sailing is reviewing the choice of Olympic singlehander dinghy
 
Bring back the Finn! :biggrin-new:

I can't pretend to care about sporting sailing but the Laser seems to be unfairly despised, for something so cheap and simple, with such a happy international following. I don't think I'd buy any una-rigged boat, but giving it an awkward abbreviation for a name is a marketing shot in the foot.
 
What an absolute shower. The whole Laser thing is a joke...is it a Laser, is it a Kirby Torch, is it an ILCA? It's a strict one design, apart from the fact that the boats are not weight corrected, and of course would sir/madam want the XD kit, a Mk1 sail, or a Mk2 sail, and would you like it folded or rolled...rolled is extra of course. And let's not talk about those evil nasty Rooster "training" sails that are basically the same but much cheaper so therefore obviously illegal.

I absolutely get the simplicity thing, and the fact that at my club I can roll up, rig in 10 minutes flat and then go and race 25 others is rapidly leading me to the conclusion that I might even end up buying one, but a "strict one design" is supposed to be exactly that, and it's now utterly confusing what is, and what isn't, a class legal boat. Compare it to something like a Fireball and it's a perfect illustration of when it becomes less about the boat and more about money.
 
I guess I'm thinking relative to bigger, low-production dinghies with pivoting centreboards and stayed rigs, where new prices nudge into five figures. But I've been stunned at how costly similar designs like the smaller Byte C2 can be, as well.

I wonder why sailing authorities allow their 'members' to be ripped off by builders who charge much more, just for class legality? If a club (or all the clubs in a county, or country) agreed that a cheaper manufacturer's sails are so close to the 'official' ones that it makes no difference, who but the overcharging licence-holder would complain?
 
I thought they are very expensive for what they are, which is why with sails, a whole replica industry has built up.

The builders had a monopoly and exploited it too much, so something needed to happen.
 
The One Design concept does seem to be failing. Clearly someone is making a lot of money but where does the money go? Easy to blame the local franchise holder but how much did they pay for the franchise?

And what is the relationship between the owners of the laser dinghy and the Olympic committee?

What we need is an "Open Source" dinghy 'one-design'!
 
It's an old boat, not that much fun to sail (unless it's blowing 25knts +) and the only benefit is being able to race in a fleet.
And you know you are competing mostly on sailing skills rather than set up or tweeking control lines. It's a tough little boat but heavy and uncomfortable compared to more recent design.

Mine has a sail from intensity sails cost £135 whilst a new Laser radial is priced at over £500? somebody is making a huge margin on that. The mast and boom sections are also cheap when bought from tube suppliers.

I agree with one design but some people have got greedy. I suspect the Olympic organisation and the owner of the design and It will always be known as a Laser and at over £6000 before you add a trolley not much boat for your money.
 
Neil_Y said:
It's an old boat, not that much fun to sail (unless it's blowing 25knts +) and the only benefit is being able to race in a fleet.
Click to expand...

I've owned 3 and it was a bit of a shock to step off an RS600 straight onto a Laser and realize how sluggish they are. In my younger days I considered them fast and nimble.
 
My Laser cost about a grand and has given me great man-to-man racing against some sailors I respect a lot. As a boat it's not great, but the racing makes up for it. It's also been useful for teaching. Insurance is cheap, maintenance isn't much, depreciation is negligible. Biggest annual expense is dinghy park fee.
Everyone should have one as their nth boat.

However badly contractual issues mess things up, I expect it will be the biggest selling racing dinghy this year and next, And the year after....
If they stop selling new ones, there's still a 6 figure backlog of existing boats for us to race.
 
Sad news indeed. Despite its sluggishness by modern standards, there are lots of old duffers like me who have special affection for it having sailed it for 30-40 or more years. It also works well as a tender/boat toy ( I carry one like this) because of the unstayed mast that halves for storage. (And because you could order any custom gel coat colour to match the mothership). A lot of the more exciting modern boats like rs600 are too hard to carry as tenders/toys unless you're prepared to move into the more hassle filled regulated world of >24m LLL boats.
 
