Re: Food for thought & Weighted Centerboards

[Lainie9126 (at) AOL.COM]

In a message dated 12/15/99 10:42:30 AM Mountain Standard Time, 
charles.w.queen@boeing.com writes:

<< So I guess what I want to know, is how do changes improve the quality 
(i.e. fun) of racing Lasers? >>

Believe it or not, Chuck, we think that the gradual changes, or "evolutions" 
we've made to the Laser over the years are keeping it as popular as it is.  
The changes have allowed more people to keep sailing the boat.  More people 
racing keeps it more fun, I'm sure you will agree.

When the Laser first came out, it was unique.  A fast, fun, inexpensive 
one-design boat that most people could afford to race.  It was fantastic. 
Some people, like you, thought it was perfect.  It certainly has spawned a 
lot of great sailors over the years.

BUT   It sold @ 10,000 boats per year for the first few years.  Vanguard 
thinks selling 800 boats in a year is good now.  There's competition now.

The Laser Class in North America has been averaging between 2000 and 3000 
members over the last few years.  This is the number of people we know for 
sure are out there racing Lasers.  There might be the same number again who 
race casually and don't join the Class.  We know that over 65,000 Lasers have 
been sold in North America alone since it's inception.  Where are they?

There are thousands of used Lasers around, waiting for somebody like you to 
adopt them and give them life again. You can see rows of them sitting in 
racks at clubs all over the world. But why have people gone away from sailing 
their wonderful little boats? 

It's because Laser is NOT perfect.  It's not an easy boat to sail.  It is by 
no means a beginner boat. It's a high-performance racing dinghy. There are 
lots of other inexpensive, fun, one-design dinghies available.  Some of them 
are even made with new-age materials and rigged with modern spars, blocks, 
lines and sails.  Still, I don't think this is the whole reason people 
shelved their Lasers.

If you look at the top ranks of Laser sailors right now, you will find an odd 
thing - they're all about 180 to 195lb., over 6' tall, extremely fit guys. 
There are easier boats for a smaller, or lighter, or older, or weaker sailor 
to sail now.  Still many of us stick - and suffer - with Lasers because the 
competition is so great.  

I, for one, am incredibly pleased that I will be allowed to add blocks to my 
control lines because although it won't make my boat any faster, it will sure 
as heck make it easier for me to sail it. I'm 47, female, 5'5" tall and have 
arthritis in my hands, but I LOVE racing my Laser and it has every 
improvement. Maybe my boat won't end up moldering on the racks at some club 
because of these changes, and a lot of the others that have been made down 
the years.  I plan to keep racing into my golden years.  How are they golden 
if you can't play the games you love?

True, if you dig up a 70's vintage Laser out of somebody's garage, there are 
probably 30 "improvements" you will want to make to it before you go out to 
race it, not to mention basic maintenance. A lot of them are small pieces 
like the plastic fairleads and cleats that were found to wear out and break 
too easily. It still will cost you less than resurrecting any other 20-odd 
year old boat AND it will likely be perfectly competitive at all but the 
highest levels of racing.  Somebody who just got the urge, and went out in 
that same boat without upgrading it would probably come in again and put it 
back on the shelf saying "I remember why I quit - it's too hard to sail those 
things".  I've seen this happen, even if the boat is generally in great 
condition.

There are lots of people who think what you do: "Why mess with success".  
Frankly  I don't think that with less than 10% of all the Lasers that have 
been sold still racing, we're all that great a success.  Yet.  Working 
incredibly hard to improve that situation.  One-design racing is seeing a 
huge comeback, and Laser racing will grow with this trend, with help from all 
of us dedicated Laser sailors.  After all, we're the very best of the 
one-designs. We have a great boat, great people and the best sailing 
competition, anywhere you go in the world.

The Laser World Council has always kept the one-design philosophy foremost in 
their minds when they consider changes to the boat.  We always consider first 
whether a change has any potential to make older boats obsolete, and if it 
does, we chuck it.  We can't please everyone, so changes happen too slowly 
for some (Bruce Braly said so today - he's my age and size, btw.) and too 
fast for others.  Still, we change things very carefully on the Laser and 
always will. 

So glad you're back!

Lainie Pardey
VP North American Region, ILCA
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