Voordewind
New Member
A bit of a silly question, covered tons before I am sure (but I could not immediately find the answer with search).
Its even more embarrassing because I am relatively experienced sailing dinghies, been sailing them for years. However, I lived abroad and mostly sailed from beaches or flat launching pads. Now I am in the UK and I have great difficulty launching Laser with a strong wing onshore and steep approach (quite typical in many British clubs on lakes/reservoirs). Its embarrassing but I had to abandon races couple of times because I simply could not rig/launch the boat successfully.
Essentially what I do- undo the outhaul altogether, lower the dinghy down and than try to rig standing in the water. My local club is quite deep so I usually stand waist deep. Every gust turns the boat on me, its absolute struggle, let alone I can't catch the outhaul/leech. Also, a lot of damage to the hull hitting the concrete/boom falling down on the deck. I tried lowering the trolley with the main rigged (mainsheet undone) but the sail can't really turn all the way towards the bow the dinghy is unstable and all over.
Any tips?
Its even more embarrassing because I am relatively experienced sailing dinghies, been sailing them for years. However, I lived abroad and mostly sailed from beaches or flat launching pads. Now I am in the UK and I have great difficulty launching Laser with a strong wing onshore and steep approach (quite typical in many British clubs on lakes/reservoirs). Its embarrassing but I had to abandon races couple of times because I simply could not rig/launch the boat successfully.
Essentially what I do- undo the outhaul altogether, lower the dinghy down and than try to rig standing in the water. My local club is quite deep so I usually stand waist deep. Every gust turns the boat on me, its absolute struggle, let alone I can't catch the outhaul/leech. Also, a lot of damage to the hull hitting the concrete/boom falling down on the deck. I tried lowering the trolley with the main rigged (mainsheet undone) but the sail can't really turn all the way towards the bow the dinghy is unstable and all over.
Any tips?