Laser with a carbon mast??

Originally posted by boatshed Originally posted by Grumpycat 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 .  Think the top section has been class legal for a couple of years.  Were you sailing at Draycote today ? , the pursuit race looked like fun . My wife and I thought the 505 was going to win today .  Yes, first sail in 2 years. Got badly caught out on the first long beat going right hoping for a header off the far shore…. Whilst the wind unceasingly decided to swing south and lift the boats going left. The stuff one forgets. The 505 was sailed very well and deserved their finish position. That boat can hang out a surprisingly large amount of sail area and fly along the very many downwind legs. The top results included a wide variety of boats incl a Streaker, 505, Laser, supernova and a Fifteen. Thus proving, handicap racing works a treat!

Originally posted by Grumpycat 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 .  Think the top section has been class legal for a couple of years.  Were you sailing at Draycote today ? , the pursuit race looked like fun . My wife and I thought the 505 was going to win today .

Yes, first sail in 2 years. Got badly caught out on the first long beat going right hoping for a header off the far shore…. Whilst the wind unceasingly decided to swing south and lift the boats going left. The stuff one forgets.

The 505 was sailed very well and deserved their finish position. That boat can hang out a surprisingly large amount of sail area and fly along the very many downwind legs.

The top results included a wide variety of boats incl a Streaker, 505, Laser, supernova and a Fifteen. Thus proving, handicap racing works a treat!

if helps keep insurance premiums down, then it's progress... personally I always felt awkward claiming for a top section, it definitely hovers in the 'known running cost' area of general maintenance, of which Laser sailors are spared a fair amount compared to a lot of classes.

Originally posted by boatshed Originally posted by 423zero No, number is slower year on year. Oh. Must be the only class that adopted a carbon mast and went slower. Never mind, it was just my surprise at seeing carbon sticks on a Laser. I’ve not really sailed for two years, which explains a lot

Edited by Grumpycat - 19 Apr 22 at 2:14pm

Originally posted by boatshed Originally posted by 423zero No, number is slower year on year. Oh. Must be the only class that adopted a carbon mast and went slower. Never mind, it was just my surprise at seeing carbon sticks on a Laser. I’ve not really sailed for two years, which explains a lot

Witty comment

The weight, bending characteristics and CoG are supposed to be the same as the tin one. As has been said above, the change is about robustness and longevity. Hence performance of the boat should be unchanged. The PY returns of the sailors sailing Lasers/ILCAs in handicap races suggest those people were performing relatively less well. But given the last PY update was 2021 based on results from the preceding year, I doubt a statistically significant number of those boats had a composite top section costing £550. I’d wager more were sailing with damage-induced pre-bent (aka slow) tin top sections than composite ones.