Laser with a carbon mast??

Saw a disassembled Laser at Draycote today. It seemed like it had a set of carbon mast tubes lying down on the hull. Seriously? Lasers now run carbon masts? Obvs I’m out of touch.

Looked just like a Laser has always looked.

To get back to the OP's question, yes, there are class legal part carbon Laser/ILCA spars. They are supposed to perform exactly the same way as the tin ones, but to be much less prone/unable to bend permanently under the horrendous loads people put on them with the revised kicker etc. The word on the street seems to be that the performance is as close as could be expected, but because the top end of the fleet was bending so many tin spars they are mostly using plastic ones.

The Laser ILCA thing is complicated legal stuff. To simplify "Laser Performance" are not an official builder of the class/classes administered by the International Laser Class Association, but the several companies who are current official builders are not legally allowed to use the word "Laser" to sell boats, so "ILCA" is used instead. If you want the detail there's a huge thread.

I think you will find it’s only the top section that’s a carbon/ glass composite with the full rig/ILCA 7. The lower section and the boom is still aliminium . Not sure about the radial/ILCA 6 though. Think they have or are planning to a carbon/glass bottom section . 

Edited by Grumpycat - 18 Apr 22 at 9:37pm

Originally posted by JimC To get back to the OP's question, yes, there are class legal part carbon Laser/ILCA spars. They are supposed to perform exactly the same way as the tin ones, but to be much less prone/unable to bend permanently under the horrendous loads people put on them with the revised kicker etc. The word on the street seems to be that the performance is as close as could be expected, but because the top end of the fleet was bending so many tin spars they are mostly using plastic ones. The Laser ILCA thing is complicated legal stuff. To simplify "Laser Performance" are not an official builder of the class/classes administered by the International Laser Class Association, but the several companies who are current official builders are not legally allowed to use the word "Laser" to sell boats, so "ILCA" is used instead. If you want the detail there's a huge thread.

Thks. Kafkaesque. Did the PY number decrease to reflect a better mast?