Hi Lainie!
Well written response. I enjoyed reading it. I know a lot about Lasers, so I'm familiar with some of the points in your discussion. I raced Laser actively from September 1973 through March 1993, that's kind of a good run. I have been a class officer too. I understand your passion for the boat. I am (was?) one of those guys you refer to, fit 5'11" and 185#. I have had some limited success at the national level, and I do expect to be competitive again, at least at the local level in the not too distant future..
This is my 10th Laser. At $1000 it is a great deal. Being 'only' ten years old, it did need about $400 dollars worth of parts and materials, and about 60 hours of my time to get it ready to race. I still need a new sail, and the things I did to the hull were not so straight forward to fix. Some of the things that would prevent the average individual from going out and just buying this cheap boat to race. As a previous sailmaker, boat rigger, and surfboard glasser, I have a "restoration" edge on the average Laser owner. At standard "shop" rates (~ $40 an hour, cheap by today's standards), this boat is now almost as expensive as a new one ($3700). Except it isn't as good, it has an old sail, mast, and boom, and I did the work myself. My point here is that the reason there are "..... thousands of used Lasers around....rows of them sitting in racks at clubs all over the world......" is that most of these boats are worn-out and need MAJOR repair. Many, most actually, are mi!
ssing expensive parts that are too costly to replace to justify the hulls purchase. You can rack up quite a bill of new parts with top spars selling for well over $100 and $400 sails. I realize there are 1974 exceptions out there, but not they are exceptions.
Most boats, with broken/leaking masts steps, split rails, delaminated water logged decks, soft hulls, etc, etc, are not worth fixing. Many are not "fixable" in a way that would make them even remotely competitive at the club level. They're finished for our purposes. You need to be very careful which used boat you choose to buy. And then consider new boats, I can't believe they cost $4300 with tax! That's a lot of money! So the assumption that there are thousands of cheap boats available is only marginally true. It is true, only if people like you and I are willing to sail beat-up gear with no hope of being competitive. Can we hope this is true? Can changing the class rules fix this? Changing the class rules will only obsolete more of these old boats, make them more expensive to up-date, and ultimately, in the long run reduce the likeliness of their participation.
I'm glad many folks like yourself do sail Lasers, it is a testament to your character. You also have to remember the Laser was originally NEVER intended to be an easy boat to sail. That's why it is/was so popular. That's why you like it! It wasn't intended as a boat for the masses. It is a hard, demanding boat to sail well. Back in the days of old (I liked saying that!), back when 10,000 boat sales a year were common, I was there. I remember going to regattas and not seeing any women sailors. And Masters?!! That wasn't even a concept then. My 42 year old dad (#9525) was the second oldest man at the 147 boat SCYA Mid-Winters. I'm guessing this was '74 or '75. He finished 133 and was so happy he got around the race course ahead of a "countable" number of boats. I was 57th.
A weekend regatta back then was a three races series, two Saturday, one Sunday. Race courses where measured in miles and were hours long. It was sometime (often) brutal racing. I remember one stormy year where winds we gusting to 50+ on the RC boat (1979?), 80 boats started , many stayed ashore. Only 12 finished, I was so proud, I was sixth that day. We were the only fleet that day to get any races off. You have to remember, that was the SCYA Mid-winters and they canceled racing from Santa Barbara to San Diego, we're talking 1000+ boats, 100's of classes....all except for the Lasers. They raced us! Those fleets were all young males, strong and fit, and looking for serious competition. I remember when Poppy Truman started sailing Lasers, she was the first women I saw try to race Lasers. I was impressed.
What is Chuckie's Point?!?!? Well, I'm not going to say this was better, as a Master, I'm very excited about the new Master circuit of events. But what I am saying is that this is what the fabulous success of the Laser was built on. The toughest, most competitive racing available, on a strict one-design platform, at a price that anyone could afford. Nothing about it was designed to be easy. This is what drew the impressive fleets and record boat sales of the time.
Times and attitudes were different then too, maybe that has something to do with it. People who sailed Lasers were not looking for an easier boat to sail, they wanted a challenge, the ultimate challenge....that was the Laser. Lasers were the sailing equivalent to running marathons, which was a very popular activity at that time. And the Laser met these requirements, very well.
If we want to make the Laser something different, change the rules. Why not sliding hiking boards? That way folks with week abs can sail too.... Absurd! you say...., I know, I know..... but if you had suggested back in 1978 to allow all this adjustable crap on the deck, you would have elicited the same response. "That's Absurd!"
Leave the boat alone! This is what the Laser is. If someone needs something else, there are other class out there to meet those need....just like Lainie suggests.
Everyone please remember one important thing, it's not a matter of screwing with success, it a matter of taking away the boat the meets the needs, OUR needs, of the people who CHOOSE to sail Lasers. That's the bottom line. If the Laser isn't for you, that fine, sail something else, but don't take away our boat, the boat we choose to sail...the simple, challenging, Laser. I love it the way it is.
Chuck Queen
#134961
'Old Passionate Laser Dog'
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