Hi all.
Following a recent 'difficult' sail, I've been wondering what the maximum sailable wind speed is in a standard rig Laser?
By way of background, I've been sailing for about 4 years, and Lasers for the last 3 of those. I'm 5'9" and about 13st (82.5kg) plus kit!. I've only recently bought my own boat, so can now sail in any conditions (used to be restricted when it was howling). I've got a 'Skywatch' anemometer that I've mounted on my mast just below the boom (on a removable bracket attached with velcro before you all have a go at me!), which I got primarily so I could check how I was handling the boat in any given conditions. I consider myself an 'ok' sailor, certainly not brilliant, but certainly not terrible.
Normally, my idea of fun is just to go out for a blast in a bit of a blow - 20-30mph, and I've never really been interested in racing until I got my boat and decided to join a club.
So... rewind to 2 weeks ago, and I decided to enter my first ever race (apart from on holiday). The forecast was pretty windy, but I figured it'd be a good laugh(!) My club doesn't have many Lasers, so I was the only one there; come to think of it I was the only single-hander on the water (other boats were GP14s and Merlin Rockets). Anyway, the wind was howling.... I launched, got a couple of excellent reaches in to warm up, got across the line a bit late, got round the windward mark, and it all went a bit wrong from there.... I deathrolled on my way to the 2nd mark and spent the next 15-20 mins righting it, capsizing, righting it, sailing a little way, capsizing, righting it, tiller out of stock - capsize, righting it, sail, capsize - you get the picture. I finally got around the 2nd mark and made my way back in to shore to have a rest because I felt dangerously fatigued.
Windspeed...? I obviously wasn't studying the anemometer much during all that, and it doesn't work when submerged (!) but it does record the maximum for later reference. The max recorded gust speed was 47.6mph (about 41 knots).
The thing that surprised me was that many of the other boats out there were managing to stay upright.
So, my questions are these:
Following a recent 'difficult' sail, I've been wondering what the maximum sailable wind speed is in a standard rig Laser?
By way of background, I've been sailing for about 4 years, and Lasers for the last 3 of those. I'm 5'9" and about 13st (82.5kg) plus kit!. I've only recently bought my own boat, so can now sail in any conditions (used to be restricted when it was howling). I've got a 'Skywatch' anemometer that I've mounted on my mast just below the boom (on a removable bracket attached with velcro before you all have a go at me!), which I got primarily so I could check how I was handling the boat in any given conditions. I consider myself an 'ok' sailor, certainly not brilliant, but certainly not terrible.
Normally, my idea of fun is just to go out for a blast in a bit of a blow - 20-30mph, and I've never really been interested in racing until I got my boat and decided to join a club.
So... rewind to 2 weeks ago, and I decided to enter my first ever race (apart from on holiday). The forecast was pretty windy, but I figured it'd be a good laugh(!) My club doesn't have many Lasers, so I was the only one there; come to think of it I was the only single-hander on the water (other boats were GP14s and Merlin Rockets). Anyway, the wind was howling.... I launched, got a couple of excellent reaches in to warm up, got across the line a bit late, got round the windward mark, and it all went a bit wrong from there.... I deathrolled on my way to the 2nd mark and spent the next 15-20 mins righting it, capsizing, righting it, sailing a little way, capsizing, righting it, tiller out of stock - capsize, righting it, sail, capsize - you get the picture. I finally got around the 2nd mark and made my way back in to shore to have a rest because I felt dangerously fatigued.
Windspeed...? I obviously wasn't studying the anemometer much during all that, and it doesn't work when submerged (!) but it does record the maximum for later reference. The max recorded gust speed was 47.6mph (about 41 knots).
The thing that surprised me was that many of the other boats out there were managing to stay upright.
So, my questions are these:
- Should I have been able to stay upright just like the double handers that were out, or am I just rubbish?
- Do us Laser sailors have it harder than other boats in a real old blow?
- Can anyone stay upright in a Laser in that wind at all points of sail?
- Kicker (vang) hard on or loose? - I've had conflicting opinions, I reckon loose, but was persuaded to go tight that day (by a Merlin sailor).