Demise of the Laser 4000

It's called evolution. The Iso came out in '93, the L4k in '95 and the 29er on '97. Each was able to learn from the development of the previous. It's far from surprising the 29er is the best of the bunch as once ISO set the bar, L4k and later 29er were in position to raise it. But, where the ISO and L4k are pretty much direct competitors the 29er is clearly aimed at lighter crews, it's shorter, lighter, narrower at the waterline and has about 22% less sail area.

Edited by Sam.Spoons - 03 Jul 20 at 10:21am

I did wonder, the figure comes from the Noble Dinghy Database so somebody must have claimed it at some point. The Int 49er page lists hull weights as weighed at events and, as you say, they nearly all fall between 91 and 96 kg which sounds much more reasonable.

Originally posted by Sam.Spoons It's called evolution. The Iso came out in '93, the L4k in '95 and the 29er on '97. Each was able to learn from the development of the previous.

I'm sorry, but anyone who thinks the Iso and 4tonner had even the slightest influence on the 29er design is right off the park. Its a straightforward logical development of what Farr, Bethwaite, Murray et al had been doing in antipodean classes. The other two had a bad attack of Hambleitis, and thought the i14s, who had gone down a complete rule led blind alley in development, were a good model to work with. What's ironic though is that the 14 blind alley was also their most popular period in the UK, so go figure...

Not such a blind alley, then, Jim? If you take the whole package and whether it does what a sailor wants, then design philosophy and the last nth of speed is pretty unimportant.