Last edited:
Another old duffer here who loves Lasers - the first time I sailed one was 32 years ago, in Newport, Rhode Island. Had crewed on a big (98') sailing yacht from the Caribbean that had one on board. Found that with the full size rig and not-a-lot of wind I still wasn't heavy enough to keep her upright, and I was flipping often. And they don't have to heel very far before they just keep going.......
Some years later me and two pals (about 380 lbs crew weight in total) sailed a Laser Radial here - and we were screaming along on a broad reach, dead upright, thinking we were going through the sound barrier (but the wind was a good F 6).
What amazes me is that it took so long for the Laser to become an Olympic class - it was designed in 1969, and didn't make the Olympic selection until 27 years later.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_(dinghy)
 
My take on things

Laser uk slow to adopt any 'new technology' trying to make a one design boat and with 80% of worldwide production. Laser uk own rights to brand Laser.... They need a new certificate mid 2019 to carry on putting an "in class sticker" on their production boats.

Laser AU try out alternative rigs and propose some mods that the US sticker issuers like......

But Laser UK cut up some of the AU production boats (after some interesting international race results that AU boats did well in) to find they don't meet the strict one design construction rules. (stiffer bow sections, mast mounts not standard rake, stiffer internal buoyancy....cheating aussies again.)

Complaint made by Laser UK against Laser AU to US sticker issuers. No action taken by US sticker issuers........

US sticker issuers request visit Laser UK to check construction refused. Laser UK happy for an independent body to come and check.

US sticker issuers refuse to issue more stickers to Laser UK

US sticker issuers decide to rebrand and cut the biggest supplier out of the market appointing the AU supplier as world wide manufacturer.

Incidentally if you asked the right people you could specify your mast rake, Weight of top mast etc from............. Laser UK..

Its a dinosaur but not quite as much as a Finn!

Meanwhile the RS aero gains a massive boost in sales.... But I would prefer a Moth if I was 18 again!
 
TSB240 said:
My take on things

Laser uk slow to adopt any 'new technology' trying to make a one design boat and with 80% of worldwide production. Laser uk own rights to brand Laser.... They need a new certificate mid 2019 to carry on putting an "in class sticker" on their production boats.

Laser AU try out alternative rigs and propose some mods that the US sticker issuers like......

But Laser UK cut up some of the AU production boats (after some interesting international race results that AU boats did well in) to find they don't meet the strict one design construction rules. (stiffer bow sections, mast mounts not standard rake, stiffer internal buoyancy....cheating aussies again.)

Complaint made by Laser UK against Laser AU to US sticker issuers. No action taken by US sticker issuers........

US sticker issuers request visit Laser UK to check construction refused. Laser UK happy for an independent body to come and check.

US sticker issuers refuse to issue more stickers to Laser UK

US sticker issuers decide to rebrand and cut the biggest supplier out of the market appointing the AU supplier as world wide manufacturer.

Incidentally if you asked the right people you could specify your mast rake, Weight of top mast etc from............. Laser UK..

Its a dinosaur but not quite as much as a Finn!

Meanwhile the RS aero gains a massive boost in sales.... But I would prefer a Moth if I was 18 again!
Click to expand...

Whilst sounds as if ILCA have behaved in a fairly underhand way (quelle surprise) I don't intrinsically have much sympathy for LP based on my own struggle to get them to accept latent construction defect on my daughters laser. Guess what she sails now? Aero!
 
Yep another Aero sailor myself. Far lighter, more interesting and comfortable to sail than a Laser and just as easy in terms of rigging, maintenance etc. Class seems to be building quicker than any other boat, but Laser has such a big legacy base, even with contractual/supply issues nothing is going to challenge their numbers in a while.
 
it was the Laser 28 on the intro of Howards Way that made me want to sail when i was very young

the laser dinghies are popular at the yacht club im with
 
Last edited:
rwoofer said:
Yep another Aero sailor myself. Far lighter, more interesting and comfortable to sail than a Laser and just as easy in terms of rigging, maintenance etc. Class seems to be building quicker than any other boat, but Laser has such a big legacy base, even with contractual/supply issues nothing is going to challenge their numbers in a while.
Click to expand...

My Laser is my 3rd boat. I do a bit of club racing in it. I find the Aero and D-zero interesting, but I suspect that by th time they're established enough and cheap enough as used boats, there will be something else newer/better/more fashionable.

Not so long ago, everyone seemed to be enthusing about D-ones and RS100's. Barely hear of them now outside established fleets.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Top